"France has promised us support in our bid because it believes that we deserve it, and it will present arguments to that effect before the European Council," the minister told Hina over the phone.
The minister is on a three-day working visit to France at the invitation of France's European Affairs Minister Claudia Heignere, with whom she met today.
"We have received very open support from the French side for the start of talks sometime in March next year," Grabar Kitarovic said after meeting her French counterpart.
Asked if this meant that France did not consider Croatia's failure to arrest runaway general Ante Gotovina crucial for granting it an exact date for the start of accession talks at the beginning of next year, the minister answered in the affirmative.
"France believes that the runaway general remains an outstanding issue which requires Croatia's cooperation, but also that the country's cooperation with the Hague tribunal must be viewed in its entirety," she said.
The minister said that one of the topics at her talks with French officials was the promotion of bilateral relations.
The Croatian delegation presented French officials with a document on the reform of the administration, cooperation between regions and environmental protection, with emphasis on the protection of the coastal area and islands.
"We have offered very concrete measures of cooperation and agreed on concrete exchanges," the minister said, adding that Croatian mayors and local and state authority officials would visit the French coast and Corsica to become acquainted with French solutions to the problems of protection of the environment, cultural heritage, and everything else that is ahead of Croatia.
The Croatian delegation will also meet the French prime minister's advisor on foreign affairs, Pascale Andreani this afternoon. The visit will be wrapped up on Friday with a lecture the minister is expected to deliver to business people and a meeting with the president of the association of French business people, Francois Perigot.