After his talks with the UN war crimes tribunal's chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte on Friday evening, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg said that no final decision had yet been made on the start of Croatia's entry talks and that they would start on 17 March only if general Gotovina was transferred to the Hague tribunal by then.
if not, we will wait until Croatia fulfils its obligation of full cooperation with the tribunal, Juncker added.
Commenting on Juncker's statement which reporters conveyed to him, Croatia's PM Sanader said later in the evening that he had expected such a statement.
"What else the EU chairman can say but that it is not certain that the talks will start," Sanader said adding that "it is not certain that the talks will not start then (on 17 March), either".
He said that Croatia was seriously preparing itself for the accession talks, and called on political party leaders to convene on Tuesday to consider this matter.
"We are preparing ourselves seriously," Sanader said reiterating that it was not certain that the talks would not start then, either.
Asked by reporters what grounds were for his assessments, Sanader said that he did not think that whether Gotovina would be in The Hague by 17 March was the matter, but Croatia's cooperation with that tribunal.
"Can Croatia be accused of something it cannot do? If Gotovina is not in Croatia, what then?" Croatian PM said.
Asked how he would prove that Gotovina was not in Croatia, Sanader answered that all competent Croatian institutions "are doing everything".
Asked by reporters to comment on Del Ponte's statement in Luxembourg, Sanader said that he could not comment on it. He explained that he had not yet seen her statement and that he would comment on it later.
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 added that she was confident Croatia could do this.