The government official made the statement after Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, who visited Zagreb on Monday, announced that his country would support Croatia's non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council in 2008, as confirmed by Croatian PM Ivo Sanader after his meeting with Karamanlis.
After the meeting with Karamanlis, Sanader said that Croatia could complete negotiations with the EU by the end of 2008, and that in the spring of the same year it expected an invitation to join NATO.
"If Croatia becomes a member in 2008, it will be very important because that will be the moment when a decision on Croatia's admission to the EU will be made... having a seat in the Security Council carries more weight and everybody is being careful not to 'step on your toes'", a former head of the Croatian mission at the UN and now law professor, Ivan Simonovic, told Vecernji List daily.
In 2004 Croatia announced its candidacy for membership of the Security Council in 2008-2009. Membership of this body requires a two-thirds majority of the votes of UN members, and Croatia's rivals are Georgia and the Czech Republic.
The Security Council has 15 members, of which five are permanent members - the USA, Russia, China, France and Great Britain, which have a right of veto, while the other 10 are non-permanent members elected for a term of two years.