"I think we will manage to meet this goal of ours of joining the EU by 2009," Mesic told Reuters. "And by that time I feel that we will also have joined NATO."
"We shall accelerate this reform process going on in Croatia and also this process of adopting European standards. This is in our interest," said Mesic, who arrived in San Francisco yesterday for a three-day visit.
He was not so certain that the euro would be introduced so soon. "Most probably we will not introduce the euro at that point (2009) but this is also an issue of time. It is possible but not essential."
"This could happen either by the time we join the EU or by 2012. I don't think there will be a point of retaining our currency after 2012, so that we can facilitate trade," he said.
He conceded that some European leaders, and many Croatian citizens, were less enthusiastic about EU enlargement.
"We had major support for Croatia's membership in the EU -- it was over 80 percent, but due to the delay of opening negotiations as well as certain obstacles and pressures we faced, euro scepticism got off the ground," he said.
Mesic went on to say that bringing Serbia closer to the European fold was vital for healing the scars in the Balkans.
"We are also interested in the 'Europe-ization' of Serbia," he said. "Unfortunately this is an area where we face difficulties because Serbia has not gone through catharsis
after the last war."
"If (former Yugoslav President Slobodan) Milosevic had been alive until the verdict (before the Hague war crimes tribunal) and had been held accountable for what he did, Serbia would have been in a better position to experience that catharsis."