"If the Croatian parliament passes a law declaring null and void all legal acts of the judicial bodies and military courts of the JNA and the former federation which relate to Croatian nationals and crimes committed on Croatia's territory, I would not want to speculate what Serbia can or should do, but one thing is sure - the law would annul five years of cooperation which has brought results. I see no reason why someone would want to stop that cooperation now, especially as we are close to settling some matters and dispelling fears," Pupovac said in the village of Varivode in the Zadar hinterland where he attended a commemoration of the 16th anniversary of the killing of Serb civilians in that village.

The Croatian government on Thursday sent to parliament for consideration a bill declaring null and void all legal acts of the former JNA, its judicial bodies, the judicial bodies of the former SFRY, and the judicial bodies of the Republic of Serbia which refer to Croatia's Homeland War and in which Croatian citizens are suspects, indictees or convicts.

Asked if the EU could pressure Croatia into "dealing with war crimes", Pupovac said that it was a matter of international law and that a country could not impose legislation on another country.

Pupovac was also asked to comment on Serbian indictments against Deputy Parliament Speaker Vladimir Seks and other Croatian nationals. He said that the indictments had been discussed previously by Croatian Justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic and his Serbian counterpart Snezana Malovic, so he did not understand why it had not been made public before and why the parliament was now being "instrumentalised for that case."

The press also wanted Pupovac to comment on his recent statement for a local TV station that he was a sympathiser of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), to which he said that it had been known for a long time that his views were leftist and that at the moment he trusted more the SDP.