Speaking to the press after visiting a children's home in Zagreb on Tuesday, Sanader said Croatia's proposal was for the European Council to adopt a final decision on Croatia's entry talks on Friday because the Union had at its disposal mechanisms to block or stop the negotiations.
He underlined that Croatia fully cooperated with the Hague tribunal and deserved an unconditional decision at the Friday summit without any reservations.
Dutch foreign minister and EU Council chair Bernard Bot said last night Croatia would most likely be able to start the pre-accession negotiations next April, provided it fully cooperated with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Speaking to the press after a meeting of EU foreign ministers, who discussed opening the Croatia-EU negotiations, Bot said the EU was preparing to tell Croatia that judging by all accounts, the talks could start in April but that Croatia must fully cooperate with the Hague tribunal.
Sanader said the Council of Ministers' decision on a conditional date for the negotiations was not final, and that he expected the EU prime ministers to reconsider the foreign ministers' proposal on Thursday at preparatory meetings for the European Council summit the next day.
As for the exact date of the talks, Sanader said it was still possible for them to start in March. He recalled that Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who will chair the EU in the first half of 2005, said that for technical reasons it would be easier to organise an intergovernmental conference in April.
Sanader said he would have an opportunity to talk to some EU prime ministers on Thursday because he was set to attend a working lunch within a European People's Party meeting.
"Croatia will be on the agenda of that meeting and I will have the opportunity to inform some 12 or 13 of my colleagues prime ministers about our views," Sanader said, voicing hope he would be able to "win them over" so the final document of Friday's summit will give Croatia an entry talks date, with the commitment that it must fully cooperate with the Hague tribunal, but without subsequent verification.