Asked by the press when the Dutch parliament would ratify the Treaty, Rosenthal said compliance with criteria was being monitored and that if the result was positive, he was confident that there would be no problem with moving on with the procedure.

I am confident that our Croatian friends have clearly understood the messages not only from the Netherlands but from the whole European Council as well, Rosenthal said, adding that the Netherlands would continue to apply to Croatia as well as EU enlargement in general the principle 'strict and just'.

That also refers to Serbia, which we have recently awarded candidate status, he said.

He held talks with President Ivo Josipovic and Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusic, who announced that she would send monitoring tables to Brussels by March 15 as well a special report on the 'Judiciary and Fundamental Rights' negotiation chapter. The European Commission is expected to release a monitoring report in April.

Pusic said it was important to always talk with the European partners, notably in the monitoring period, adding that the Croatian and Dutch positions on the monitoring matched.

"As far as the Netherlands is concerned, their motto has always been 'strict and just'. This means the criteria are high, but once they are met, it means we are ready to function within the EU," she said, adding, "Our rule is the same, to send positive political messages and meet the highest criteria."

Rosenthal said his government would all apply all monitoring mechanisms to Croatia, notably regarding the 'Judiciary and Fundamental Rights' chapter. He expects the Accession Treaty to be ratified towards the end of the year, saying it depends solely on the parliament in The Hague on which the government cannot exert any influence.

The Netherlands was one of the EU countries that insisted the most on the monitoring of Croatia from the completion of the entry talks to accession on 1 July 2013.

Rosenthal and Pusic also talked about including Croatia in a Dutch-Slovak initiative for Tunisia which would consist of the transfer of Croatian experience in institution building in south Mediterranean countries caught up in the Arab Spring.

Asked if arbitration was a good way to solve the border issue with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pusic said it was if there was no bilateral solution. "If you can't do anything else, there's nothing wrong with arbitration. But we are trying to solve it bilaterally."

Pusic said 98 per cent of the border had been preliminarily determined, voicing hope that the two countries would be able to bilaterally agree on the entire border.