BRUSSELS, Mar. 2, SPA-- Croatian President Stipe Mesic wrapped up two days of talks with the European Union on Wednesday with no sign he'd overcome a dispute over a fugitive general that risks derailing Croatia's hopes of starting membership talks in two weeks. «I know what we need to do, and we will do it and achieveit much more easily if we have support from others,» Mesictold reporters after talks with EU foreign policy chiefJavier Solana. The EU is insisting Croatia must show full cooperationwith the international war crimes tribunal before startingofficial membership talks on March 17. It wants Croatia tocapture retired Gen. Ante Gotovina and extradite him to theU.N. court in The Hague, Netherlands. «We hope they will have a solution, and the presidentknows very well what is the situation now,» Solana said. Mesic said Tuesday he believed retired Gen. Ante Gotovinawas no longer in Croatia, and that the fugitive's statusshould not delay his country's moves toward NATO and EUmembership. He said Croatian authorities had sent a letter to EU andNATO governments with «hundreds of pages» of evidenceshowing their efforts to locate Gotovina and cooperate withthe tribunal. Croat Prime Minister Ivo Sanader warned Wednesday thatpostponing EU membership talks would raise anti-Europeansentiments and strengthen nationalists across the Balkanregion. «A negative decision would lift anti-European sentimentsand strengthen radical elements across the region,»Sanader told reporters, just hours after the release of anEU-commissioned poll indicating only one-third of Croatsnow support EU membership.--SPA 2248 Local Time 1948 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/243758