President Ivo Josipovic, Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and Deputy Parliament Speaker Vladimir Seks and delegations laid wreaths and lit candles at the Wall of Pain memorial site, in front of the Central Cross at the Alley of the killed Homeland War soldiers, at the grave of the first Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and at the common grave of unidentified victims of the Homeland War.

President Josipovic and his delegation also laid wreaths at the grave of national heroes and at the grave of Ivica Racan who was Croatia's prime minister from 2000 to 2003.

After the wreath-laying ceremony, Josipovic said that over the past 20 years Croatia has done a lot as a country - it preserved its independence in a terrible war and implemented many reforms which will result in the signing of Croatia's EU Accession Treaty.

"There is still a lot more that needs to be done, primarily in the economy, which is in a crisis," Josipovic said in his brief address to the press, extending his best wishes to Croatian citizens on Independence Day.

A delegation of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, led by Secretary General Branko Bacic, laid wreaths at the Wall of Pain memorial site and at the grave of Franjo Tudjman.

Croatia is marking Independence Day in memory of 8 October 1991, when parliament unanimously passed a decision to sever all ties with the former Socialist Yugoslavia.