"We won't withdraw that bill from the Sabor," Kosor said in her address to the party's election convention in the southern coastal city of Split.

Kosor criticised the opposition for not finding fault with the indictments that were drawn up based on documents of the former Yugoslav People's Army and for opposing the adoption of a law that would prevent Serbia from imposing its jurisdiction on Croatia. She added that the indictments were not in the spirit of good neighbourly relations.

"We have proved our good neighbourliness a billion times," Kosor said. She stressed that Croatia had a right to demand that the problem of 999 Croatian soldiers and civilians still unaccounted-for from the 1991-1995 war be given top priority in its relationship with Serbia.

Kosor severely criticised the opposition led by the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

"I don't consider any party in Croatia as our enemy, I respect everyone, but we won't let anyone call the HDZ, which was founded by Franjo Tudjman, a criminal organisation," Kosor said.

Kosor said that in fighting corruption her party "has exposed itself the most and has been hit the hardest." She added that the opposition supported the fight against corruption as long as it was not directed against them.

Kosor announced that by the end of the month 820 million kuna would be paid to the pensioners, adding that the government had so far repaid 8.5 billion kuna of its debt to the pensioners.

The coordinator of the HDZ slate for Constituency No. 10, which covers the southern part of Split-Dalmatia County and entire Dubrovnik-Neretva County, is Environment and Development Minister Branko Bacic, who said that the government, thanks to Prime Minister Kosor, had invested 9 billion kuna in that area.

Speakers at the convention emphasised Kosor's contribution to the completion of accession negotiations with the European Union and her insistence on combating corruption.