Genesis and context of political communication in Croatia on the 2012 referendum on EU membership and 2013 and 2014 European elections – a quarter-century between national and European issues

Sa？etak Croatia is the latest country to become a full member of the European Union. It is also the only member state in which the elections for the European Parliament were held in two consecutive years: 2013 and 2014. Noting that Croatia held an EU membership referendum in 2012, we can conclude that no other EU member had its voters deciding as often on European political issues. Does this also mean that Croatian voters are ？most European“ in political communication on European issues in direct elections? Or were the two European elections and the referendum utilized by the political parties to focus on the national political, economic and social issues? Based on the experiences of the European parliament elections, political communication in Croatia demonstrates both a common European trend and specifically Croatian characteristics. As was the case in most EU member states in the European elections in 2004 and 2009, Croatia experienced the domination of national issues in political communication and the self-identification of election participants. Croatia is specific inasmuch as the crucial role in 2013 and 2014 in the promotion of European issues and the importance of the European Parliament was played by the electoral administration headed by the State Electoral Commission. These two communication approaches to elections (the national by the political parties, and the European by the electoral administration) turned the European elections into a form of mini-parliamentary elections