Sanader said that Croatia understood the dissatisfaction of the Hague tribunal, which indicted Gotovina for war crimes committed during a Croatian army offensive against rebel Serb forces in August 1995.
"I understand (their) dissatisfaction, but we are also dissatisfied, because this (the fact that Gotovina is not in The Hague) precludes the scheduled start of membership talks," the prime minister said.
Sanader again called on all the state institutions to do their job concerning the opening of membership talks, including the Gotovina case.
"If we cannot resolve this case, we will present all our arguments in The Hague," he said.
Sanader repeated that the relevant state authorities were following up on any information they got, either from Croatian or foreign nationals, in connection with the runaway general, and that the Hague tribunal was kept posted on the developments.
The prime minister said he was confident that the Croatian authorities would find a solution and take additional steps "to put an end to the case".
Sanader reiterated that EU membership was an important issue to Croatia and that the country wanted to be well prepared for it.
"If we start the talks (on March 17), and I believe we will, we can close them in 2007," the prime minister said.