BELGRADE, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said in the Croatian capital of Zagreb on Thursday that his country would continue supporting EU enlargement during its presidency of the 25-nation bloc.

    Vanhanen, who was on a tour of EU candidate countries, made thepledge during talks with his Croatian counterpart Ivo Sanader, reported the Croatian HINA news agency.

    "The EU must honor its obligations and Croatia will become a member as soon as it meets all the requirements," Vanhanen told the press. Finland takes over from Austria the six-month EU presidency on July 1 this year.

    "When Croatia will be admitted depends exclusively on the country itself and Croatia will become a full member in accordancewith its own achievements," he said.

    In October last year, Croatia started membership talks with theEuropean Union and was expected to be a full member in 2009.

    Sanader told the news conference that the process of Croatia's integration with the EU, particularly during the Finnish EU presidency, was the main topic of the Zagreb talks.

    "We expect most reports on negotiation chapters to be completedduring the Finnish EU presidency and I expect those six months to be very dynamic," Sanader said.

    On the latest European Commission reports on Romania and Bulgaria, which heralded a possible delay of their entry, Sanader expressed hope that there would be no stagnation in the planned process of EU expansion.

    "I want this primarily for the sake of Bulgaria and Romania, but also for the sake of Croatia, as problems surrounding those two countries could affect Croatia's integration with the EU," Sanader said. Enditem