any funds to cover referendum expenses); no legal provisions funding the pro-referendum campaign or allowing the campaign itself; and the lack of restrictions against campaigning on the day of the referendum. The union support for this request was due to the government's ultimately not putting forward the other referendum (altering the conditions for referendums from citizens by changing the number of petitioners required and the time allowed to gather their signatures), which they had earlier agreed to do. Another request to postpone the election was made by more than a thousand signatories of a petition to the government, demanding that the referendum be postponed until after the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) returned the final verdict in the case against generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač. They cited concerns over EU support for the ICTY, which they describe as biased; they therefore questioned if the EU favoured some nations over others. On 23 December 2011, the Croatian Parliament made a preliminary decision on EU membership and determined that the EU accession referendum would be held on 22 January 2012. Furthermore, no other referendum question would be presented at that time. The preliminary accession decision was supported by 129 MPs, with the 6 Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja (HDSSB) MPs abstaining. During the debate that preceded the vote, the HDSSB MPs requested that the EU accession referendum be postponed for three to six months in order to allow a broader discussion on EU accession. Their specific concern was that Croatia might lose elements of its statehood and sovereignty, and the postponement was requested to present to the voters the effects of the Treaty of Lisbon on Croatia before the referendum was held. The parliamentary decision to hold the referendum on 22 January 2012 was supported by 124 MPs, with 6 HDSSB MPs and 6 Croatian Labourists – Labour Party MPs voting against the decision. The Labour party advocated postponing the referendum until 12 February in order to give more time to provide information on the consequences of EU membership. The referendum question was announced by the newly elected Prime Minister designate Zoran Milanović as "simple and bare": "Are you for the membership of the Republic of Croatia in the European Union?" The 2012 Croatian EU accession referendum was the first referendum held in Croatia since the Croatian independence referendum in 1991. Campaign The Croatian EU accession