He also confirmed Croatia's irreversible orientation for the millennium European integration project and its values - democracy, the rule of law, fight against corruption, tolerance, equality within the society and international relations.
"Europe Day, May 9, is an opportunity to recall the values on which Europe was built and to confirm our firm commitment to these values and the project aimed at a united Europe to which we aspire and which we will join beyond a doubt," Mesic said.
On 9 May 1950, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman presented his proposal on the pooling of the coal and steel production within the framework of a new, supra-national organisation - the European Community. In that post-war, unstable and tense period, the aim of such a community was not just the creation of a common market in coal and steel but, also, the preservation of peace. The Schuman declaration is thus the first document that initiated the gradual joining together of the Western European countries into a regionally growing and politically more inter-linked community - the present European Union.
The enlargement is one of the most powerful political tools of the European Union. It is a carefully planned process that helps the transformation of the countries involved as well as the preservation of peace, stability, prosperity, democracy, human rights and rule of law in Europe. With the official start of the Croatian EU accession negotiations in October 2005, Croatia's European perspective was confirmed.