Support for NATO in Croatia at its peak: poll

ZAGREB (Reuters) - More Croats than ever support the country's drive to become a NATO member, according to a poll released this week, when the former Yugoslav republic expects to receive an invitation to join the alliance.

The poll by Promocija Plus showed that 60.2 percent favor joining NATO with 31.7 percent against.

Croatia expects a membership invitation from a NATO summit in Bucharest, which opened on Wednesday.

The survey polled 1,300 Croats across the country this week. Most said security was the main reason Croatia should join.

Support for NATO has been below 40 percent for a long time, but rebounded on fears of instability in the region following Kosovo's independence from Serbia in February, analysts say.

Local non-governmental organizations have launched a petition for a referendum on NATO accession, which is not required by the constitution but will have to be held if at least 10 percent of voters, or about 450,000 people, sign up.

Croatian officials have made membership of NATO and the European Union their strategic goal, which they say should boost the country's economy and security after the ethnic violence that followed Yugoslavia's disintegration in the 1990s.

(Reporting by Igor Ilic; Editing by Giles Elgood)