The fall of the Berlin Wall was one of the most important moments for Europe and its unity, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Saturday marking the 30th anniversary of the event.

“Today we mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a symbol of the collapse of Communism, which ended the division of Europe, paved the way for Germany’s unification and gave a fresh momentum to the European project which ensured the reconciliation and prosperity of the European nations,” Plenkovic wrote on his Twitter page.

As a member of the European Union, Croatia “today is part of the united and democratic Europe, built on the protection of human rights, the rejection of any form of intolerance, extremism and discrimination, and a clear condemnation of the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century – Nazism, Fascism and Communism,” he added.

Plenkovic also commented on the fall of the Berlin Wall in the northern city of Varazdin where he attended a meeting of the Government Council for Croats Abroad.

It “marked an important step not only for the unification of Germany but also for the unification of Europe. A year before that, John Paul II held, in my opinion, the most referential speech in the European Parliament, when he said that Europe must allow its other lung to breathe too, thus predicting tectonic changes which, fortunately, eventually enabled the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia and the creation of Croatia as a free, democratic and internationally recognised state,” Plenkovic said.