EU to Cap Decade of Eastern Expansion by Adding Croatia
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The European Union is set to cap nine years of eastern expansion with the July 1 addition of Croatia, which may prove to be the last ex-communist country to join the world’s largest trading bloc this decade.
With Croatia, the European Union will have added 11 nations once under communist regimes with more than 100 million people and a combined $1.4 trillion in economic output. After the entry, 45 million Balkan residents, including Greeks and Slovenians, will live under the blue-and-gold flag, leaving Albania and the rest of the former Yugoslavia outsiders on the peninsula. With the addition of Croatia, the EU will have 28 members.