The leader of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) said he would like to see an agreement on a national wage policy and the adoption of a minimum wage law. He said the government would not be just a mediator between employers and trade unions, but actively participate.
Sanader said the HDZ was the strongest political force in Croatia and that it would prove so at parliamentary elections later this year. He added the HDZ's priority were its current coalition partners.
Asked if the tactic would change now that the Social Democrats (SDP) have a young new leader, Zoran Milanovic, Sanader said the only thing that would change was that the HDZ would no longer be considerate, which it was during former SDP leader Ivica Racan's illness and death.
"The consideration we showed as people regarding his situation was used by some to try to change facts on Racan's role in recent Croatian history," he said.
When the interviewer remarked that Sanader employed Milanovic in the state service in the mid-1990s, Sanader said it was true that he employed him in the Foreign Ministry, but that he could not say anything more about Milanovic as he had not proved himself in the ministry. "Now he has a new chance to prove himself."
Asked about the differences between the HDZ and SDP programmes, Sanader said Croatia needed elements of integration, not disintegration. "Only the HDZ can achieve that. We had the chance to see when the SDP caused rifts in the Croatian society again with a certain aggression against veterans and by forgetting and humiliating pensioners."
Sanader said he would stress in the election campaign that his goal was reducing the deficit to zero in the second year of the new term of office, or in the third at the latest, without reducing social rights.
Asked if the economic programme of Radimir Cacic of the Croatian People's Party (HNS) was more compatible with the HDZ's than the SDP's programme, Sanader said Cacic copied his programme from "our strategic framework for Croatia's development".
Asked if there would be a government reshuffle if the HDZ won another election, Sanader answered in the affirmative given that accession negotiations with the EU would be intensified next year "and primarily because that (a reshuffle) is required in the next stage of Croatia's development".