"We never said that one should wait for the referendum," she told reporters, adding that a lot had to be done between the completion of the negotiations and the signing of the accession treaty, which was the condition for holding the referendum on Croatia's EU entry.

Kosor said the conflict of interest law, for example, was a benchmark for closing the negotiations and that before the accession treaty was signed, this law should "come to life", the conflict of interest commission should be appointed and officials must submit declarations of assets.

She said there would be a lot of work ahead after the negotiations were closed, adding that the government would not be able to do everything alone.

Kosor said she would once again invite opposition leaders to talks on whether to complete the negotiations or not, and then agree on elections.

The PM said she discussed this earlier today with leaders of the opposition HSP and HDSSB parties, adding that they had agreed on some issue and not on others.

"As regards other (opposition parties), we could see today that the Alliance for Europe does not exist. There are parliamentary opposition parties who swear they want Croatia to enter the EU, but they are doing absolutely nothing for that to happen," she said, adding that by failing to meet with her today, they showed that they did not want to help the government to expedite the completion of the entry negotiations.

Kosor reiterated that she was ready for talks, as the government felt that completing the negotiations by the end of June, if possible, was Croatia's strategic goal.

"After that we are absolutely ready to designate the election date," she said.

She voiced confidence that agreement would be reached with the opposition eventually, and reiterated that the government wanted the opposition parties that were part of the Alliance for Europe to finally say if they were for wrapping up the entry talks or not.

She reiterated that the negotiations and their completion required "difficult reforms and decisions that somebody has to make."

"If elections were called now, as some of those parties want, this would become a technical government and we wouldn't be able to complete the negotiations," Kosor said, adding that the negotiation chapter "Finance and Budgetary Provisions", for example, could not be closed.

Regarding tomorrow's talks with President Ivo Josipovic, Kosor said she did not believe that they were conceived as some sort of mediation between the legislative and executive authorities, as the president invited parliamentary parties and, under the constitution, the president was not authorised to coordinate government-parliament relations.

Kosor said she would attend the talks with several ministers and the chief negotiator for the EU negotiations to inform the president about the state of the negotiations, the economy, the "Competition Policy" negotiation chapter, and the government's upcoming decisions regarding obligations towards the World Bank and a new social welfare law.

Kosor said that after tomorrow's talks, the president would have a better picture of the real state of affairs in the country and in the EU entry talks.

Asked when she would come to parliament, as requested by the opposition, she said the opposition was invoking a state of emergency and seeking a big debate in parliament, while claim that protests were a democratic legacy.

Kosor said one should always come to parliament, but for a serious debate about whether Croatia could complete the negotiations or not and whether it was ready to join the EU or not.

She agreed with the president that stability and peace should be ensured in order to complete the accession negotiations as well as the economic recovery programme.

"The president and I agree. We are actually saying the same things, but our words are sometimes perceived differently in public," she said.