The Croatian Sovereignists, a nationalist party with four seats in the 151-seat Parliament, said on Monday that they had managed to collect "more than 300,000 signatures" for a petition demanding a referendum on adopting the euro to replace the local currency kuna. However, they added, they "could not specify the exact number" as collection lists "were still arriving," so it remains unclear whether the petition would reach 387,000 signatures necessary to make the petition legally binding.

According to Croatian law, any referendum petition must get signatures from at least 10 percent of all registered voters, i.e. from 368,867 people within a two-week time frame. The collecting of signatures ceased at midnight on Sunday, 7 November.

“Based on all indicators we have exceeded the number of 300,000. However, at the moment we cannot report on the final number given that signature lists are still arriving at the headquarters where they will be processed over the next few days,” eader of the Sovereignists Party, Marijan Pavlicek, said in a press release carried by state agency Hina.

The Sovereignists are a minor right-wing group who vocally oppose the replacement of Croatia’s local currency, kuna, with the euro, mainly because they believe that joining a monetary union would be a step towards reducing Croatia’s sovereignty and independence in monetary matters.