The HDZ should promote the European values of respect for diversity and unity as well as values such as a Christian approach to man, family and community, he said.
Prgomet said the ruling coalition was incapable of pulling Croatia out of the crisis and restoring optimism among the Croatian people. He said the incumbent government was not a solution to the problem but the problem itself.
The chair of the HDZ's foreign policy committee, Davor Ivo Stier, said the HDZ must win the local elections on May 19 so that Croatia could use its upcoming European Union membership for economic development, job creation, and the development of agriculture, science, culture and all segments of society.
Andrej Plenkovic, an HDZ member of the Croatian parliament and an observer in the European Parliament, criticised President Ivo Josipovic for deciding to hold EP elections in April and not together with local elections.
The leaders of the Bosnian HDZ and HDZ 1990 parties, Marinko Cavar and Bozo Ljubic respectively, underlined the importance of cooperation between Croatia's HDZ and the two Bosnian HDZ parries as well as between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina for achieving the full equality of Croats in Bosnia.
The conference began with a video message from MEP Doris Pack in which she voiced hope that the HDZ, as the opposition, would encourage the government to meet the commitments from Croatia's EU membership.
I hope the party's new leadership and president Tomislav Karamarko will have the support of the party friends, as only unanimously can you win back voters' confidence, she said.