23/01/2012

Croatia Passes EU Accession Referendum

The Croatian people have voted in favour of EU accession during a referendum in the east European state on Sunday.

The country will become the 28th member of the European Union on 1 July next year.

Croatia first applied for EU membership in 2003 but talks did not begin until late 2005 due to the country’s failure to arrest General Ante Gotovina - wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on war crimes charges.

In October 2005 the ICTY said Croatia was cooperating fully with the tribunal and accession negotiations were launched.

A land ownership dispute with Italy followed which dragged on until mid-2006 until an agreement was reached.

More recently, a long-standing border dispute with Slovenia stalled talks for more than a year. A procedure for resolving the dispute was agreed in June 2010 which meant that final negotiations on EU membership could resume.

In its last progress report , the Commission says the country is a functioning market economy, has made good progress in the field of judicial and administrative reforms and meets the political criteria for an EU accession.

The country signed the accession treaty on 9 December 2011 and held a referendum on 22 January 2012, where Croatian citizens voted in favour of an EU membership. The Croatian Parliament and the Parliaments of all 27 Member States will now have to complete the ratification process, before Croatia can join the EU on 1 July 2013.

(DW)

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