Croatia's newly elected president Ivo Josipovic pledged yesterday to make the country a "shining star" of Europe by instilling democratic values, as the EU hailed the classical music composer's victory.

"I want a European Croatia, a Croatia that will be one of the shining stars in the European sky," the soft-spoken 52-year-old told his supporters early yesterday as his victory became clear.

This would be "not only through EU membership but by values that we stand for - democracy, freedom, human rights, rule of law, minority rights (and) religious freedom".

Later yesterday Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos of Spain, which holds the rotating EU presidency, hailed the election of the "pro-European" Mr Josipovic and vowed to help Zagreb conclude its EU accession negotiations.

Mr Josipovic won Sunday's run-off election by a wide margin, taking 60.26 per cent of the vote, final results showed.

The left-wing law professor ran on an anti-corruption ticket, one of the conditions for entry into the European bloc, which Croatia is aiming to achieve by January 2012.

Analysts hailed Mr Josipovic's victory as a new era for the former Yugoslav republic in which it would leave behind the 1990s Balkan wars.

"The historic mission of Ivo Josipovic as the head of state has been already determined: to lead Croatia after some 20 years (since independence) into a new integration - the EU," the Novi List independent daily said.

"The country born in war should eventually transform into a peacetime, civilised, European country," it said, referring to the 1991-1995 war.

Zagreb has in recent months launched several investigations into alleged graft at state-run firms, seen as rife with corruption, with more than a dozen officials already detained.

Mr Josipovic is Croatia's third president since independence and succeeds Stipe Mesic, who steps down after serving a maximum two five-year terms.

Mr Mesic, 75, helped transform Croatia into a parliamentary democracy after being an isolated autocracy, the legacy of Franjo Tudjman who led the country with an iron fist from 1991 until his death in 1999.

Mr Mesic hailed his successor's triumph, saying that a "democratic, European Croatia, and values of Europe to which we are aspiring have won".