Public support for Croatia's EU accession is strong, according to a poll carried out by the Ipsos Puls agency, the HINA news service reported.
If the referendum were held today, 52% of the respondents would vote for EU accession, 38% would vote against and 10% would be undecided.
The poll also revealed that 82% of citizens would most probably participate in the referendum, while 15% said they were not interested in doing so.
Holding an accession referendum is by no means an EU requirement, but a sovereign decision for Croatia. No referenda are planned in other EU countries on the occasion of Croatia's accession, about which public opinion in the EU is widely positive.
A Warsaw Treaty?
Croatia wrapped up its accession negotiations on the last day of the Hungarian EU Presidency in June. An accession treaty is expected to be signed during the current Polish EU Presidency. It is still unclear where the treaty will be signed.
Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski recently told journalists that he would not mind seeing Croatia's treaty dubbed 'The Warsaw Treaty' after the name of the Polish capital, which is apparently keen to host the ceremony.
Ups and downs
A previous poll by the same Ipsos institute held in November revealed a higher degree of support for EU accession, with 64% of Croats saying they would support their country joining the EU.
In contrast, last April a poll held immediately after the International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) sentenced two former Croatian generals to prison terms, revealed that only 26% of the country's citizens supported EU membership.
Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac, who were sentenced to 24 and 18 years of imprisonment respectively for war crimes, are seen by many Croats as national heroes.
However, Croatian diplomats told EurActiv that the April poll had not been conducted according to the same methodology, and that strong sentiments fuelled by the ICTY ruling had skewed the real picture.
