Croatian Flag

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Croatian Flag

Croatians voted over the weekend to adhere to the European Union in July 2013, with a turn out of only 47 percent of the eligible population of the country. 66 percent of the people said yes to the question “Do you support the membership of the Republic of Croatia in the European Union?”
Judging by the turnout the subject did not stir much interest among Croatians. However, 66 percent of the people voted in favor, while 33 voted against, thus opening the admission of Croatia in the European Union. It is considered that the people of Croatia voted 2 to 1 in favor of admission.
Croatia signed an accession treaty last December after seven years of negotiations, with the decision of the EU postponed due to a territorial dispute with the neighboring Slovenia.
Before the accession treaty was signed, Croatia was asked to arrest and deliver to the International Criminal Court for Former Yugoslavia, just like Serbia, another aspirant to EU membership was.
The delivery of general Ante Gotovina, one of the war criminals of the Balkan wars, marked a turning point in the relations between Croatia and the EU. Croatia lost the last two waves of accession due to its nationalistic leadership.
On July 1, 2013, Croatia will become the 28th member of the union, if all the other 27 agree to it.
About 1,000 persons protested on Saturday in the streets of Zagreb, the capital of the country, against the accession of their country to the EU. Police is said to have arrested three people as they were attempting to remove a flag of the EU.
The anti-EU protesters argued that their protest was motivated by the tendency of the European Union to take away independence of their country. They complained that the authorities were suppressing their voice.
The MP Vesna Pusic is said to have convinced the people in the streets of the capital that the budget would be in trouble, unless the accession was made. Opinions differ in the small state about the implication in the process of accession.
There is fear that the fishermen from Italy would enter Croatian waters, that the small business would be suffocated by the pan-European holdings.
There are members of the parliament that believe their country was not entering the European club as an equal member but rather as a beggar, since the economy is non-existent, and the GDP is very low.
New York Times columnist Stephen Castle sees the referendum as a sign that the European Union has preserved its appeal and allure in spite of its domestic struggle to keep the euro as currency.
In fact, the prime minister of the country said that the new EU member will have to adopt euro too, but estimated that it would not come before 2015 or 2016.
European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council chief Herman van Rompuy said in a joint statement that the referendum in Croatia was a good sign for the region and Europe.
Croatia is a small nation in south-eastern Europe, and was part of the Hungarian Kingdom, Venetian Republic, Byzantine Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire for over a millenium. In the 20th century it became a member of Yugoslavia. Croatia declared independence on June 25, 1991, at the end of the Croatian War for Independence.
If the 27 countries of the EU vote in favor of Croatian admission, it will be the last country to be admitted in many years. Turkey and Iceland are in the same process, but the Turkish admission is being stalled by the EU, while the Icelanders do not support the admission.
Serbia has also ended the negotiations with the EU, but its admission depends on an agreement with the authorities of Kosovo.

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