The Prime Minister and president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, Jadranka Kosor, said at a press conference in Zagreb on Wednesday that she would announce a date for parliamentary elections after the completion of European Union accession negotiations.

Kosor repeated her invitation to opposition leaders for a meeting to discuss further activities aimed at bringing the EU entry negotiations to completion, after which they would agree on when elections would be held.

"If they don't want tomorrow, we can do it the day after tomorrow, if they don't want the day after tomorrow, we can meet on Saturday or Sunday, at any time of the day they please," the Prime Minister said.

Kosor said she was ready to meet the opposition leaders for the sake of Croatia, despite the fact that the head of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Zoran Milanovic, referred to her party as a criminal organisation and called her "impolite", while the leader of the Croatian People's Party (HNS), Radimir Cacic, called her Cabinet "a ship of fools".

When asked by the press if she would come to Parliament to answer questions about the current situation in the country, Kosor said, "Of course, I will," but did not specify when.

Kosor expressed hope that "Croatia will not be hostage to the (opposition's) impatient and immature desire to come to power just for the sake of power." She said that completion of EU entry talks was the country's historic goal and "we won't be able to achieve it if there are too many of those frustrating our efforts."

Kosor said that since she took over as Prime Minister in the summer of 2009 the government had done "a lot of hard work", but had not enjoyed the support of the opposition in the reform process. She said that the opposition, led by the SDP, did not want Croatia to wrap up the EU entry negotiations.

"There are obviously some reservations and fear on their part, something that impedes them," Kosor said. "The HDZ is ready for elections, whenever they may be," she said, adding that the HDZ was stable and as such necessary for the stability of Croatia.

"Even though there were those among us who fell foul of the law, who brought disgrace upon us all and who caused us damage, we cannot allow the 220,000 members of the HDZ to be declared criminals," Kosor said.

When asked if intra-party elections would be held before or after parliamentary elections, Kosor said that that would be decided by the HDZ's bodies.

When asked if she was considering the possibility of dissolving the government over massive street protests, the PM said that in the democratic world, of which Croatia was part, the stability of a government depended on its support in parliament. "The government that I lead has strong support in Parliament."

Kosor said she would meet President Ivo Josipovic for talks on Friday and would ask him for his support for the completion of EU accession negotiations.