"President Josipovic decided to turn his conflict with Novosti into his conflict with me and I am afraid that the President of the Republic has decided to sacrifice our political friendship and our political partnership only to protect his business friendship, which he cherished until recently, in the collection of royalties," Pupovac told the press on Friday in response to Josipovic's open letter in which he claims that Pupovac stood behind accusations against him in Novosti, the weekly published by the SNV.

The weekly accuses Josipovic of trying to discontinue the state funds for the newspaper due to its articles involving him in the ZAMP copyright protection scandal.

Josipovic writes in his open letter that the latest text in the weekly with accusations levelled against him was elaborated on the basis of a letter which Pupovac previously sent him.

As for Josipovic's accusations about Pupovac's monopoly on the representativeness of the Serbs in political bodies in Croatia, Pupovac rejoined that "Josipovic does not only create partnership with individuals from the Serb minority such as Veljko Dzakula, who has not received the legitimacy at parliamentary elections, but he also becomes a mouthpiece and advocate of the policy of Dzakula and such individuals."

"Josipovic is trying to restrict media freedoms and undermine minority institutions which we have founded and he is trying to discredit me in public," Pupovac said, claiming that Josipovic also violates the country's Constitution by overstepping his constitutional powers.