The completion of accession negotiations with the European Union is a big and good thing for Croatia and now the accession referendum has to be separated from the parliamentary election, as this is in the national interest, Social Democratic Party president Zoran Milanovic said in Brussels on Thursday.
He was in Brussels to attend a meeting of Party of European Socialists leaders.
"The completion of the negotiations is first and foremost a big and good thing. This won't be discussed much here, because it's a done deal. Now the accession treaty has to be ratified and before that we must hold a referendum and those things should be done in peace. All of us in Croatia must focus on that and not mix the parliamentary election and the referendum. There is a danger of that and we have to avert it."
Milanovic pushed for holding the election before the referendum, so that the new parliamentary majority, "whichever it will be, because I won't drum up support here, can accede in peace to the organisation of the referendum as a matter of national interest. If we mix and bring the election and the referendum too close together, that won't be good, the atmosphere will be too heated."
"If the government is sure it did or is doing a good job, than the (ruling) HDZ has no reason to be afraid of the election... It is a matter of only two months and we should all work in the national interest," Milanovic said, adding that the referendum, which must be held within 30 days of the signing of the EU accession treaty, could be held in late November or in December.
Asked if the accession treaty could be signed by an interim government, he said there was no obstacle to that and that it was completely irrelevant who would sign it. "It will be signed by the person authorised to do so under Croatian laws and international public law," he said.
