The fact that the report gives only the number of requests for information that were filed and does not explain why some requests were rejected shows that the present government does not want to run the country transparently, opposition deputies said.
"It is too ambitious to call two sheets of paper a report. It shows that the government does not realise that information is the public good," said Ingrid Anticevic Marinovic of the leading opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP). She described the report as "incorrect and incomplete".
The report was presented by Antun Palaric, State Secretary at the Central Administration Office, who said that in 2004 public authorities received 19,600 requests for information and that 96 of them were refused.
Palaric said that this showed that the right to access to information was fully respected.
The report says that the Office of the President received no requests for information, the Government Secretariat received three requests (one was refused), Government offices 1,774 (all were granted) and ministries 4,302 (16 were refused).