Polls suggest the vote will pass, with the last one, released Saturday, putting support at 61 percent.

Adherents say a “No” vote would leave Croatia stuck with struggling fellow ex-Yugoslav republics in the western Balkans, which was despoiled by war in the 1990s and is the sole part of southeastern Europe still outside the EU.

But some Croats fear a loss of sovereignty if the country joins now, after just 20 years as an independent state.

“Croatia will not lose its sovereignty or natural resources, nor will it be ruled by the EU,” President Ivo Josipovic claimed in a written statement to the nation Saturday.

“Europe will not unscramble all our Problems, but it is a great opportunity.”

The Western European Union has announced Croatia can become its 28th member on July 1, 2013 after completing 7 years of difficult entry talks in June last year. It might become the second former Yugoslav republic to join, following Slovenia in 2004.

The “No” camp is playing on fears of a wave of foreigners getting Croatian firms and property in Croatia real estate. Some say the timing is all wrong and so the EU is not what it was given the debt crisis that is threatening the single currency.

Many complain they are uncertain what membership will mean for the country of 4.3 million folk.

CHURCH BACKING

“My boy is all excited and in favour, but I am not,” related Jasna, a 46-year-old hairdresser from the capital, Zagreb. “There are just so many things I don’t know and don’t understand about the EU that I cannot vote ‘Yes’.”

The “Yes” camp this week won the endorsement of Croatia’s potent Roman Catholic church as well as a former wartime general on trial for war crimes but regarded by many Croats as a nationwide hero.

“I will vote for membership of the ECU because this is where we belong,” Ante Gotovina told state reports agency Hina thru his counsels from the U.N. War crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Croatia broke off from Yugoslavia in a 1991-95 war, and then saw strong expansion on the back of foreign lending and waves of travellers to its shocking Adriatic coast.

But its economy has been hit hard by the worldwide commercial crisis. Researchers and state officers warn a rejection of EU accession Sunday would bring down the nations credit rating, deter stockholders and further moisten any prospect of a quick commercial recovery.

If the ballot passes, all ECU member states must ratify Croatia’s advent before it can join. It won’t join the Euro Buck sector yet.

Croatia’s current GDP per capita is 61 percent of the EU average. It expects some 450 million Euro Bucks, or 1 percent of its GDP, from EU funds for development projects in the first year alone.

“Croatia hasn’t got, and will not have anytime soon, the money to build infrastructure, develop rural areas and finance work market reforms,” said Zdravko Petak, a professor of political science in Zagreb.

“The only thing that will kickstart Croatia’s growth is EU money,” he revealed.

Voting starts at 7 a.m. ( 0600 GMT ) and ends at 7 p.m. ( 1800 GMT ). First results are predicted around an hour after polls close as reported tagza.com.

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