"This is very important for the future of Croatia," del Ponte said in the interview with the Bosnian section of VOA Television.
Asked about possible consequences of the case for Croatia at the next summit of the European Union, the chief prosecutor said: I keep away from politics, but I will certainly appreciate it if, after the start of negotiations, the international community and the European Union keep the extradition of Gotovina as a condition for Croatia's admission.
Del Ponte also said that there was a network of people supporting the Croatian general.
I think Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and his Government must first identify this network and destroy it so that Gotovina can be located in time, she said, adding that the Croatian prime minister was fully involved in efforts to track down the runaway general.
Del Ponte also expressed hope that the two most wanted fugitives, Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and military commander Ratko Mladic, would be in The Hague before the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre in July 2005.
It is unbelievably scandalous that they have not yet been arrested and extradited to The Hague, the chief prosecutor said.
From time to time I get information about Mladic's whereabouts in Serbia and Karadzic's in Republika Srpska, the Serb entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Karadzic also moves around in Serbia and Montenegro. I know that they are there, I know that it is possible to locate them and I think that we are approaching the time when the arrests will have to be made, del Ponte said.