"This country cannot be pulled out of the crisis by politicians but by professionals," Tomasic said in a Croatian Television current affairs talk show. She said that if she were a prime minister she would form a technical government, adding that she did not think it would be an embarrassment.

When asked if she thought that Tomislav Karamarko, the leader of the strongest opposition party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), could get the country out of the crisis, she replied: "There is no politician who could pull Croatia out of the crisis."

Asked what she thought of people who did not respect the law on bilingualism, Tomasic said that everyone respected the law, but that it was not yet time for the official use of Cyrillic script in Vukovar.

"The Constitution says that bilingualism may be introduced, but that the application of the law should not go against people living there. The Constitution is most important to us. In Vukovar, Cyrillic alphabet means murder, persecution and devastation," Tomasic said, noting that she was in favour of Cyrillic signs being introduced in the town one day. "War victims are still being exhumed there," she added.

When asked what she thought of the status of the Serbs in Croatia, Tomasic said that if it were up to her to decide "all citizens would be equal." When asked if she thought that the Serbs were now "more equal", she said that the Serbs accounted for five or six per cent of Croatia's population, while there were 30 per cent of them in the present government. She said she got the figures from journalists whom she trusts.

"Why no one responds when some of the Serbs say that the Serbs in Croatia are now more endangered than ever? Every action causes a reaction," she said. "I want us all to be equal, but I don't like people scoring political points on account of being a member of a minority group by saying that we Croats are murders and butchers and that we can't wait to blame Serbs for something. I want to see those people being criticised too."

Speaking of her party's plans for the next parliamentary election, Tomasic mentioned a possibility of taking on non-members. "I won't become smaller in people's eyes if I take on board someone who knows better," she said.

Tomasic said she would not be running in the next election for the European Parliament because her party had young people who were ready to defend Croatia's interests. She said she would not have received so many votes if "the Prime Minister had not said what he said."