Was the referendum on the EU accession of the Republic of Croatia illegal? No, that's not true: The referendum conducted on January 22, 2012, that resulted in the Republic of Croatia joining the European Union, followed the Croatian Constitution and laws.
The claim originated from a TikTok video (archived here) published on August 24, 2023, under the title: "A.P. THE BEGINNING OF THE MEGATRAITOR AND THE MAN WHO CARRIES OUT THE AGENDA OF THE NWO AND BRUSSELS." [A.P. refers to the initials of Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and NWO stands for the New World Order, a conspiracy theory according to which a cabal of elites is secretly trying to impose a totalitarian world government.]
[All translations from Croatian to English by Lead Stories staff.]
The TikTok video opened:
How did Brussels create the megatraitor A.P.? He showed his loyalty by defending the ILLEGAL referendum on the EU accession. Did we have debates before the referendum? Liar, megatraitor, the man who sold Croatia, the man who betrayed the kuna, the man who destroyed Croatian men.
[The kuna was the former currency of Croatia, from May 30, 1994, until December 31, 2022, replaced by the euro in 2023.]
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Nov 2 08:40:33 2023 UTC)
Croatia applied for EU membership on February 21, 2003, and in June 2004, it was confirmed as a candidate country by the European Council. The negotiations lasted from 2005 to 2011, and on December 1, 2011, the European Parliament approved Croatia's application to become a member of the European Union. The referendum on Croatia's accession to the European Union took place on January 22, 2012. According to the official results of the State Election Commission, 43.51 percent of Croatian voters voted at the referendum, of which 66.27 percent voted in favor of Croatia's entry into the European Union, while 33.13 percent were against it.
The Constitutional Court received multiple appeals on the legitimacy of the referendum, and all of them were rejected or dismissed. On March 5, 2012, the Constitutional Court issued a decision establishing that the national referendum on Croatia's entry into the European Union on January 22, 2012, was held following the Constitution and laws. The country became the 28th EU member country on July 1, 2013.
