"Taking everything into consideration, there is no better option than the EU. It is neither the United States nor Japan, the two countries with which the EU can and must compare itself," the Croatian premier said in his keynote speech on Thursday at the beginning of a parliamentary discussion on the government's report on the course and results of Croatia-EU accession negotiations.

He said that the EU was not a recipe for all problems of sovereign nations and political associations, as evidenced by the current crisis in the EU.

"The situation is not great, however, the European Union is the best organised union and the most complex sociological, ecological, economic and legislative union humankind has ever set up," he said, adding that the EU has the highest standards in terms of human rights protection, tolerance, diversity, investment and prevention of inequality.

He said that once Croatia joined the Union, it would also be able to decide to withdraw from it after being some time in the Union, but that so far none of the members had done so.

This fact is also an argument in favour of EU accession because decisions (on joining the EU) are made in a sovereign manner and no one has ever changed their opinion, he said.

"There are 4.5 million Croatians, enough to build a good country, but not enough for our country to be a global player. This is what we must take into account," the PM said.

When it comes to the current crisis in Europe, some are good at coping with it and some aren't, which is not the EU's fault but their own fault, he said.

There are those who are playing according to rules and undertaking reforms in a timely fashion, and there are those who are slow, he said, adding that the EU was aware of that and was therefore analysing and changing itself.

"We are joining something that we know is good... that is changing itself, and this fact should be in our focus. (...) It's up to us to take the best for ourselves, from the EU ... and to make Croatia stronger and more stable and independent," he added.

He said that Croatia had studied the EU over the last 20 years and that the country was prepared very well for its prospective membership.

As for Sunday's referendum in which the Croatians will vote on the country's accession to the 27-strong bloc and comparisons with Croatia's accession to Yugoslav unions in 1918 and in 1945, Milanovic said that the decisions in the 20th century were hasty, without the Croatian people's participation in the decision-making.

Milanovic said that today's parliamentary discussion had been convened at the proposal of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).