rko:

"That's our advantage, but it's not enough," Karamarko told reporters in Zagreb. "It's not enough to live off a predecessor's poor performance, which the government is trying to do to justify its poor performance," he said, reiterating that the HDZ had programmes and its primary interest was the economy.

This government is preoccupied with itself and not with the higher price of electricity, Karamarko said.

Asked what he expected of the local elections, he said the HDZ was changing and that it would try to put forward as many young people as possible.

Asked if the party had worked out a strategy to solve the corruption lawsuit against it, Karamarko said the HDZ had no strategy and that this was a matter for the court.

"Individuals from the party stand accused and we will never agree to collective guilt," he said, adding that the party was not a party of thieves and that the individuals who broke the law must be held to account.

Commenting on polls showing that the HDZ's rating was declining, he said the polls were unreliable and projections of someone's wishes. "How can you believe that the rating of the (ruling Social Democratic Party) SDP is growing with this economic situation?" he said.