"The prime minister must clearly say if he supports such a candidate for Istria prefect because he stood behind Kajin and not the Istrian branch of (Milanovic's) SDP (Social Democratic Party)," Jakovcic told reporters in Pula, adding that Milanovic "can't keep quiet about it" as that would constitute "tacit support to Kajin, which is frightening in contemporary Croatia."

Jakovcic said the PM should have the courage to tell his candidate for prefect, "Enough is enough, we don't support you anymore."

"Enough with hatred and intolerance," Jakovcic said, adding that this was the end of Kajin's political career and that those who thought he was significant were wrong.

He said this was, after many decades, a new attempt to set Croats and Italians against each other in Istria.

Jakovcic went on to say that the dissolution of the SDP's Istrian county and Pula city branches was an attempt to destabilise the county and the city six months prior to local elections. This action, coordinated by SDP president Milanovic, has failed, he added.

He said Istria was "a world oasis of tolerance, so citizens expect high responsibility in its running and will never approve methods of chaos, destruction and hatred."

He said "those advocating a policy of conflict... are causing inestimable damage to the citizens of Istria," adding that Istria "isn't in conflict with Zagreb" and that it could be in conflict only with those who would like to run it from Zagreb. "Istria will be run from Istria and nowhere else."

Responding to a question from the press, Jakovcic said the county had still not received the government's guarantee for the construction of a new general hospital in Pula, assuming this was due to "too little political will" in Zagreb.

"I expect the government to finally provide this guarantee and keep its promises," he said.