He was speaking to the press after meeting the leader of the Liberal Democrats group in the European Parliament, Annemie Neyts Uyterbroek.
Sanader said he would soon convene the presidents of all parliamentary parties in Croatia to inform them of the atmosphere and discussions within the various political groups in Europe. "We need a much stronger consensus on reforms. We must not wait. While the EU is discussing enlargement we have to do our homework so that when this debate is over we are ready."
Sanader announced he would talk with France's politicians given that it is currently the country most reserved about enlargement.
He voiced hope he would have a chance to discuss this issue with the president of the UMP party, Nicolas Sarkozy, or his associates at next week's European People's Party congress in Rome.
Sanader recalled that at an official meeting in Paris last November, French President Jacques Chirac "said very clearly that Croatia has France's absolute support for full (EU) membership and that everything can be completed by 2009".
Sanader said he expected that after French presidential elections in the spring of 2007 the position of "the leading French party, the UMP, will be that Croatia should become a member of the EU as soon as possible".
"The forthcoming elections are certainly of extreme importance for the future of the Union as well as Croatia," he said.
Neyts Uyterbroek said the Liberal Democrats supported Croatia and advocated that the EU must meet its commitments, "which includes a swift negotiating process and a swift accession of Croatia to the EU, but also the continuation of negotiations with Turkey, which will last longer, and the confirmation of prospects for the other Western Balkan countries which at this moment are not ready and which will need a long time to meet criteria, but they have to have membership prospects".
Neyts Uyterbroek said she personally voted against the enlargement resolution the European Parliament adopted last week because it was unclear. "When we said to the Western Balkan countries that they have prospects of full membership, then this means full membership and not something in between."
The resolution reads that when accepting new member states the Union must consider its absorption capacity, namely the ability to accept new member states. It states that countries without immediate European prospects should be offered something between full membership and the policy of good neighbourliness.
The European Parliament has also bound the European Commission to define the EU's absorption capacity by the end of the year.