(ZAGREB) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said on Wednesday that he expected his country to close all negotiating chapters with the European Union by 2009.

"Last year the EU targeted 2009 as the year of ending negotiations... We have agreed that that year should remain the one we aspire to," Sanader said after meeting a delegation of the European parliament headed by Hannes Swoboda.

"We are ready to do everything during this year in order to finish the biggest part of the work, including reforms of judiciary, public administration and fight against corruption," Sanader added.

Swoboda visited Zagreb ahead of presenting his report on Croatia in the parliament.

"We will use good relations with our colleagues in the European parliament, notably Slovenian and Slovenian presidency in order to solve open issues in the spirit of trust," Swoboda said.

Croatian leaders recently openly accused neighbouring Slovenia, which holds the current six-month term in the EU presidency, of blocking the country's progress towards EU membership over unsolved bilateral issues.

Slovenia has rejected the charges.

Since the two former Yugoslav republics declared independence in 1991, they have been unable to resolve a number of dsiputes notably over their common sea-border and a disputed fishing and ecological zone.

The zone to protect fishing stocks which was enforced by Zagreb on January 1 is strongly opposed by the EU, especially Croatia's Adriatic Sea neighbours Italy and Slovenia.

Brussels has warned Zagreb that its ambitions to join the bloc by the end of the decade could be jeopardised over the row, as well as by delays in justice and public administration reform.

Text and Picture Copyright 2008 AFP. All other Copyright 2008 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.