Croatia PM says EU referendum 'millennium' decision

(ZAGREB) - Croatia has geared up the preparations for a January referendum on its EU membership, set for mid-2013, which Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic labeled on Thursday a "millennium decision" for the country.

"It is a millennium decision for Croatia. We believe it is a good one, this government backs it," Milanovic said at the first session of his centre-left cabinet, sworn in last week.

The government took over following December 4 general elections in which a four-party coalition, led by Milanovic's Social Democrats, defeated the former conservative rulers.

Milanovic insisted the referendum -- the first since the 1991 one after which Croatia proclaimed independence from the former Yugoslavia -- would have to be prepared in an "exemplary manner."

"To do that job ... impeccably, it is important that procedural conditions be clear and organised," he said.

Croatia is set to join the bloc on July 1, 2013.

Apart from the Croatian referendum, the treaty has to be ratified by all 27 member states.

The latest survey showed that some 60 percent of Croatians would vote "yes" in the referendum.

Several non-governmental groups called for a delay of the vote, claiming a legal framework was lacking certain measures that could compromise its validity.

They also warned Croatian voters lacked sufficient information about joining the EU to be able to make an informed decision.

But Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic said the main documents from the negotiating process -- as well as the bloc's accession treaty -- had been published on the ministry's website.

Of the six former Yugoslav republics -- Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia -- only the latter is an EU member, since 2004.

The former socialist federation collapsed in a series of bloody wars in the 1990s.