Committee defined the polling stations's appearance and their immediate surroundings up to away, prohibiting campaigning and displaying of promotional materials there as with elections in Croatia. Unlike Croatian elections, there is no mandatory halt to campaigning before a referendum. GONG appointed approximately 300 observers to monitor the referendum voting. The Election Committee announced that it would start publishing voting results on its web site two hours after the polling stations in Croatia closed, and it would expect to determine the referendum's outcome by midnight. If a proposed question was supported by a simple majority of those voting, the proposal would be considered passed and the result binding on the Croatian Parliament pursuant to §87, paragraphs 4 and 5 of the Croatian Constitution. Since the referendum passed, the Croatian Parliament was required to ratify the Croatian EU accession treaty. Amendments (from 2010) to the constitution provide that referendums are valid regardless of actual turnout. If the referendum proposal were to have failed, it could have been repeated in six months or a year. It is estimated that a referendum rejection would have cost Croatia approximately €1.6 billion in lost EU funding until 2014. Date In November 2010, the Croatian Parliament decided to hold the EU accession referendum 30 days after the treaty was signed; since the treaty was signed on 9 December 2011, the referendum was consequently (originally) scheduled for 9 January 2012. In November 2010, the Croatian Government proposed to hold the EU accession referendum simultaneously with another referendum aimed at altering general referendum rules. Days after the 2011 parliamentary elections in early December 2011, it was suggested by Vesna Pusić – already recognized as the future Minister of Foreign and European Affairs – that the referendum should be postponed until March 2012 to allow better preparation for the poll. The suggestion was soon followed by a similar request made by GONG that the referendum be postponed until mid-February or later; its request was also supported by five major trade unions. GONG's request was made because of what they stated to be: poor information provided to citizens; undefined procedures for voter registration away from a voter's permanent residence; unclear directions for voting abroad; no legal provisions specifically defining the composition of ballot counting commissions; no provisions for referendum vote monitoring by partisan, non-partisan and foreign monitors; no legal provisions regarding referendum funding (since the 2011 state budget did not appropriate