"I have heard that the trade unions left the GSV session and I think it is not good," the prime minister told reporters after meeting representatives of the City of Osijek in Zagreb.
Trade union representatives left the GSV session, scheduled to take place at noon, after government ministers failed to appear by 1225 hours. The unionists were additionally irritated by the fact that the government had sent them a 2006 national budget draft at short notice.
Sanader insisted that the government had stuck to the agreement that the GSV should discuss the proposed budget before the Parliament does.
"Although it is too early to draw any conclusions, I suspect there might some political reasons at play here," the prime minister said.
After reporters told him that government ministers did not show up for the GSV meeting, Sanader said that the unionists should have waited because the ministers were at another meeting that lasted longer than scheduled.
Sanader said he would personally meet trade union representatives. "If the ministers' failure to show up for the meeting on account of another meeting is a problem, we will rectify it," he said.
Commenting on criticism from the strongest opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) that the proposed budget was bureaucratic and not development oriented, Sanader said that that party could only be envious of such a good budget.
"I guess the SDP would not support the budget anyway. But if they were objective and cared for the common good, they would support it," Sanader said.
The prime minister said that the 2006 budget showed that his government, unlike the previous, SDP-led one, was capable of coming to grips with the hardest of problems.