"Austria absolutely supports the start of the accession negotiations between Croatia and the EU on 17 March," the chancellor told a news conference he held after a session of his government.
"Zagreb expects the green light for the start of accession talks. That must happen," Schuessel said.
This is why we need a consent of all EU foreign ministers who will discuss this in Brussels tomorrow, he added.
The Austrian officials said Europe must recognise Croatia's achievements in cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He stressed that a large number of people had already been extradited to the tribunal and that great efforts had been invested into locating fugitive general Ante Gotovina.
Austrian media reported on efforts Croatia made in order to enable the start of negotiations on 17 March, as planned, and added that the EU made negotiations conditional on Croatia's full cooperation with the Hague tribunal, namely the extradition of the runaway general.