Addressing a news conference ahead of a parliamentary discussion on the draft budget for 2011 in Zagreb on Tuesday, Srb said that "there are plans to finance the Joint Council of (predominantly Serb-populated) Municipalities in Vukovar with HRK 1.5 million, although the Council currently has no legal personality", and that the HSP would therefore challenge such a proposal.
Asked how he interpreted the fact that a non-existing institution would be financed from the state budget, Srb said that "obviously, there is a political deal between the HDZ and the SDSS" to find a way to register the Joint Council of Municipalities in Vukovar as a legal person so that it could be awarded the budgetary funds.
The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) is the main party of Croatia's ruling coalition government, and the SDSS - the Independent Democratic Serb Party - is a junior partner in the ruling coalition.
Srb said that his party would put forward 18 amendments to the draft budget which he said were aimed at equalising funds to be given to municipalities, regardless of their ethnic make-up.
He also described the draft budget as stagnating, saying that all funds would be spent on consumption, with no money envisaged for shipyards, which he said could mean only that shipyards would be sold or go into bankruptcy.
"It will be a national tragedy if Croatia loses them," the HSP leader said.