"Croatia will show that it is cooperating well and fulfilling the Action Plan for cooperation with the Hague tribunal presented by Prime Minister Ivo Sanader," Mesic said after meeting Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski in Zagreb on Wednesday.
"I expect our position to be completely different," Mesic said when asked if Croatian officials would succeed in convincing del Ponte that Croatia was doing its utmost to solve the case of the runaway general Ante Gotovina.
Speaking about the fulfillment of EU membership criteria, Mesic recalled the implemented reforms of the army, police and customs service, and the ongoing reforms of the judiciary and public administration.
He said that Croatia had also met the criterion of full cooperation with the Hague tribunal, but that police and intelligence services had not been able to find General Gotovina on Croatia's territory.
"Intelligence services and police are working on it and I am confident that we will also overcome that obstacle in cooperation with foreign services and police forces."
The chief prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunal, Carla del Ponte, will meet on Thursday Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, with whom she will discuss Croatia's cooperation with the tribunal.
Del Ponte's assessment that Croatia was not fully cooperating with the tribunal was crucial for the European Council's decision to postpone the start of EU membership talks with Croatia on March 17.