Croatia EU referendum: Voters back membership

Near complete results from Croatia's referendum on European Union membership suggest that a large majority of people want to join the EU in 2013.

With nearly 99% of the votes counted, 66% of voters backed the membership. About 33% were against.
But officials expressed disappointment at the low turnout of about 44%.
Croatia signed an EU accession treaty last year and should join in July 2013, once all 27 existing members of the union have ratified the deal.
It would come more than 20 years after Croatia broke away from Yugoslavia, which triggered a 1991-95 war to secure its independence.

'Historic decision'
On Sunday, voters in Croatia were asked "Do you support the Republic of Croatia's membership of the European Union?"
A simple majority was required for membership to be approved. There was no minimum threshold in order for the poll to be valid.

All the major political parties in Croatia favour joining the EU, despite the financial crisis engulfing the organisation.

"It is a historic decision... possibly a turning point in our history," Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said after the vote.
EU supporters say membership is the best option for the country in the long term.
Opponents of the "yes" vote - non-parliamentary, nationalist and army veteran groups - earlier warned of a loss of sovereignty, just two decades after Croatia became an independent state.
"The turnout shows that Croatia has turned its back on the EU," said war veteran Zeljko Sacic, one of the leaders of the "no" campaign.
Croatia itself is currently suffering from high unemployment and other economic problems.
"Croatia will not lose its sovereignty or natural resources, nor will it be ruled by the EU," President Ivo Josipovic said in a written statement.
"Europe will not solve all our problems, but it's a great opportunity."
The EU described the result as good news for the Balkan region.
"The upcoming accession of Croatia sends a clear signal to the whole region of south-eastern Europe. It shows that through political courage and determined reforms, EU membership is within reach," the EU said in a statement.

National hero
Enthusiasm in Croatia for EU membership has waned from a high point several years ago, the BBC's Central Europe correspondent Nick Thorpe says.
However, not only do all the main parliamentary parties support the move, but most of the minority Serbs do too, he adds.
And in a surprise move, Croatia's wartime military commander Ante Gotovina - currently serving a long sentence abroad for war crimes against Serbs - earlier sent a message to his compatriots urging them to vote "yes" in the referendum.
Gotovina's flight from a war crimes indictment by The Hague - and Zagreb's perceived half-heartedness in tracking him and other war crimes suspects down - delayed Croatia's EU bid.
His conviction in 2011 sparked a surge of anti-European sentiment in Croatia, where he is viewed by many as a national hero.

source: BBC News

Albania and Croatia - new NATO members

Yesterday Albania and Croatia have completed the accession process, and have joined the Alliance as members.
Since 1949, NATO’s membership has increased from 12 to 28 countries through six rounds of enlargement. Albania and Croatia, which were invited to join NATO at the Bucharest Summit in April 2008, formally became members when the accession process was completed on 1 April 2009.
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has, like Albania and Croatia, been participating in the Membership Action Plan (MAP) for a number of years to prepare for possible membership. At Bucharest, Allied leaders agreed to invite the country to become a member as soon as a mutually acceptable solution to the issue over the country’s name has been reached with Greece. A number of other important decisions concerning enlargement were taken at Bucharest. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro were invited to start Intensified Dialogues on their membership aspirations and related reforms. Allied leaders also agreed that Georgia and Ukraine – which were already engaged in an Intensified Dialogue with NATO – will become members in future.
A flag-raising ceremony marking the accession of Albania and Croatia will be held at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on April 7th.

See also: NATO enlargement

Slovenië ratificeert NATO akkoorden Albanië en Kroatië

Slovenia's parliament ratified the NATO accession of Albania and Croatia on Monday, paving the way for the alliance’s enlargement in the Balkans.

Slovenia’s ratification was keeping NATO officials on their toes. The border dispute with Croatia has already posed big problems in Zagreb’s path towards European Union membership, with Slovenia blocking Croatia's EU accession talks in December. Many in NATO feared that Slovenia might do the same for Croatia’s membership in NATO, leaving both Albania and Croatia out and overshadowing the summit marking the 60-th anniversary of the alliance.

The protocol for Albania was backed unanimously in the Slovenian parliament. Croatia's passed by a large majority although nationalist parties called for a boycott.

Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor said before Monday's vote that the NATO membership issue was different from the EU accession process.

"Slovenia's national interests are not endangered by the debate on Croatia's accession to NATO," he told deputies and urged them to back the ratification.

Source: BalkanInsight

Balkan Reforms Lag, Economic Freedoms Weak

Economic freedoms in the Balkans are suffering because of bloated governments, state monopolies, inconsistent regulations and widespread corruption, said the 2009 Index of Economic Freedom report, which stressed that further economic and fiscal reforms were crucial at a time of global recession.

Out of all Balkan countries, Bulgaria was the front runner coming in at 56th place. There was respectable showings by Albania at 62nd place, Romania at 65th and Slovenia at 68th place, which however managed the biggest gains in economic freedom in Europe, improving its score by 2.7 points in 2008.

Macedonia and Montenegro placed in the middle tier, ranking 78th and 94th respectively. The biggest laggards of the region were Serbia at 109, Croatia at 116 and Bosnia-Herzegovina at 134, just ahead of Ethiopia.

"Business freedom, government size, monetary freedom, investment freedom, and freedom from corruption are weak," the report said of Serbia, while on Croatia it noted that its "overall weakness stems from its outsized government", while "in addition to high levels of government spending, the government's presence in other key areas of the economy is considerable."

Bosnia's position at the bottom of the European pile, ahead only of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, was due to the "inefficient and high government spending, weak property rights, and widespread corruption" that "hold down overall economic freedom...and discourage entrepreneurial activity."

"As a result of sluggish privatization of state-owned enterprises, the private sector's contribution to GDP has grown rather slowly," the entry on Bosnia added. "Bureaucratic and non-transparent regulatory systems remain a problem for foreign investors and domestic entrepreneurs."

The report said the low flat tax rates of 10 to 15 percent – among the lowest tax rates in the world – along with strong focus on privatization and internal structural reforms were a driving force for strong growth in Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia in 2008.

source: BalkanInsight.com