Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusic on Sunday voted in a referendum for Croatia's accession to the EU, expressing confidence in its positive outcome because "the attitude of the public is pro-European".
Speaking to foreign and domestic reporters in Zagreb after she cast her ballot, Pusic said that the campaign leading to the referendum included many debates, some of which were very fierce, but "it was that fierceness that drew people's attention to the fact that there would be a referendum and prompted them to go to the polls and state their position."
Speaking of neighbouring countries, Pusic said that Croatians' 'Yes' in the referendum would send a very positive signal to the rest of the region.
"It will mean that enlargement will continue, that reforms are possible. One must reach a certain level, but you don't stop there. This is absolutely for Croatia the beginning of a new way of functioning, not the end," she said, recalling that the reforms Croatia had carried out represented "a process of adjustment to tested standards, as well as of building state institutions."
Speaking of the last enlargement round that was accompanied by a certain euphoria, Pusic said that now was a different time and that the approach was more rational.
"In 2004 there was euphoria in the EU and the acceding countries. The economic situation was at its best and that enlargement round was in a way the end of the Cold War," Pusic said.
