Croatia to Join Debt Stricken European Union: Poll Results

Courtesy: Allvoices.com

In a poll conducted by the Croatians whether to join the European Union or not, Croatians have shown interest in joining the union, despite the high profile protests in the country against joining the European Union. (Read: Protests in Croatia Against Joining European Union)

Thus, Croatia will become second country after Slovenia from the former Yugoslavia to join the European Union.

Reports says that the turn out for the poll was mere 43.58 percent which was even lesser than the turnout for the general election in the country last year in the month of December. Nevertheless the voting results are valid regardless of turnout as only a simple majority was required. Among the people who voted, 66% voted in favour of joining the European Union.

Anti EU groups which were also involved in anti European Union protests claimed that the results of the vote cannot be considered as valid because of the poor turnout which was less than 50%

Although nearly 40% of the people voted against the idea of joining the European Union, all major political parties are in favour of joining the union, as it is believed it will help in recovery of the economy of this former Yugoslavia republic which got independence in 1995 after four years of war with Serb rebels.

"The Croatian government can now complete the remaining preparations for membership... so that Croatia can become the Union's 28th member on July 1 2013," the two EU leaders, president Herman Van Rompuy and Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said in a joint statement.

Croatia, whose economy is largely dependent on Adriatic tourism has been facing little struggle to maintain its economy, experts believe that the economy might shrink by 0.2 percent this year. At this people believe joining the European Union might help int he recovery of economy of the country. Though the time of joining might not be a golden time for both as the European Union is itself asking countries like China, India and gulf countries to bail out their crippling economy.

Membership in the world’s largest trading bloc may provide the Adriatic nation with hundreds of millions of euros in regional development and infrastructure subsidies. Companies such as Germany’s Siemens AG and Deutsche Telekom AG and Sweden’s Ericsson AB expect to expand into the Balkans as western Europe’s growth stalls over the debt crisis, reports Bloomberg Businessweek.

“The European Union gives us a ticket to the world in which we can be successful,” Davor Majetic, head of the Croatian Association of Entrepreneurs, said by phone. “We want to work and have an opportunity to turn our ideas into profitable products that can reach that market of 500 million people.”

Meanwhile, Anti Union groups are were stressing on low turnout, "This is a defeat of Croatia's freedom (and) independence... We are entering an association that is falling apart," Zeljko Sacic, of the 'Council for Croatia - No to EU' umbrella group, told national television as reported by AFP.

Those opposed to entering the European Union have also expressed fears about a loss of sovereignty and national identity in this country of 4.2 million, says AFP.

It was in the year of 2000, when the pro European government came in this former Yugoslavia republic which transformed the government system in the country into genuine parliamentary democracy.

With this success of Croatia, other former Yugoslavia republics are also showing their interest in the union. Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosnia all have aspirations to join.

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