Slovenia, along with Croatia, was the first republic to proclaim independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.
ECONOMIST: Paying a price for recognising Kosovo's independence
Austria has lobbied tirelessly for Balkan bits of the former Austro-Hungarian empire, starting with Croatia.
In 1991, he served as a front-line commander spearheading Serb forces in a yearlong war with Croatia.
He will miss England's World Cup qualifier with Croatia on 9 September.
That is also the aim of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke who met with Croatia's president in Zagreb Wednesday.
It has started membership negotiations with Croatia and, most momentously, with Turkey.
And the EU will sign the Accession Treaty with Croatia next month.
The 2012 U.S. Open champion breezed beyond Italy's Andreas Seppi to set up a last-eight meeting with Croatia's Marin Cilic, who upset fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Bosnia is spectacularly situated in a rich culturally convergent mix on the Balkan Peninsula, with Croatia to the north, Serbia to the east and Montenegro to the southeast.
The committee's report says there needs to be a 8.5m contingency fund to deal with Croatia's accession to the EU in 2013 and the accompanying rise in MEPs, interpreters and support staff.
Bosnia's Croats have always voted in Croatian elections, but in recent years there has been a growing political estrangement with Croatia, whose leadership during the Bosnian war sought to create an effective Greater Croatia.
Mr Tannock said he hoped negotiations would be able to start in June, adding that Montenegro was a "champion of regional co-operation" such as resolving a border dispute with Croatia and fighting organised crime.
The climax to their qualifying campaign was the emotionally charged 2-2 draw with Croatia in Zagreb - a result that saw them qualify as group leaders and ended their fierce rivals' interest in the competition.
After having had the better of the battle of wills with Croatia, nothing but a handsome win against Slovenia in Group C will suffice, after which their progress will depend on the results against Spain and Norway.
Now England's fate is no longer in their own hands, and McClaren will be looking to Israel to get a result against Russia on 17 November to at least keep their hopes alive until the clash with Croatia at Wembley four days later.
Croatia continued to push for the opener right up to the break and Jerko Leko sent a low 20-meter shot fizzing just wide of Boruc's right post, before the Polish number one did superbly to save from Klasnic on the stroke of half-time following another one-on-one with the Croatia hitman.
There are no such worries for England, however, who booked their World Cup place with victory over Croatia last month.
She won her first World Cup race in Sweden in December and followed it up with victories in Croatia and Austria last month.
Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych sealed the Czech Republic's win over Croatia with a 6-1 6-3 6-4 victory over Marin Cilic and Lovro Zovko on Saturday.
The winger dazzled against Croatia with a hat-trick in midweek, and he was quick to replicate that form on eight minutes, drifting in from the left, beating three players, and then slipping a pinpoint pass to Van Persie, who took a touch and clipped home.
It will join two other western Balkan countries: Macedonia, whose negotiations are blocked by its name dispute with Greece, and Croatia, which is close to membership.
Along with Italy we have a squad with pedigree, and the two teams that came through the playoff, Ireland and Croatia, did so with little difficulty.
At that point they were back on course for the finals with only a point required, but Croatia struck again -- and Russia confirmed their qualification with a slender 1-0 victory in Andorra.
The sole hope that such an outcome can be avoided, and with it the chance preserved for a free and democratic Croatia, would appear to lie with the external deterrents to Serbian aggression.
Meanwhile, Arsenal's north London rivals Tottenham have suffered a setback with a serious injury to Croatia playmaker Luka Modric.
The sweeper played in Germany's opening 2-0 victory over Iran but his country's hopes ended with a disappointing defeat to Croatia in the semi-finals.
It was a dramatic end to an incident-packed match that began with a sickening injury to Croatia international Eduardo which shocked players and officials in the immediate vicinity.
Now that a new republic has been built on these dubious foundations, Croatia's relations with the western world as black sheep or promising partner hang in the balance.
Paraguay striker Lucas Barrios scored a hat-trick with German teenager Mario Goetze and Croatia midfielder Ivan Perisic adding the other two goals as Dortmund chase down more league records.
With 17.4% of Croatia's population over the age of 64, Croatia's ageing population and the impact that has on everything from pensions to creativity is a huge problem for the future.
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