We now need to inform the Croatian public about facts and figures, about what Croatia can expect as a member of the European Union. People should be better informed about the EU ahead of the referendum on membership, Bebic told a joint press conference.

Everyone needs an additional education. We all don't know enough about the European Union and the sooner we admit it the better, because it will be easier for us to deal with certain things, he added.

Vandoren said that Croatia was now at a critical stage of the accession process.

We all know that a decision on membership will be made by the citizens, so it is important that the citizens get full and objective information, Vandoren said, stressing the role of the media in that regard.

We are close to conclusion of negotiations and now we need to wait and see how talks will develop between the member states and the European Commission in Brussels, he said.

When asked if the imposition of a monitoring mechanism was a condition for the completion of accession negotiations in June, Vandoren said that no such decision had been made.

When asked if Croatia could expect any further obstacles in the accession process from countries that had not been inclined to it from the outset, Vandoren said that we should wait until Thursday to see what initial exchanges of views between the European Commission and the member states would be like.

The final reports on Chapter 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) and Chapter 8 (Competition Policy) have indicated that huge progress has been made. Those reports now need to be analysed to see if the benchmarks have been met, Vandoren said.

The chairwoman of the National Committee overseeing EU accession negotiations, Vesna Pusic, said that EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele was due to submit an oral report on Thursday.

I don't expect that he will discuss a date, but we will see from the tone of his report how things will unfold, Pusic said.

Pusic said that Croatia had undergone an important transformation, that it was maintaining close communication with member states at all levels, that it had made serious progress in meeting the necessary benchmarks, particularly those relating to the judiciary, which she said had met with a positive reaction from the institutions and members and indicated that the negotiations would be wrapped up before the summer break.

Pusic said that a decision on whether the negotiations would be completed in June and when Croatia could become a full member of the Union might be heard at an EU ministerial meeting on Monday.

As regards the possibility of a monitoring mechanism being introduced for Croatia, Pusic said that no one was talking about post-accession monitoring, but only about monitoring during the period from the completion of the negotiations until entry.

I think that Croatia itself should establish mechanisms to monitor the enforcement of its own laws, Pusic said.