Vesna Pusic said on behalf of the HNS/HSU caucus that Croatia and its citizens must no longer be hostages to a political situation in which the government was more concerned whether it had a majority in parliament or not instead of adopting and implementing measures to overcome the crisis and wrapping up Croatia's European Union accession negotiations.

"Croatia can't deal only with that subject. The (ruling Croatian Democratic Union) HDZ should deal with that, but the entire country shouldn't depend on that," Pusic said, adding that the government was not showing in any way that it was capable of doing its job.

Pusic said she was sorry that the ruling coalition had not accepted the HNS's (People's Party) proposal to invest all efforts in the completion of the EU entry talks and then in calling parliamentary elections in order to finally start dealing with the crisis and using the possibilities that EU accession brought.

"We feel it's not good that the proposal was not accepted, as this prolongs the agony of instability and unpredictability as to whether the ruling majority will topple the government," said Pusic.

She stressed the HNS/HSU caucus did not think that the fight against corruption was not started during Kosor's term in office, but added the fact that those suspected of corruption were mainly former government members or former senior HDZ state officials spoke of the "legitimacy of the government and the party leading the government".

Slavko Linic of the SDP said the poor economic results and declining standards of Croatian citizens in the 15 months since Kosor became PM were sufficient proof that it was imperative to give her a no-confidence vote.

The PM is responsible for the poor economic and energy policy, the considerable decline in standards, the growth of unemployment, the GDP decline, and the growth of the external debt and budgetary deficit, without any results from the economic recovery measures or investment in development, said Linic.

Damir Kajin of the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) said the Jadranka Kosor cabinet had no legitimacy and that HDZ ministers and MPs were responsible for that. "You, who saw (former PM and HDZ leader) Ivo Sanader as a deity and tried to be as close to him as possible until yesterday, are now afraid to shake his hands," he told the HDZ.

Kajin objected to President Ivo Josipovic's statement that Croatia was not in a state of emergency, claiming the government was using the State Prosecutor's Office (DORH).

"If it's true that DORH is siding with the team in power, than this is a crawling state of emergency," he said.

Although MPs of the HDSSB party did not sign the SDP's petition, Dinko Buric said on their behalf that they would raise their hand for a vote of no-confidence in Kosor, objecting to her government's "trampling on Homeland War values, bringing Croatia into debt bondage and on the verge of economic collapse, (and its) unscrupulous plunder and neglect of the Slavonia region."

"Croatia does not only need new elections, but it first and foremost needs to purge itself of the criminals who have infiltrated and hidden in the many state companies and bodies, as well as to eliminate faceless yes men," said Buric.

Seventy-eight MPs have requested the floor, which means that the discussion will last at least for another 13 hours.