According to sources close to the Luxembourg Presidency of the EU, the ministers will not adopt any decision on Croatia, but sent a strong warning to the country to establish full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
A statement drafted by EU experts for the ministers to issue next Monday said: "The (EU) Council called on Croatia to take the necessary measures to cooperate fully with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and reaffirmed that the last remaining indictee must be located and transferred to the Hague at the earliest possible moment".
Croatian Foreign Affairs and European Integration Minister Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic is also expected to visit Brussels on Monday and attended a working lunch with the EU foreign ministers and the foreign minister of candidate countries.
The European Council decided at the summit in December to start Negotiations with Croatia on March 17, should Croatia fully cooperate with the ICTY.
The final decision on Croatia's EU entry talks is most likely to be made at a meeting of the EU foreign minister on March 16, which leaves Croatia with less than a month to locate and extradite Gotovina or to prove that it is doing all that it can to solve that problem.
EU officials said that ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte's report would have the key role in assessing Croatia's cooperation with the Hague tribunal.
Del Ponte delievered her report on the hunt for the fugitive general to the Luxembourg Presidency of the EU, which circulated it to member states.
"It makes clear that highly placed networks in Croatia are protecting Gotovina and the government is equivocal about his capture," she said.
Croatia also sent a letter to the Luxembourg Presidency of the EU responding to Del Ponte's latest assessment.
Croatia will do all that it can to extradite general Gotovina to the ICTY, former Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul said in a later, dated February 16. Zuzul, however, did not say that the problem would be solved by March 17.
The Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Jean Claude Juncker said after talks with del Ponte that a final decision on the start of accession talks with Croatia has not yet been made, but added the talks would start on 17 March on condition that general Gotovina was extradited to the ICTY.
Juncker said that the EU would find it hard to start the scheduled entry talks with Croatia if Gotovina was not in the custody of the Hague tribunal by then.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said on Feb. 1 that Zagreb was not doing enough and he could not at present recommend the start of talks.
Rehn said the EU had evidence that Gotovina was within reach of the Croatian authorities, either in Croatia or in the Bosnian Croat area of Bosnia
The sources close to the Luxembourg Presidency said France and Germany had jointly called on Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader last Thursday to reinforce the message that Gotovina must be handed over for the negotiations to begin.
Croatia's neighbours, Austria and Hungary, have argued in EU councils for a more lenient approach.