Most candidates agreed that there was no alternative to the country's accession to the EU, but some argued for the postponement of entry, saying that Croatia was not ready yet for that step.
The candidates were also split over the issue of cooperation with the Hague tribunal. While the incumbent president Stjepan Mesic, Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) candidate Jadranka Kosor and Social Liberal Party (HSLS) candidate Djurdja Adlesic said that the issue was regulated by the constitutional law on cooperation with the tribunal, others advocated changing the law and questioned the fairness of the court.
Most candidates said they would not extradite General Ante Gotovina to the tribunal. Adlesic and Mesic said such a decision did not fall within the president's authority, while Kosor said that Gotovina should defend the truth about the 1991-1995 Homeland War before the tribunal.
All the candidates said that if elected they would promote good relations with neighbouring countries and speedy resolution of all outstanding issues with them, particularly those relating to borders. Most of them would resolve those issues by negotiation or, if that failed, by international arbitration, and only independent candidate Ljubo Cesic Rojs said he would not rule out military or police action.
The candidates committed themselves to speedy economic development of the country by promoting entrepreneurship and export, and they all said they would crack down on corruption, which they branded as "a cancer of society".
They all agreed that the situation in the intelligence community and the armed forces was alarming. They said that the institution of co-signature by the president of the republic and the prime minister was necessary in appointing heads of secret services, and some of them said that conscription should be abolished. Kosor said that if elected she would oppose sending Croatian troops to Iraq.
All candidates but Mesic strongly opposed the Druzba Adria oil pipeline project, criticising the incumbent president for supporting this project, which they described as "extremely harmful" to the Adriatic Sea.
Mesic said that the project did not mean that oil must be transported through the Adriatic, and called on the government to declassify the study of the project's impact on the environment so that the public could decide whether they would support Druzba Adria or not.
All the candidates said they were against the legalisation of narcotics, but Adlesic and independent candidate Miroslav Rajh called for the decriminalisation of soft drugs.
Although they all expressed their opposition to abortion, most of them said it was not possible to legally ban abortion.