The petition urged more transparency on the Ministry's part in financing scientific and technological projects and a probe into irregularities in the allocation of funds for a project in which Science and Education Minister Dragan Primorac took part.
The Council on Technology said in the statement that it was rigorous in the evaluation of the scientific and financial aspects of projects.
"By publishing various documents on its web site the Ministry has proven that such insinuations are unfounded, which the Croatian scientific community has recognised by not accepting the petition which has been signed by only 259 scientists and students, including 26 scientists from Croatia, or 0.177 percent of the 14,623 registered scientists in the country, and 59 students," the Council said.
The Council recalled that its work had been the target of media criticism on several occasions lately and that the petition had been posted on its web site, but was soon removed due to the poor response of scientists and students "concerned about the lack of transparency in the financing of scientific and technological projects in Croatia". The information about the petition was carried by the prominent scientific magazine "Nature".
The magazine said that the scientists who had launched the petition warned about irregularities and a possible conflict of interest on the part of Minister Primorac regarding the financing of the project "Core 23", which has to do with the establishment of laboratories for forensics, cytogenetics and molecular diagnostics. The magazine also said that Primorac had dismissed the accusations.