"Today we will analyse the current situation and our proposals as to how to respond to it and how to pull this country out of the serious economic situation. We will make our economic programme public when we see fit," HDZ president Tomislav Karamarko told the press before the closed-door meeting.

Karamarko once again called for an early election. "We'll see what happens, what the outcome of the Lex Perkovic case will be, whether there will be sanctions. If sanctions are imposed, I think they will speed up this entire process," he said, expressing hope that the EU would not impose sanctions on Croatia for limiting the application of the European Arrest Warrant.

"This government will soon go away, but if sanctions are imposed they will stay and will put a great financial burden on the citizens of Croatia," he added.

The HDZ president said that messages from Brussels should be taken seriously and that Croatia should not ignore what it had signed in the EU accession treaty. "The way this law was created, after Germany ratified our accession treaty, and to come up with such a law between the ratification and the entry into the EU, is indeed scandalous."

Karamarko said that if the government withdrew the controversial law the HDZ was willing to support Social Democratic Party-sponsored constitutional amendments to lift the statute of limitations on politically motivated murders, insisting on a clear definition of such crimes. "We need to distinguish between crimes committed at the time of Yugoslavia which were the result of state terror over Croats at home and abroad. Those crimes were instigated by the Communist Party and that should be made clear."

Veliko Trgovisce is the birthplace of Franjo Tudjman, first president of independent Croatia and founder of the HDZ. It is situated about 40 kilometres northwest of Zagreb, near the border with Slovenia.