"New jobs, investments and fewer jobless are the key and the criterion for assessing the government's work," Josipovic said in a Croatian Television talk show.
He said the government's projection of a 0.8 per cent GDP growth was optimistic, but stressed that optimism was necessary, as "there's no society making headway without a certain dose of self-confidence."
"Unfortunately, we have been sinking for quite some time in a depression that I think isn't good."
Josipovic said the key to Croatian society's success was to acknowledge that the state made no sense if it was not a welfare state, adding that it must encourage self-confidence and motivate citizens to invest as well as ensure basic social security and retraining to those who found themselves in dire straits, such as the workers of the Dioki company.
"Today we have very high unemployment, nearly 20 per cent, and the key to success or failure is whether the number will go down."
Asked by the anchorman to comment on the new government's appointments in which "political credentials are important and not ability," Josipovic said it was not good if the only criterion was "party membership" and that competence must also be a criterion.
"The competence criterion must be met and if it isn't, there's no other criterion. But if this basic criterion, competence, is met, then of course, the politicians in power will want people who will implement their policy."
The anchorman remarked that Zlatko Koracevic was appointed head of the HEP power company even though he had never worked in this field and that First Deputy Prime Minister Radimir Cacic's explanation for the appointment was that he trusted Koracevic.
Josipovic said he had "always insisted on competence" and that he could not talk about Koracevic's work since he did not know him.
Asked to comment on developments in the HDZ, the strongest opposition party which is soon to elect a new leadership, Josipovic said it was immensely important for Croatia's political scene that the HDZ held the elections in a democratic, exemplary and appropriate fashion and that, with its new leadership, it was a strong opposition.
Josipovic said he did not have a favourite among the HDZ presidential candidates, adding that the new party president would have to make the HDZ more democratic, "because if they don't open the door to intra-party democracy, they will have a problem."
The president went on to say that he had nothing against the new director of Croatian Radio-Television (HRT) being appointed by parliament.
"With mechanisms that will make sure that politicians don't influence the editorial policy, I have nothing against it," Josipovic said, adding that right now politicians did not directly appoint the HRT leadership, "but they do appoint the bodies that elect the leadership," which he said was unnecessary.
Asked if parliament should continue to sponsor the annual commemoration for the Bleiburg victims, Josipovic said that if he had been an MP when this was being decided on, he would have voted against it.
"But I am in favour of observing the suffering of innocent victims. I wouldn't like it if one forgot that innocent people were killed at Bleiburg," he said, adding that he had visited Bleiburg in Austria together with Croatian anti-fascists and that he did not go there to support or honour the Ustasha movement but to pay his respects to the innocent victims killed there at the end of World War Two.
Speaking of WW2, the president said his position was very clear, that Croatian anti-fascists had been on the right side, as stated in the Constitution. Unfortunately, he added, they had made mistakes too.
He reiterated that revising the Chetnik movement in Serbia was not a good move, adding that Draza Mihailovic had been a war criminal and that the Chetniks had been part of the occupying corps, "leaving thousands of victims, not only in Croatia."
"Saying that they were an anti-fascist formation certainly doesn't apply," he added.
Commenting on allegations by the web portal Index, Josipovic said it was not true that, when he was an MP, he had forced the adoption of the Copyright Act to favour the Croatian Composers' Society (ZAMP) and that he had used his influence so that ZAMP would sign a contract with the company of one of his friends.
Josipovic said the Copyright Act had been drawn up in accordance with international principles.