Social Democratic Party (SDP) chief Zoran Milanovic said the document was signed on the second anniversary of the gathering of his party and other three partners in the coalition in the coastal town of Kastav and that it outlined the technical implementation of their political agreement on running together in the election.
"We can say today that Croatia has an alternative, it is offered a clear choice between an unsuccessful government and an alliance of modern, progressive parties that will set up a coalition government consisting of competent politicians," Milanovic said.
Asked by reporters why the document-signing ceremony had not been public with reporters attending it, the SDP chief said that the agreement was in accordance with all what the media had reported in the recent days "correctly or mostly correctly" and that there were no surprises.
"The negotiations have been very smooth, but let us acquaint first our party bodies with the agreement's details," Milanovic told reporters.
Asked whether this coalition was aware that it would have to take drastic austerity measures in the event of its election victory, Milanovic responded that these four parties were aware that Croatia must cease borrowing the way it has done so far spending loans on current consumption.
"We are aware of challenges and we are also obliged to citizens to retain social stability, cohesion and harmony and that this will be a tough job. Before having an insight into public finances, it would be irresponsible to speak about details," the SDP chief said.
The Croatian People's Party (HNS) leader Radimir Cacic said that after the stages of creating the state and "qualifying for Europe", Croatia was now entering the third stage, when it was turning into a normal and successful European country.
"The time to come requires an entirely different policy and an entirely different government and entirely different people," Cacic said adding that this coalition was based on different political tenets and different moral and human values and could respond to the coming challenges.
The leader of the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS), Ivan Jakovcic, said that this coalition was an alternative to everything bad that had happened in the recent years.
The president of the Croatian Pensioners' Party (HSU), Solvano Hrelja, said his party would like to give its full contribution to the victory of this coalition at the coming parliamentary election.
We are sure that we are articulating the will of a majority of Croatian citizens, Hrelja said.