Croatia Prepares to Inaugurate New President

Grabar Kitarovic will be sworn in as president on Sunday on the St Mark's Square in Zagreb, where the Croatian government, parliament and constitutional court are located.

The candidate of the opposition centre-right Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, Grabar Kitarovic won the presidential elections in January, defeating the incumbent Ivo Josipovic.

Her inauguration will be attended by eight presidents, most of them from other countries in the region: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovakia and Slovenia.

The only neighbouring former Yugoslav state that will not represented by its president is Serbia. Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic has announced that he will miss the inauguration because it clashes with Serbia's statehood day.

Serbia will send its charge d'affaires in Croatia, Bosa Prodanovic, to represent Belgrade instead.

Serbia's head of state also did not attend the 2010 inauguration of Josipovic in protest at the invitation extended to Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga.

Germany will send the president of its federal council, Volker Bouffier, to Grabar Kitarovic's inauguration.

Poland and Bulgaria are sending their speakers of parliament, while other countries will send either ministers or ambassadors. The US has not yet confirmed who will represent Washington at the inauguration.