He expressed his deep regret about the traffic accident in which two Hungarian citizens died in 2010 which, as he said, primarily affected the family of the victims "but it also left consequences for me and my family."

Croatia's public is the witness of my attitude from day one, which was entirely clear - if the level of my responsibility is such that is treated by the court as negligence, I will bear the consequences, Cacic said.

Cacic said this was his responsibility towards Croatian citizens, the functioning of the state, coalition partners and Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic with whom, as he stressed, he had professional and friendly cooperation at the highest level.

"I am resigning from all my positions in the government, as the coordinator of the economic sector and as the economy minister," Cacic said at the news conference which he held together with PM Milanovic.

In his capacity of president of the Croatian People's Party (HNS), Cacic said the party would make the necessary decisions, namely proposals for the HNS-designated positions within the government which it would harmonise with its strategic partner - the Social Democrats (SDP).

Cacic stressed that his party would not hold an electoral convention in the near future. The leadership of our party will remain the same, he said.

PM Milanovic also said he regretted the latest developments, notably the casualties in the traffic accident obviously caused by negligence.

Milanovic said that by resigning, Cacic had fulfilled his promise that he would step down if given a non-suspended sentence.

"I have protected him and I would do it again, I would protect each of you, because I believe that even though this is a tragedy it was a split of a second which we wish we could go back and change it, but we can't," the PM said.

Although he declined to cite possible candidates for Cacic's successor, Milanovic said he would likely choose a person to step in instead of Cacic by the end of this week. The premier said there would be no major changes.