Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said Thursday that he expects his country to become an E.U. member in 2009 as planned, despite questions about the bloc's future. 

Sanader said the turmoil over the E.U. constitution - which failed to win E.U.-wide approval in 2004 in a sign of expansion fatigue in some quarters of the European Union - would not delay Croatia's entry. 

The charter, voted down in French and Dutch referendums, contains badly needed institutional reforms designed to keep a larger union functioning smoothly. 

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said there should be no more E.U. enlargement before the bloc - which is preparing to admit Romania and Bulgaria in January - is clear about the future of the stalled constitution. 

But Sanader said the debate about rescuing the stricken constitution and Croatia's entry negotiations "do not exclude each other." 

Sanader, speaking upon his arrival at a meeting of Christian Democratic leaders on the eve of an E.U. summit north of the capital, said Croatia deserves to be a full member in 2009 since it has been negotiating entry terms for more than a year. 

Balkan neighbors Serbia and Ukraine also are pushing for E.U. membership. Turkey, too, is negotiating entry terms, but bringing Ankara into the E.U. fold has generated significant opposition in parts of the E.U.