"The Croatian side is continuing investigations and preparing arguments and evidence with regard to objections presented by the chief prosecutor of the Hague tribunal," the minister said after an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers, who were joined this afternoon by their colleagues from four candidate countries.
Grabar Kitarovic would not reveal more details on the documents and evidence the Croatian government intends to present at a meeting with the EU task force, scheduled to take place in Luxembourg on April 26.
The task force, which consists of representatives of the current and two future EU chairs - Luxembourg and Britain and Austria, High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, and Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, will meet in Luxembourg on April 26, after which it will hold meetings with the chief prosecutor of the UN tribunal, Carla del Ponte, and Minister Grabar Kitarovic.
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said that one should wait for the outcome of the talks between the task force and del Ponte and the Croatian government because nothing would be announced or done before that.
He reiterated that the door to the EU remained open to Croatia and that the key to the door was in Croatia's hands.
Grabar Kitarovic today held bilateral meetings with a dozen European colleagues, including Asselborn, who chairs the Council of the European Union.
Slovene Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said during the two-day informal meeting of EU foreign ministers that Croatia had not been discussed except in unofficial situations.
"We all want Croatia to start the talks as soon as possible, but that requires meeting conditions which are well known. Positions on whether Croatia meets the set criteria differ very much in the EU, there are countries which believe that Croatia does not meet them and countries which view this very positively, like Slovenia, Austria and Hungary," Rupel said.
"I believe that the general atmosphere is positive and that everybody is interested in finding a solution as soon as possible," he added.