The two officials discussed, among other things, the only outstanding issue between the two countries, that of compensation for Austrian nationals who fled Croatia after WWII, which recently caused heated debates in Croatia.
The Croatian and Austrian governments last year initialled a bilateral agreement on compensation for exiled Austrian citizens, but after President Stjepan Mesic, opposition parties and the public criticised the agreement, the government gave up on its plan to have it ratified by the parliament.
The Croatian state leadership agreed instead to change the law on denationalisation to solve the problem of Austrian citizens.
We expect the content of the agreement to be implemented and the technicalities of the issue are not important, Fischer said. It is irrelevant if this is done through an agreement or an amendment to the law, he said.
"Expert teams have solved the issue in talks with President Stjepan Mesic and Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and I believe that conditions have been created for the Sabor to adopt amendments to the law in the foreseeable future, which will be followed by certain protocols to regulate the problem at the technical level," Sabor Speaker Seks said, adding that the amendments were expected to be adopted by the summer.
The amending of the law on denationalisation does not require the absolute but only relative majority. According to some reports, Croatia can expect about 1,000 requests for compensation from Austria.
Fischer and Seks also discussed the further enlargement of the European Union and Croatia's full membership of the bloc.
Before he returns to Zagreb today Seks will also meet representatives of the Burgenland Croats.