"Pupovac's statement is incorrect and unfair," Djapic said, adding that the statement was similar to Pupovac's claims from the early 1990's about ethnic Orthodox Serbs being forced to convert to Catholicism.
Pupovac identifies Serbs with the SDSS, but not all Serbs support the SDSS, a vast majority of them vote for Croatian parties, Djapic said.
Commenting on Pupovac's statement about segregation, Djapic said that Pupovac wanted the political segregation of the HSP.
Commenting on Djapic's statement that the HSP was ready to cooperate only with Croat parties, and statements by the leaders of the Social Democratic Party and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) that the HSP was a desirable coalition partner, Pupovac told reporters today that this constituted segregation.
The HSP leader said that his party supported the consistent application of the Constitutional Law on Minorities and that it would guarantee representation to ethnic Serbs in the communities where it would decide about local government, but that this did not mean that Serbs had to be represented by SDSS members.
He recalled that there were other Serb parties in Croatia, such as the Serb People's Party of Milan Djukic.
There are no desirable or undesirable coalition partners for the HDZ, party spokesman Ratko Macek said today, adding that the party was open to coalitions with all political parties promoting democratic principles and European values.
Macek repeated that the HDZ supported the principle of subsidiarity and that its leadership would not interfere in the forging of local coalitions.
He also dismissed Pupovac's statement that Serbs were good for the EU, but not for Croatia.