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Perception of the European Union in Croatia: Attitudes and Expectations

Being a member state of the European Union carries great obligations, but also responsibilities. These obligations and responsibilities do not only apply to the political leadership of an individual member state, but also to its citizens who perceive the European Union with numerous hopes and fears. These hopes and fears are appearing from the very beginning, ie from applying for membership until the moment when a certain country is a member of one of the largest political and economic unions in the world – The European Union. Such a situation befell the Republic of Croatia and its citizens at the beginning of 2003, when the Republic of Croatia applied for full membership in the European Union. From that moment until today, the attitudes and expectations of the citizens of the Republic of Croatia towards the European Union have changed depending on foreign policy influences. In the meantime, numerous topics and discussions have emerged as to whether the Republic of Croatia should become a member of the European Union and what the consequences of joining the Union will be. At the beginning of 2012 and the holding of a referendum on accession to the European Union, almost two thirds of voters clearly voted for accession (66, 27%), which indicates the pro-European orientation of the citizens of the Republic of Croatia. However, such an attitude does not exclude the existence of fears and skepticism towards the European Union. In this paper, a part of the research results will be presented, which deals with the expectations and attitudes of the citizens of the Republic of Croatia upon accession to the European Union and the extent to which these expectations and attitudes have changed over time. The research was conducted during the first year of Croatia's membership in the European Union. The research sample of 4, 000 respondents was conducted in four cycles (July 2013, November 2013, March 2014, July 2014) and collected the most important answers related to this issue. The research shows how the citizens of the Republic of Croatia perceive the European Union, what they fear the most, and what they hope for the most when joining the European Union, as well as to express some of their views on topics that were frequent in public debates Croatia to join the European Union or not?

European Union ; Croatia ; perception ; image

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