"Both Croatia and the European Commission are confident that the European Council would set a date for the start of accession talks," Zuzul told reporters after talks with European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn.
Asked whether Croatia would be satisfied with a date for entry talks that would be conditional on something, Zuzul said "every date is conditional on something regardless of how it is defined, because the next step for the start of negotiations is the adoption of a unanimous decision on the negotiating platform by the European Council.
Zuzul said that those conditions should not overweigh positive developments. "We expect to receive a concrete date and I predict that a part of the text would refer to Croatia's obligation to continue cooperating with the Hague tribunal".
Zuzul and Rehn also talked about the case of fugitive general Ante Gotovina, which is the only remaining outstanding issue in cooperation with the ICTY.
"Once again I reiterated that we are aware that this remains an obligation of the Croatian government," Zuzul said and added that the meaning of the term ''meeting all obligations'' could not be sized down to one issue.
Asked whether the government was preparing some sort of a gesture regarding the Gotovina case, Zuzul said the government would not only make a gesture but concrete steps, and added that the memo which the government recently sent to European addresses and the letter which Prime Minister Ivo Sanader sent to his counterparts in the EU clearly stated what the Croatian government was ready to do and would do.
Zuzul said he did not wish to speak in detail, saying only that the government was determined to continue meeting its obligations.
Over the past few days, Croatia has intensified its diplomatic activities to ensure that the decision on a concrete date for the start of negotiations on full EU membership is adopted at the EU summit scheduled for December 16 and 17.
The Dutch EU presidency has received a draft text of the decision stating that the EU would launch negotiations with Croatia if the Council of the EU confirmed that the country is fully cooperating with the UN war crimes tribunal. A concrete date for the start of negotiations is expected to be set at the December summit.