To fireworks, cannon-fire and Beethoven's Ode to Joy, Croatia joined the European Union at midnight on Sunday, two decades since fighting itself free of Yugoslavia. Thousands packed Zagreb's Ban Jelacic square to celebrate the accession of the bloc's 28th member, setting aside for a moment the troubles of a country in its fifth year of recession. "This will change the life of this nation for good. I welcome you wholeheartedly," Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, told the crowd. Bells rang out from Zagreb Cathedral and two men in white abseiled from a nearby building carrying the flag of the EU....
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