May 11 (SeeNews) - Croatia's economy minister Martina Dalic said on Friday she will not resign despite calls by the opposition to step down over an alleged conflict of interest related to the restructuring of the country's ailing Agrokor concern.
Dalic, who is also the deputy prime minister, told the media in Zagreb that she has not lost the trust of the government coalition, according to a video file posted on the website of public broadcaster HRT.
Her statement followed a meeting of the coalition, which was scheduled to discuss the demand of the opposition that she step down.
Dalic denied the meeting was a cause for concern, saying that "meetings of the ruling coalition are held regularly".
Croatia's news portal Index.hr published on Wednesday e-mails exchanged a year ago between Dalic and financial and legal exports she consulted while preparing the law on crisis management of companies of systemic importance for the country's economy that aimed to prevent the bankruptcy of Croatia's largest private company.
Some of these experts were later hired and paid to advise the government in the process of Agrokor restructuring, prompting the opposition to allege that Dalic was in conflict of interest.
Dalic said on Friday that given the urgency of the situation in Agrokor, there wasn't much time to draft the law that put the state in charge of management of the indebted food-to-retail concern.
"I worked on finding a solution to the biggest crisis Croatia has been hit with since its independence. In that process I had very little time. Unfortunately, I did not have time for month-long assessments", Dalic noted, stressing that she had done nothing wrong.
The opposition, however, is saying that the e-mails allegedly confirm criminal wrongdoing.
Last month, Dalic survived a no-confidence vote in parliament sought by the opposition over her role in the handling of the crisis in Agrokor.
On April 6 last year, parliament passed the special legislation on companies of systemic importance to shield Croatia's economy from big corporate bankrupcies. Earlier this month, the country's Constitutional Court said the law, popularly known as Lex Agrokor, complies with the constitution.