"If Gotovina is transferred to The Hague by March 17, the talks can start right away, but if not, we will wait for Croatia to fulfil its obligation of full cooperation with the ICTY," Juncker said at a news conference he held with Del Ponte.
Del Ponte said she expected Gotovina in The Hague as soon as possible so that he could be put on trial with generals Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac, whose indictment is identical to Gotovina's.
She said she was confident Croatia could do this and recalled that she had called on Croatian authorities to meet their international obligations on many occasions.
Juncker told reporters that Del Ponte had informed him today of her position on Croatia's cooperation with the tribunal, but that she would submit an additional report to the EU's Council of Ministers by February 21, which would help make the final decision on Croatia's entry talks.
Juncker stressed that Gotovina "is playing a dangerous game and has no right to hold millions of Croats hostage".
He called on the runaway general to prove that he is a real patriot and appear before the tribunal thus making it possible for Croatia to start talks on EU membership.
Asked about the latest efforts of the Croatian government to locate and arrest Gotovina, Juncker said he had the impression that Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader wanted to do his utmost to arrest Gotovina if the general was on Croatian territory.