Deputy Prime Minister Slobodan Uzelac said on Friday evening that the decision by his Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) not to take an active part in the work of Parliament until an agreement was reached on how the Parliament session would be ended did not mean that the SDSS was leaving the ruling coalition, but that the party wanted to create a work atmosphere in which an agreement would be reached on what should be done until the end of the present term.
"The SDSS didn't leave the coalition or the Parliament chamber," Uzelac said in an interview with the public television network HTV.
The centre-left four-party opposition coalition led by the Social Democrats decided on Thursday not to take an active part in the work of Parliament any more in protest at what they said was the undermining of the dignity and image of Parliament by the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).
The chairman of the SDSS parliamentary group, Milorad Pupovac, said on Friday that his party would not participate in Parliament's work until the present problems were resolved.
When asked if the SDSS overturned the majority in Parliament on Friday, Uzelac said: "Things got completely out of hand and we wanted to make it clear that we did not want to take part in it."
"I resent hate speech and irresponsible destruction of what we have been building in all areas," Uzelac said, adding that he was bothered most by the fact that such primitive language was used by members of the government.
When asked if the SDSS would support the winner of the forthcoming election, Uzelac said such a move would be "absolutely logical" for ethnic minorities.
