Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said on Sunday night he had expected a higher turnout in today's referendum on Croatia's accession to the European Union given that according to current data, it was lower than in the last parliamentary and presidential elections.
Milanovic voiced confidence that the referendum would pass. Asked if the low turnout was a kind of message from voters, he said people were probably fatigued.
"It would have been better if the turnout had been higher. It's not great but it's legal," Milanovic told the Nova TV commercial television network.
Asked if this turnout meant that the government's EU accession campaign had been poor and if citizens had commented on the state of affairs in the country, Milanovic said one must always assume responsibility, reiterating that he had not expected too high a turnout but a little higher than the current one.
"When you are in power and there is a referendum, you look at it as your baby in the political sense."
Asked if voters had been cheated in the wake of announcements that VAT would be increased, Milanovic said everything that was necessary and not at all popular must be done.
"We are not here to primarily satisfy the demands and expectations of international creditors, but we must pay the debts regardless of who incurred them, and if we don't develop at all, that won't be good either for Croatia or for our creditors," he said.
"A balance has to be found... Budget expenses will be lower than the plan for 2011 and when one adds inflation, the difference will be somewhat higher in real terms. That's the maximum that can be done at this moment, to raise VAT and do everything we can to make life easier for those who have less," Milanovic said, adding that the government was doing what nobody had done - admitting that the state had been spending too much and would spend less but not too little, and that it would pull out of the crisis with new investment.
"We are cutting budget expenses. Had the previous government done that in the first year of the crisis, it would be different now, and this was our criticism of their one per cent increase of VAT. They just wouldn't admit that the state's expenses were too high and should have been cut earlier."
Asked if he was afraid of protests and union demonstrations if budget users' entitlements were cut, Milanovic said those who could not take the people's criticism and rebellion could not be democratic leaders.
Salaries in the state administration will stay the same but the criteria will be stricter, he added.
