Article I of the

CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

I. HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS

The millennial national identity of the Croatian nation and the continuity of its statehood, confirmed by the course of its entire historical experience in various political forms and by the perpetuation and growth of state-building ideas based on the historical right to full sovereignty of the Croatian nation, manifested itself:

• in the formation of Croatian principalities in the 7th century;
  
  
• in the independent medieval state of Croatia founded in the 9th century;
  
  
• in the Kingdom of Croats established in the 10th century;
  
  
• in the preservation of the subjectivity of the Croatian state in the Croatian-Hungarian personal union;
  
  
• in the autonomous and sovereign decision of the Croatian Parliament of 1527 to elect a king from the Habsburg dynasty;
  
  
• in the autonomous and sovereign decision for the Croatian Parliament to sign the Pragmatic Sanction of 1712;
  
  
• in the conclusions of the Croatian Parliament of 1848 regarding the restoration of the integrity of the Triune Kingdom of Croatia under the power of the Viceroy (Ban) on the basis of the historical state and natural right of the Croatian nation;
  
  
• in the Croatian-Hungarian Compromise of 1868 regulating the relations between the Kingdom of Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia and the Kingdom of Hungary, on the basis of the legal traditions of both states and the Pragmatic Sanction of 1712;
  
  
• in the decision of the Croatian Parliament of October 29, 1918, to dissolve state relations between Croatia and Austria-Hungary, and the simultaneous affiliation of independent Croatia, invoking its historical and natural right as a nation, with the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, proclaimed in the former territory of the Habsburg Empire;
  
  
• in the fact that the Croatian Parliament never sanctioned the decision passed by the National Council of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs to unite with Serbia and Montenegro in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (December 1, 1918), subsequently proclaimed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (October 3, 1929);
  
  
• in the establishment of the Banovina of Croatia in 1939 by which Croatian state identity was restored in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia;
  
  
• in laying the foundations of state sovereignty during World War II, through decisions of the Anti-Fascist Council of the National Liberation of Croatia (1943), to oppose the proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia (1941), and subsequently in the Constitution of the People's Republic of Croatia (1947), and several subsequent constitutions of the Socialist Republic of Croatia (1963-1990).

At the historic turning point marked by the rejection of the communist system and changes in the international order in Europe, the Croatian nation reaffirmed, in the first democratic elections (1990), by its freely expressed will, its millennial statehood and its resolution to establish the Republic of Croatia as a sovereign state.

Proceeding from the above presented historical facts and from the generally accepted principles in the modern world and the inalienable, indivisible, nontransferable and inexpendable right of the Croatian nation to self-determination and state sovereignty, including the inviolable right to secession and association, as the basic preconditions for peace and stability of the international order, the Republic of Croatia is hereby established as the national state of the Croatian people and a state of members of other nations and minorities who are its citizens: Serbs, Muslims, Slovenes, Czechs, Slovaks, Italians, Hungarians, Jews and others, who are guaranteed equality with citizens of Croatian nationality and the realization of ethnic rights in accordance with the democratic norms of the United Nations and countries of the free world.

Respecting the will of the Croatian nation and all citizens, resolutely expressed at free elections, the Republic of Croatia is organized and shall develop as a sovereign and democratic state in which the equality of citizens and human freedoms and rights are guaranteed and ensured, and their economic and cultural progress and social welfare are promoted.