Last December, the European Council decided that Croatia's entry negotiations could start on 7 March this year provided that Zagreb fully cooperated with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
"Croatia has taken many efforts which both the ICTY and the EU have welcomed, but the case of the General Gotovina remains," Asselborn, who is the current chairman of the EU Council of Ministers, told the Vecernji List daily.
He said that he did not want to prejudge a decision which would be made in March, and added that he was convinced that by that time the Croatian government would take all necessary measures to prove that it was fully cooperating with the ICTY.
The best thing that may happen is that General Gotovina arrives in The Hague until mid-March, Asselborn said in his interview which the daily ran in its issue on Saturday.
He said that the European Commission had already proposed to the EU ministerial council a negotiating framework for Croatia's membership talks, which was now being studied by competent bodies.
All 25 member-countries must make a unanimous decision on the Commission's proposal, which is expected to be done by 17 March, the foreign minister of Luxembourg said.