The German parliament chief was quoted as saying that Germany was following Croatia's EU membership talks with interest and evident sympathies.
Lammert said that the latest EU progress report on Croatia underlined Zagreb's great progress in many fields and also certain structural shortcomings which the country must solve before its entry into the European bloc. This refers primarily to the reform in the judiciary and public administration and to the fight against corruption and organised crime, he added.
Bebic was quoted as saying that Croatia is aware of its problems and that there is strong political will to solve them in order to facilitate Croatia's plan to wrap up the accession negotiations by the end of June.
According to the press release, Bebic also met with the German Foreign Ministry's state secretary for Europe, Werner Hoyer, who reaffirmed Germany's steady support for Croatia's EU membership bid.