Croatia prepares for EU entry party Croatia stages celebrations to mark its historic entry into the European Union as the bloc's 28th member, almost two decades after the end of the country's bloody war of independence from the former Yugoslavia. Symbolically, at midnight on Sunday, the "Customs" sign will be removed at a border crossing with Slovenia, the only other former Yugoslav republic that has joined the EU since the bloody breakup of the ex-communist federation in 1990s. Images.