The declaration, which will most likely be sent to the European Parliament and the parliaments of all EU member states already today, said that the date for the start of entry talks was "of fundamental importance to Croatia and the entire Southeast Europe".
The Croatian parliamentary parties called on all EU members and European parliamentarians to recognise the value of Croatia's admission to the bloc and to encourage a positive public attitude and a favourable decision of the European Council.
The declaration said that Croatia had invested considerable efforts and made substantial progress in meeting the Copenhagen criteria and the EU recommendations, including cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said that the meeting of the parliamentary parties was very important, particularly because of their determination to overcome differences between them over a historic issue such as Croatia's admission to the EU.
Asked how the case of fugitive general Ante Gotovina would affect the decision of the European Council, Sanader recalled that Croatia had been granted a positive opinion on its EU membership application and candidate status although it could not resolve the case, and added that cooperation with the Hague tribunal had been assessed as complete.
"We declare also today that Croatia is fully cooperating with the Hague tribunal and that it wants to resolve this last case, and we insist that a date for the start of negotiations should be determined on the basis of the fact that Croatia is cooperating fully," the Prime Minister said.
"Give us a date for the start of talks. We cannot allow the whole country, the parties, the public, to wait once again for four months, until March, because Croatia deserves a start date," he added.
Sanader said he firmly believed that Croatia would be given a date for the start of talks, but that "behind-the-scene and diplomatic battles" were still being fought over the wording of the decision.
Sanader welcomed the agreement of the parliamentary parties to discuss the negotiating positions and principles of negotiating teams at the start of the next parliamentary sitting.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader and opposition coordinator, Ivica Racan, confirmed the agreement of all the parliamentary parties that Croatia should be given a date for the start of membership talks, and that the parties would support the talks when they started.
Racan said that the declaration confirmed the existence of a consensus in Croatia on its membership of the European Union.