"While the HDZ uses parliamentary immunity only to evade responsibility for robbing Croatia, parliamentary immunity has only one purpose - to enable members of Parliament to speak the truth without fear of being criticised for telling the truth. The HDZ obviously doesn't understand this," Jovanovic told a press conference at SDP headquarters in Zagreb.

Jovanovic said that if the HDZ-led parliamentary majority stripped him of immunity from prosecution, he would have a chance in court to provide evidence in support of his statement in Parliament that "the HDZ leadership is a criminal organisation that masterminded and carried out a criminal enterprise the aim of which was to plunder the state budget, which has destroyed the lives of Croatian citizens and pensions today are not enough for a decent life."

"If I am summoned to court, I will be pleased to call as witnesses Jadranka Kosor, Ivo Sanader, Bozidar Kalmeta, Darko Milinovic, Ivan Jarnjak and Branko Bacic to corroborate my statement that the HDZ is a criminal organisation that has caused huge damage to all citizens of Croatia, including many decent members of the HDZ," he said.

Jovanovic said that the HDZ leader and Prime Minister, Jadranka Kosor, was trying to divert attention from their total lack of any coherent programme to deal with the problems of illiquidity, unemployment and economic stagnation. He said that the SDP and the opposition coalition were offering "a new dawn" while the HDZ was offering "the twilight".