New president vows untiring corruption fight

The fight against corruption, especially at the highest levels, is one of the key criteria for Croatia to become an EU member by 2012.

ZAGREB, February 18, 2010 (AFP) - Croatia's new President Ivo Josipovic vowed to lead an untiring fight against corruption and usher his country into the European Union in his inaugural speech on Thursday.

"In the fight for justice, as Croatia's president and its citizen, I will be the first and I will never get tired. I promise you that," leftwing intellectual Josipovic said after being sworn in as Croatia's third president.

"I went into presidential elections with a vision of a European, prosperous Croatia, and the key source of my motives was justice -- a moral and legal basis for a new and better society," he added.

"Together with the government I will launch decisive moves and reforms needed so that Croatia can become an EU member as soon as possible," the 52-year-old law professor and classical music composer promised.

The swearing in ceremony started at noon (1100 GMT) at Saint Marc's square in the old part of Zagreb, where the government and the parliament buildings are located.

Josipovic, accompanied by his wife Tatjana and 18-year-old daughter Lana, took the oath and made the speech in front of 1,000 invited guests. The ceremony was attended by presidents of 10 central and southeastern European countries, as well as EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele.

The new president takes over from popular centrist Stipe Mesic, who had held the post since 2000 and managed to turn the country into an outward facing parliamentary democracy.

The nationalist and autocratic rule of Mesic's predecessor Franjo Tudjman, who led the nation through its 1991-1995 war of independence from Yugoslavia, pushed Croatia into international isolation before his death in December 1999.

Zagreb, which joined NATO last year, hopes the entry into the European bloc will signal a definitive move away from the legacy of the 1990s wars that tore apart the former Yugoslavia.

The fight against corruption, especially at the highest levels, is one of the key criteria for Croatia to become an EU member by 2012.

Later on Thursday Josipovic was to make his first address to the nation as president.

See the inauguration photos here and at javno.com gallery.