Retired Croatian army general and a war hero Ante Gotovina will vote ‘YES’ in the EU accession referendum. This information was passed down to Croatian media by his solicitor Luka Misetic earlier today. Although many find this shocking because Gotovina was often considered to be a scapegoat in Croatia’s accession process, it seems like the imprisoned general has no doubts on this matter.

Gotovina stated:

I call all the Croatian citizens to vote their conscience in the referendum. Hereby, I want to state that I’ll vote ‘YES’ in tomorrow’s referendum. Croatia belongs to Europe by its culture and civilization, so the referendum is just a formal confirmation. The EU is the place for Croatia.

[LINK: Original statement in Croatian]

Why is this statement so interesting?

It represents a strong blow to the Eurosceptics’ campaign based mostly on war veterans’ cry for freedom and sovereignty they’ve shed their blood for during the war. One of their top arguments against Croatia’s EU accession was their interpretation of Gotovina’s imprisonment. They claimed his position behind bars was the direct consequence of Croatia’s accession process, so the EU has become the biggest enemy of many general’s loyal followers. This statement changes everything.

Gotovina has probably made this statement public because of the forged letter that appeared recently in Croatian public, in which he allegedly calls the Croatian people to vote ‘NO’ in the upcoming referendum. Even though Gotovina has stayed away from politics for more than a decade, this is something that a person of his integrity and honor had to react to. And so he did.

If Gotovina is going to vote ‘YES’ in the referendum, then he obviously does not blame the EU for his position. He has no reason to do so whatsoever. And if the EU is not to blame, then this argument is bad. So, one of the biggest Eurosceptics’ argument was virtually destroyed by Gotovina himself. Although the referendum is scheduled for tomorrow, this general’s standpoint could make a difference. We’ll see.

Fitch F. Rich

Fitch is Croatian right-wing commenter, author and political activist interested in Croatian and EU politics. Nevertheless, the title he’s most proud of is being the evil mastermind behind Croatia Calling blog project.