For better, for worse: the European Union takes Croatia as its 28th member

It’s official: on 1 July 2013, after a gruelling, decade-long engagement, Croatia is tying the knot with the European Union. Croatia is the first country to join the EU since Bulgaria and Romania’s entry in 2007, and its accession expands the European ‘family’ to 28 member states. The country’s EU membership is a crowning achievement and will rightly be celebrated, according to tradition, with fireworks and emotional addresses in Zagreb and Brussels. But the nuptials will not be followed by a honeymoon period, given the complexity of the current socio-economic and political context. Instead, Croatia will plunge straight into a tepid marriage and needs to prove itself, both in the EU and the Balkan region.