Croats vote in favor of EU membership in 2013

A majority of voting Croatians have green-lighted a state referendum on European Union accession in July 2013 – however, this is out of only 42 per cent of more than four million eligible voters, with the rest of the country ignoring the vote.

­According to the referendum commission, around 67 per cent of Croatians who showed up at polling stations in their country and around the world supported Croatia’s membership in the EU, while roughly 32 per cent voted against – with about a third of votes counted so far.

For the country’s accession to the Union, no fewer than half had to favor the referendum. Croatia signed an EU accession treaty last year, though the EU delayed its decision due to Croatia’s territorial disputes with neighboring Slovenia. Croatia was also urged to arrest war crimes suspects on its territory. Now, the country is slated to become the 28th EU member on July 1, 2013, if all the bloc’s member states ratify the deal.

With a majority of voters support Croatian accession, a significant number still oppose it – with police clashing Saturday with anti-EU demonstrators and reportedly arresting three. The clashes erupted at the end of a protest rally of about 1,000 activists, when a group of demonstrators attempted to take down an EU flag.

Croatia signed an accession treaty with the EU last December, after seven years of entry talks.

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