Page 182 - Gabrijela Kišiček and Igor Ž. Žagar (eds.), What do we know about the world? Rhetorical and argumentative perspectives, Digital Library, Educational Research Institute, Ljubljana 2013
P. 182
What Do We Know about the World?
ing of treaty on December 11th 2011, Croatia officially became the 28th
member of the European Union.
The negotiation process between Croatia and the EU has been the
longest in EU history, and was complicated for various political reasons,
amongst them the extradition of Croatian citizens (in particular, certain
individuals who had been Generals in the Croatian army during the war
1991–1995) to the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague. The
EU required the Croatian government to cooperate with the court as a
necessary condition for a continuation of the negotiation process. On
one occasion, the EU postponed the commencement of negotiations be-
cause the Croatian government’s effort to capture a fugitive Croatian
general was deemed insufficient. Another reason for the lengthy dura-
tion of the negotiations was the Croatia-Slovenia border dispute which
resulted in Slovenia blocking Croatia’s EU accession for 10 months. Po-
litical issues such as the above have had a deep impact on the perception
of the EU among Croatian citizens. Ultimately, a referendum was held
on January 22nd 2012 which resulted in 66 % of the voters being in favour
of Croatia joining the European Union.
This paper analyzes political speeches of both supporters and oppo-
nents of Croatian membership in the EU. The majority of Croatian politi-
cal parties supported EU membership. The opponents were radical right
wing parties and right extremists so far not elected to parliament, as well
as other representatives of civil organizations. Political analysts widely
agreed that the public debate about an EU membership was insufficient
and that the period between the finalization of the negotiation process
and the referendum was too short for an exchange of opinions between
EU opponents and supporters. Moreover, opponents complained about
a lack of media coverage with respect to their own efforts to raise argu-
ments against Croatia joining the EU. Although outnumbered in parlia-
ment, Europhobes organized meetings and gatherings in public places
which received media coverage and thus provided data for this research.
2. Materials and Methods
For the purpose of this research, we used political speeches broad-
cast on three national Croatian television channels (HRT, RTL, Nova
TV), as well as political statements and interviews in two daily newspa-
pers (Jutarnji list, Večernji list) over a period of 3 months (June and De-
cember 2011, and January 2012). Data were selected on the basis of polit-
ical relevance and media presence (i.e., the speeches of the most impor-
tant political figures in Croatia including the president Ivo Josipović,
ing of treaty on December 11th 2011, Croatia officially became the 28th
member of the European Union.
The negotiation process between Croatia and the EU has been the
longest in EU history, and was complicated for various political reasons,
amongst them the extradition of Croatian citizens (in particular, certain
individuals who had been Generals in the Croatian army during the war
1991–1995) to the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague. The
EU required the Croatian government to cooperate with the court as a
necessary condition for a continuation of the negotiation process. On
one occasion, the EU postponed the commencement of negotiations be-
cause the Croatian government’s effort to capture a fugitive Croatian
general was deemed insufficient. Another reason for the lengthy dura-
tion of the negotiations was the Croatia-Slovenia border dispute which
resulted in Slovenia blocking Croatia’s EU accession for 10 months. Po-
litical issues such as the above have had a deep impact on the perception
of the EU among Croatian citizens. Ultimately, a referendum was held
on January 22nd 2012 which resulted in 66 % of the voters being in favour
of Croatia joining the European Union.
This paper analyzes political speeches of both supporters and oppo-
nents of Croatian membership in the EU. The majority of Croatian politi-
cal parties supported EU membership. The opponents were radical right
wing parties and right extremists so far not elected to parliament, as well
as other representatives of civil organizations. Political analysts widely
agreed that the public debate about an EU membership was insufficient
and that the period between the finalization of the negotiation process
and the referendum was too short for an exchange of opinions between
EU opponents and supporters. Moreover, opponents complained about
a lack of media coverage with respect to their own efforts to raise argu-
ments against Croatia joining the EU. Although outnumbered in parlia-
ment, Europhobes organized meetings and gatherings in public places
which received media coverage and thus provided data for this research.
2. Materials and Methods
For the purpose of this research, we used political speeches broad-
cast on three national Croatian television channels (HRT, RTL, Nova
TV), as well as political statements and interviews in two daily newspa-
pers (Jutarnji list, Večernji list) over a period of 3 months (June and De-
cember 2011, and January 2012). Data were selected on the basis of polit-
ical relevance and media presence (i.e., the speeches of the most impor-
tant political figures in Croatia including the president Ivo Josipović,
