The government cannot call for an advisory referendum on that matter as this is not a question of physical organisation but energy which is in the domain of the Croatian parliament, the Administration Ministry's response to the NGOs' request says.

The ministry's reply further notes that the petition does not represent a request by voters to call for a referendum and it does not specify a clear referendum question nor was it signed by voters who are eligible to call for a referendum but rather "permanent and occasional residents" in Istria and Primorje Gorski Kotar counties.

Should voters wish to request a referendum relating to the reconstruction of the thermal-power plant, construction of a new block or choice of energy, then the Croatian Sabor would be responsible for this and this would require at least ten percent of the total number of voters in the Republic of Croatia, the ministry's letter says.

We asked that the "government facilitates citizens to give their advisory opinion and the government has shown that it does not care for the opinion of citizens. This is not just a matter of achieving political standards but about political culture and the government considers citizens a hindrance", a representative of the initiative and president of the Eko Kvarner NGO, Vjeran Pirsic told the press.

"This has totally demystified the Plomin 3 project and shown that this is an undemocratic process and it seems fortunate that, according to our information, this process is caving in on itself", he said.

Asked by reporters to explain his claims, Pirsic explained that according to information they have, of the four companies that submitted bids for the project only one binding bid was submitted because, allegedly, it isn't possible to achieve efficiency with the technology that was defined in the tender.