Kosor said Labour Act amendments were the only measure in her government's programme for economic recovery that could not be implemented because it was opposed by 800,000 citizens, the entire Opposition and five trade union federations. At the time, Milanovic signed a petition asking that the Labour Act not be changed, and now there are problems, she said.

"While in the Opposition, the Social Democrats' policy was short-sighted and they often put party interests above national interests," Kosor said, adding that the SDP had also been against the Fiscal Responsibility Act proposed by her government, which has been in force for more than a year.

"What the government is discussing with the IMF and other international institutions today should be viewed in the context of the fact that while in the Opposition... they did not have the strength to support some decisions important for Croatia's future, including the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Labour Act," said the HDZ leader.

She added that she was glad to hear the government say that employment in government services would be based on the "two for one" model, introduced by the HDZ-led government.

Noting that the government was frequently saying that it would be the first government to reduce spending, she recalled that her government in 2009 cut budget spending by a billion euros and made a number of other steps resulting in a 20-percent reduction of the 2010 budget.

"It is difficult to understand why the government, not having adopted a budget for 2012 yet, is planning a revised budget for mid-2012. Obviously, there is something wrong with the very budget structure already at this stage," she said.

Asked if the government could salvage Croatia's credit rating, Kosor said it was difficult to say.

"It's difficult to comment on the budget when we have been given so many contradictory statements on what will be reduced and what will be increased," she said.

She criticised PM Milanovic and his government for what she called failure to respond to the ongoing difficult weather conditions, with hundreds of villages trapped in snow, adding that he should have visited the most gravely affected areas and set up a crisis management centre to deal with the emergency.

Commenting on the appointment to and subsequent replacement from the supervisory board of the oil pipeline operator JANAF of Srecko Ferencak, who was sentenced pending appeal to a year in prison for financial wrongdoing, Kosor said it constituted pressure on the judiciary.

She advised the government to stick by the solution introduced by her government, namely to invite applications for appointments to public companies' supervisory and management boards.