E-Day Postponed

Until the very last moment Ivo Sanader claimed that the EU accession negotiations will begin on March 17^th. Today, after it became apparent that his last-ditch lobbying efforts were in vain, he came on Croatian state television and, obviously believing to be in some kind of alternative time line, declared that “negotiations weren’t postponed”.

It is hard to tell how Croatia will react to one of the worst political blunders in this nation’s history. Although I noticed some elderly gentleman mentioning word “lamppost” in brief street interview for RTL Televizija and although I believe that increasing number of Croatians start to mention that word and Sanader in the same sentence, it is unlikely that the government would fall, at least not before the local elections.

In the meantime, PULS conducted EU-related opinion poll among 600 Croatian citizens for HRT. Here are the results.

Question: What is your reaction to EU decision?

35 % - disappointed efforts were in vain, he came on Croatian state television and, obviously beliveing je poput "

31 % - indifferent

24 % - happy

8 % - undecided

Question: Who is to blame for EU decision?

27 % - Ivo Sanader and his government

24 % - European commission and other EU institutions

19 % - Carla del Ponte and ICTY

7 % - Ante Gotovina

Question: Should Ante Gotovina be handed over to Hague?

56 % - no

26 % - yes

16 % - undecided

Question: Is Croatia under unjustifiably hard pressure from EU?

60 % - yes

28 % - no

11 % - undecided

Question: Will EU decision affect living standards in Croatia?

50 % - no

31 % - yes, for the worse

9 % - yes, for the better

Question: Do you support Croatian entry to EU?

47 % - yes

43 % - no

10 % - undecided

The poll shows small increase of Eurosceptics compared to the last poll.