"Political consensus will have an important effect on the quality and course of the negotiations, because this is not an issue of just one party but an issue of exceptional national importance," Grabar Kitarovic told Hina on Wednesday.
The minister said she believed that she would have good cooperation with the new chief negotiator Vladimir Drobnjak, whom she described as "a brilliant diplomat", adding that she expected that he would also be a good negotiator.
She went on to say that it was also important not to judge other members of the team through the prism of their party membership.
"It is important that they are experts in their fields of activity and that they speak English very well. They also should have good negotiating skills and they are expected to be able to work in a team..." Grabar Kitarovic said.
Vladimir Drobnjak will be Croatia's chief negotiator in accession talks with the European Union, and Minister Grabar Kitarovic will be the head of the negotiating team. This was agreed at a meeting between Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and leaders of parliamentary parties in Zagreb on Wednesday. Drobnjak currently heads the Croatian mission at the United Nations in New York.
Sanader and party leaders also agreed on a working group that is expected to harmonise a text of declaration on Croatia's admission to the EU, which the parliament should adopt this month.
Other topics that were to have been discussed at today's meeting in Zagreb, including the names of heads of 12 negotiating teams, will be discussed on January 18 after the second round of presidential elections.