Abstract
In , an open 'culture war' broke out at the very moment of Croa-tia's EU accession. During the standoff between conservative Catho-lic organizations and the socialist government over a referendum onsame-sex marriage, Prime Minister (now Croatia's President) ZoranMilanović complained to the media that there was a culture war be-ing aggressively waged in Croatia. Tat year, conservative Catholicssteered a school reform project through to the Constitutional Courtbecause of their opposition to sexual education; they also gatheredalmost , signatures for a referendum on a same-sex marriageban.
Next to public conflicts over Catholic values, Croatia's past hasproven to have even greater polarization potential. was alsowhen yearly public commemorations of the Second World War in-creasingly pitted a nationalist camp against an anti-fascist one.