EU accession is a goal of all participants in Croatia's political life, from the left to the right, and Croatia will meet all conditions to achieve that goal, Croatian President Ivo Josipovic said after talks with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Zagreb on Thursday.
The meeting lasted twice as long as scheduled.
Josipovic said that Croatia would meet all EU membership criteria and that there would be "no concessions" in that regard.
Speaking about the completion of the accession talks, he said that everybody in Croatia would like the talks to be completed in June, which he said "isn't impossible."
Barroso said that completing the talks in June would be an exceptional achievement.
Josipovic recalled that the government had invested great efforts so that Croatia could join the EU, and that it had achieved significant results in the fight against corruption, judicial reforms, and cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal.
He added that the Opposition, too, had given its contribution to that goal.
It is all up to us and the efforts that remain to be made. There is no country opposing Croatia's admission to the EU as its 28th member, said Josipovic.
Barroso expressed confidence that Croatia would attain its ambitious goal.
The last stage is sometimes the most difficult, he noted, adding that he believed that Croatia was ready to overcome the last obstacles on the road to that goal.
He reiterated that Croatia had lately made exceptional progress, commending Josipovic's role in the accession process.
