Zuzul said, however, that the decision on the entry talks would mention some outstanding issues.
"Based on the efforts we are making and on information I've managed to collect in this short period, I firmly believe that Croatia will get a date. Everything points to that. But we are also aware that some outstanding issues will be mentioned in the decision," Zuzul said and added that Croatia was expected to clearly show that it would meet its obligations regarding cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
Zuzul arrived in Brussels as part of a brief European tour which is aimed at explaining what Croatia has done since ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte submitted her report to the UN Security Council in late November in which she said that ICTY indictee Ante Gotovina was the only remaining obstacle in Croatia's cooperation with the tribunal. The first destination was London, which Zuzul visited on Thursday.
According to Zuzul, Croatia met and was meeting a large part of conditions, but added that it was a fact that there was one open issue and that had not changed since the start of this year.
Croatia is hoping to get a concrete date for the start of negotiations in the first half of 2005, in line with the announcement the EU made in June. Carla del Ponte's report to the UN Security Council, however, could affect further developments.
Croatia can and is trying to influence that it be assessed according to progress it has made over the past several years, notably in 2004, the minister said and added that there was a lot more to be done. "This is our approach and I am optimistic about it".