On 25 June twenty one years ago, the Croatian top law-making body launched the procedure for separating from other other republics in the then Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) and that historic date is celebrated as Statehood Day, a national holiday. Parliament made a decision to that effect based on the will of the Croatian people as expressed at a 19 May 1991 referendum.

"With undisguised satisfaction and pride, we are notifying all republics and federal bodies of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the whole world about the sovereign will of the Croatian people and all citizens of the Republic to declare the Republic of Croatia an independent and sovereign state as of today, and we are inviting all governments and the parliaments of all states to accept and recognise the free decision of the Croatian people, an act of freedom whereby one more nation wants to become a full member of the international community of the free world," then President Franjo Tudjman told parliament on the occasion of the adoption of the constitutional decision on Croatia's independence.

That same day Slovenia, too, declared its sovereignty and independence from the former Yugoslavia.

With mediation from the international community, in order to facilitate negotiations on the separation from the former Yugoslavia, the Brijuni Declaration was adopted, establishing that the enforcement of the 25 June 1991 constitutional decision should be postponed for three months. When the moratorium expired on 8 October 1991, Croatia severed all ties with the other Yugoslav republics, becoming a free and independent state. That day (8 October) is observed as Independence Day.