Meron is expected to state that Croatia is not completely fulfilling its obligations towards the tribunal due to the unresolved case of runaway general Ante Gotovina.
This is a sensitive issue for Croatia which believes that it will be given the exact date for the start of accession talks with the European Union in December. One of the conditions for EU membership is full cooperation with the tribunal.
During his recent visit to Croatia, Meron warned that solving the Gotovina case was crucial for his report to the UN General Assembly and his report to the UN Security Council on 23 November, and that without progress in that field he would not be able to report that Croatia was fulfilling its obligations.
He also said that he was satisfied with the progress in the training of Croatian judges for taking over some ICTY cases, which is envisaged by the exit strategy.
In his earlier report to the Security Council in June this year, Meron voiced doubt that Croatian courts could conduct fair war crimes trials and warned about OSCE and EU reports about 2002 and 2003 trials
mentioning the ethnic bias of Croatian courts.
What is especially important for Croatia is the report on the tribunal's work to be submitted by chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte and Meron to the UN Security Council on 23 November. Del Ponte is expected to dedicate a large part of the report to the cooperation between the tribunal and former Yugoslav countries, including Croatia.
In her address to NATO's Permanent Council in Brussels some ten days ago, Del Ponte expressed her deep disappointment with Croatia's failure to arrest Gotovina despite increased efforts. She stated that Gotovina was still in Croatia and that there was a network of his supporters who were helping him hide and waiting for the tribunal to close down in 2010 so that he could go unpunished.
Del Ponte said she expected Croatian authorities to arrest Gotovina and Bosnian Croat Miroslav Bralo until 23 November, when she would submit her report to the Security Council.
Bralo surrendered to the Stabilisation Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina on November 10 and was transferred to The Hague last Friday, so Gotovina remains the only outstanding issue between Croatia and the tribunal.
Failure to arrest Gotovina potentially complicates relations between Croatia and the European Union which is expected to set a date for the start of Croatia-EU membership talks in December.
In her report to EU foreign ministers in October, del Ponte urged the EU to exert pressure on Croatia and Serbia to transfer as soon as possible the remaining indictees at large. She also said that she expected Croatia to arrest Gotovina before 23 November.
The EU ministers then warned former Yugoslav countries that failure to cooperate with the tribunal could seriously hamper their progress towards the EU.
They called on Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia to offer all necessary help to the ICTY so that Ratko Mladic, Radovan Karadzic and Ante Gotovina are brought to justice.
Croatian Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul said at the time he did not expect any blockade of the decision on the start of the accession talks.
"I am confident that Croatia will get a date in December because we will continue doing what we have to do as a law-based state, and this also refers to the Gotovina case and cooperation with the Hague tribunal," Zuzul said.