President Ivo Josipovic on Saturday called on citizens to go to a forthcoming referendum and vote for Croatia's accession to the European Union, saying it would be irresponsible to miss this opportunity because of the generations to come.
"Of course, it's legitimate to be against it, but I think the advantages Croatia will get by joining the EU are huge," he told reporters in Podrute.
The president said the EU was neither hell nor heaven. "Some think it's hell and want to campaign against it, while some perhaps exaggerate in their expectations of the EU."
He said the EU was a big opportunity and that it was up to Croatians to use it. "It would be irresponsible, because of the generations to come, to miss this opportunity."
Asked to comment on a decline in public support for Croatia's EU accession, Josipovic said it was "more or less a statistical error" and that the support was very stable. "I expect the referendum to be successful."
Asked what kind of cooperation he expected with the new government, the president said he expected the best possible cooperation and that he was confident it would be so.
