According to the statement which the EPP-ED, the strongest group in the European Parliament, sent to Hina ahead of a session of the Group's Bureau in the Croatian coastal city of Split, scheduled for Thursday and Friday, " the EPP-ED Group has always strongly supported Croatia on its way to the European Union and will continue to do so."
"Croatia has shown a strong commitment to the principles of European integration and European values and is making all efforts to fulfill the criteria, political and economic, which need to be fulfilled with a view to joining the European Union," the statement reads.
Poettering also assessed that "in particular, Croatia has confirmed full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)."
Poettering also expressed hope and confidence that "Croatia will be able to advance quickly on its way to membership in the European Union".
According to the EPP-ED Group chairman, Croatia "will have to be considered separately from the negotiations with Turkey which is a different case in many ways".
In this context he recalls that "Croatia is the only country in South-East Europe with which the European Union has opened accession negotiations so far. Croatia's accession - as the accession process of every country - has to be evaluated according to it own merits and progress made".
Poettering's latest statement differs from his interview with Reuters on the occasion of Europe Day, May 9.
He was quoted as saying that "the majority of people in the EU were frightened of further enlargement and cast doubt in particular over the long-term entry aspirations of the countries which emerged from the former Yugoslavia".
"The people are frightened, frightened that Europe becomes too big, that everything overstretches itself," Poettering told Reuters.
"Romania and Bulgaria will be okay, but Turkey or Croatia or the other Balkan states remain a doubt," he added.
Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader told the national parliament on Wednesday morning that Poettering had denied the statement in the meantime.
"Poettering denied the news yesterday. He is coming to Split tomorrow and he will confirm it," Sanader said during Question Time in the Sabor.