In an interview for the commercial TV station RTL, Milanovic said that a huge job had been done and that many had congratulated him on the positive outcome of Sunday's EU entry vote.

"But maybe I'm not the first who should be congratulated. We all have accomplished something that we believe is good for Croatia and that is the platform on which we will promote our interests. The most capable and resourceful among us and those seeking challenge will have room in the EU to prove themselves and pull the country forward, while those whose situation.... is not so good will at least be safe because society has to move forward," the PM said.

He said that he agreed partially with commentaries saying that the low turnout in the referendum was a sign of distrust in state institutions and politicians, noting that those institutions needed to be built further.

Milanovic reiterated that Croatians were for the first time entering an organisation of their own free will. "In terms of politics, business, regulations and ecology, that organisation is the most demanding structure ever made, more demanding than the United States and Japan, and playing there according to strict rules is not easy. It's a place for the best," he said.

The PM also said that over the last month his government had been working on regulations, a new structure of state institutions and a new budget which he said should be completed by the end of March.

"We have to take measures, that's what Croatia has been missing in the last two years," he said, adding that the current VAT rate of 23 percent would be increased, but that citizens of more modest financial circumstances would have greater tax concessions and that people with "salaries of below 8,000 kuna" would benefit from it.

He said that he saw room for investment primarily in the energy and railway sectors.

Asked to comment on criticism from the Opposition of the government's inspection of the situation in ministries and public companies as left by the previous government, if it meant that he did not trust former PM Jadranka Kosor and if he would meet with her to discuss it, Milanovic said his government had to have precise information so as know where to make savings. He said that he was willing to meet with Kosor to discuss it both informally or in his office, but primarily in the parliament where he said the Opposition worked publicly.