DEL PONTE SAYS CONFIDENT CROATIA WILL FULLY COOPERATE WITH HAGUE TRIBUNAL

ZAGREB, Jan 30(Hina) - The chief prosecutor with the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Carla Del Ponte, is confident Croatia's new government will fully cooperate with the tribunal, and says this will enable her to notify Brussels about it and thus support Croatia to the largest extent in joining the EU.#L# In an exclusive interview with Silvija Luks for Croatian Television, Del Ponte has said there will be very few new indictments for Croatia, and voiced hope her cooperation with Prime Minister Ivo Sanader will be good and that there will be no problems with the government. Del Ponte has said she is confident the Hague tribunal's Office of the Prosecutor will end up supporting Croatia the most in its European Union entry by informing Brussels that Croatia fully cooperates with the tribunal. The chief prosecutor has also said in the 40-minute interview, which will be aired at 8 pm on Saturday, that Croatia will be pleasantly surprised with the small number of new indictments from the Hague tribunal, which she added would be filed soon. Del Ponte's assessment that Croatia fully cooperates with the tribunal would unfreeze the process of ratification of Croatia's Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU in Great Britain and the Netherlands and bring the country closer to EU and NATO membership. (Hina) ha sb