Guesting on national radio on Monday, Sanader once again called on Ante Gotovina, the runaway general wanted by the UN court, to clarify the indictment against him and his role in the 1990s war of independence in The Hague.
Sanader said generals Mladen Markac, Ivan Cermak and others were on the same level as Gotovina in terms of what they did in the Homeland War, yet they surrendered to the tribunal. He added there could be no double standards.
The PM declined to comment on statements from the leaders of the Disabled Homeland War Veterans Association about Gotovina, saying the majority of the association understood and supported the government's positions.
Asked about the freezing of Gotovina's assets, Sanader confirmed the government received a letter from the State Prosecutor's Office which was based on the law on international restrictive measures. He said a task force had been set up for the enforcement of that law and that it was considering freezing Gotovina's assets.
Sanader said he did not wish to prejudge the outcome, adding he believed it would not be necessary to freeze the assets.
According to the PM, he did not know about Gotovina's allegedly criminal past in France the media have written about. He said that had he known he would have reacted sooner, but added he did not wish to get involved because it concerned the French authorities.
Sanader said he was more than 50 percent confident that Croatia's EU entry talks would start on March 17 as scheduled.
As for the interpretation of full cooperation with the Hague tribunal, the PM said Croatia was in favour of it meaning that everything was being done to close the last outstanding issue, namely to locate Gotovina and have him face the indictment in The Hague. He added that for some politicians and countries full cooperation meant only that Gotovina must be in The Hague.
According to Sanader, the dispute might be settled by March 10. He wondered if Croatia could be accused of noncooperation if Gotovina was not in Croatia. He reiterated that the information at the disposal of competent bodies indicated that the general was not in the country.
As for the constitution of the so-called government of the so-called Republic of Serb Krajina in Belgrade over the weekend, Sanader labelled it a futile attempt to revive the Greater Serbia policy in Croatia. He expects Belgrade to clearly distance itself from that.
Commenting on the boasting by some participants in the event of having Croatian citizenship, Sanader said Croatia's judiciary would sanction their attempts to once again rebel against Croatia.
Sanader dismissed media speculation that former police chief Ranko Ostojic might become one of his advisors.