Croatia shrugs off doubts and votes to join EU

Croatia voted yesterday in favour of joining the EU in 2013, shrugging off concerns over economic turmoil in the bloc, the preliminary official results of a referendum show.

With 38% of ballot papers counted, 67% had ticked ‘Yes’ to becoming the bloc’s 28th member, the state electoral commission said, more than two decades after Croatia broke away from socialist Yugoslavia.

Turnout looked unlikely to breach 50% of eligible voters, but there is no binding minimum for the referendum to be deemed valid.