The SDP is the best Croatian political party and has the biggest responsibility, he said at an election convention of the party's Primorje-Gorski Kotar County branch.
Speaking of his cabinet's work so far, Milanovic said the SDP had made no false promises before the parliamentary election and that it was not ashamed of anything that had been done. "We could have done some things better but the important thing is that we haven't let ourselves or voters down."
He voiced confidence that citizens would realise that Croatia had no alternative when it came to politics and that "what the other side is offering is neither good nor honest."
Milanovic highlighted tolerance and understanding towards those were different, saying: "We won't allow minority rights to be erased overnight while we are in power. All those who are the targets of such attempts may live and sleep in peace."
He said Croatia had chosen a harder, more demanding and more standardised path by joining the European Union, and that those choosing the other path were doing so only temporarily. Commenting on recent events in the Ukraine, he said a people could not be forced into lowering their own standards.
Finance Minister Slavko Linic also addressed the convention, saying the policy of stronger spending that was being imposed was wrong and that it had made citizens slaves of banks. He said the only realistic path for the state's survival, although difficult to implement, was in investments, job creation, and development.