Speaking at a panel discussion in the seaport of Rijeka on Thursday, the minister said that parliamentary parties "covered" about 90 percent of the electorate in the country and if they called on citizens to support Croatia's admission to the alliance, 85 percent of citizens would very likely be in favour of this move.
NATO is a guarantee for Croatia's territorial integrity and independence, Roncevic said adding that Croatia had met political criteria for NATO membership that were the same as requirements for the European Union membership.
He said that in case of membership in the alliance, Croatia would have some 16,000 soldiers, otherwise it would have to have some 75,000.
Earlier in the day, Roncevic visited Macedonian General Zoran Lekovski, who was admitted to the Rijeka hospital o 20 May after a road accident. The crash happened while a column of cars with a Macedonian delegation on a visit to Croatia was driving along the Rijeka-Zagreb highway. The condition of the injured general is stable now.