Answering a question by a Croatian Democratic Union deputy during question time, the minister said that NATO officials had so far only praised Croatia's efforts to join the alliance, particularly with regard to reforms.
At a recent meeting in Brussels, NATO officials assessed that Croatia was the candidate-country which had made the greatest progress, Grabar Kitarovic said.
The fourth cycle of implementation of the membership action plan was completed in late May, and the fifth cycle, to discuss defence reform, will start in the autumn, she said.
Minister of the Interior Ivica Kirin said that there was no discrimination on ethnic or religious grounds in his ministry.
The representative of the Bosniak minority, Semso Tankovic, asked the minister what his ministry was doing to make the ethnic structure of police in towns and municipalities reflect the ethnic composition of the local population, since in some towns there was not a single police officer from among national minorities.
Kirin said that the Ministry of the Interior had done a lot in that regard, particularly in the formerly war-affected areas, and that Croatia would need more border police officers in the future in light of its integration with the EU.
He added, however, that many police officers were not willing to state their nationality, which Tankovic said was the best proof that "something is wrong" in the police.