2012 In Review – 4 Biggest News Stories In Croatia

Croatian Generals Free – On 16 November Croatian Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac were acquitted by The Hague Court. Gotovina and Markac were greeted to a heroes welcome from 100,000 people when they arrived in Croatia later the same day. In mid-April last year, the Hague court sentenced the two Croatian generals for war crimes, with Gotovina receiving 24 years, and Markac 18 years in prison.

Jail For Former PM– Former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader became the highest senior official to have been convicted for corruption when he was sentenced to 10 years jail for accepting a bribe of 10m euros from the Hungarian oil company MOL in return for securing controlling rights in Croatia and 695,000 USD from Austrian bank Hypo Alpe Adria Group in return for a leading position in Croatia.

Olympic Gold – Discus thrower Sandra Perkovic, Shooter Giovanni Cernogoraz and the Croatian men’s waterpolo team win gold at the Olympic Games in London in August.

EU Referendum – On 22 January 2012 66.2% of voters voted for and 33.1% of voters voted against Croatia joining the European Union. The referendum in Croatia was one of the lowest turnouts on record with only 45.6 % of eligible voters in the country voting. If Croatia’s accession to the EU is ratified by all member states, then it will become a full EU member on 1 July 2013.