We are ready for the negotiations and I hope they will start on March 17 and that Croatia will become a member of the EU during the term in office of the current Commission, Barroso said after a working lunch with Prime Minister Ivo Sanader who arrived in Brussels on Monday at the helm of a Croatian delegation.
We expect that the negotiations will begin exactly in two months' time provided that there is full cooperation between Croatia and the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal (ICTY), Barroso said, adding that he hoped this would happen as planned as the negotiations were as important for the EU as for Croatia, which set an example in the region.
Barroso gave credit to Sanader whom he called a very good friend, for the continuation of political and economic reforms in Croatia and the progress the country achieved in its efforts to come closer to the European bloc.
The Croatian PM said the government was making preparations for the accession negotiations and in this context his cabinet had called on all important political parties in the country to reach a consensus on the matter.
"I am confident that Croatia will meet all the criteria, including the one regarding the cooperation with the Hague tribunal. The government has doubled its efforts to solve the remaining contentious issue in the cooperation with the tribunal," Sanader said referring to the case of the runaway general Ante Gotovina, who is wanted by the ICTY.
He also spoke about the effect which Croatia's integration into the EU would produce on the region, its stabilisation and pro-European orientation.
Later in the afternoon the Croatian PM will meet for talks with the EU High Commissioner for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana.
Before the lunch with Barroso, Sanader and the Croatian delegation held talks with the Enlargement Commissioner, Olli Rehn, who announced that the Commission would draw up its negotiating framework for Croatia by February 2. He also called on Zagreb to fully cooperate with the UN tribunal and take all the necessary steps to locate and transfer Gotovina to The Hague.
The Croatian delegation includes European Integration Minister Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, resigning Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul, and the future chief negotiator with the EU, Vladimir Drobnjak, who today held his first technical meeting with representatives of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Enlargement.