"I am confident that we will be able to conclude the talks by the end of 2007 or the beginning of 2008," Sanader said in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro on Monday during a two-day working visit to Paris. The interview was carried by the French news agency AFP.
"We abandoned the socialist economic system and, in order to overcome the consequences of war, we pursued the policy of reconciliation and encouraged the participation of ethnic minorities," he added.
Sanader thanked President Jacques Chirac for France's "sincere, valuable and constructive support" to Croatia on its path to EU membership.
Asked about Croatian Army General Ante Gotovina, who is sought by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on war crimes charges, Sanader said that his government "is fully cooperating with the Hague tribunal and will continue cooperating until the last case is solved."