"It is unacceptable and uncivilised and quite contrary to any canon of functioning of a democratic society that a government minister should, from the position of power and without any reservation, attack a judge who has autonomously rendered a decision in a case that has been assigned to him," said the statement, signed by UHS president Djuro Sessa and the head of the UHS branch at the Commercial Court in Zagreb, Vesna Sremac Sostar.

The UHS said that judges' decisions could be questioned only by observing the required procedure, stressing that the judiciary was one of the three independent branches of government.

Finance Minister Slavko Linic said on Monday he was appalled by the decision of Commercial Court judge Mislav Kolakusic because it showed the extent of legal insecurity in Croatia after many judges had already accepted settlements in other cases.

However, Justice Minister Orsat Miljenic said that this was not a case of the executive authority exerting pressure on the judiciary. He said that judges in Croatia pass their judgments professionally and that their decisions may be commented on provided that such comments are not excessive.

Supreme Court president Branko Hrvatin told the public broadcaster HRT that the government had the right to believe that a law it had passed was constitutional. "On the other hand, the judge used a legitimate legal instrument. They both did their part of the job. If a request for the assessment of constitutionality is filed, and in all likelihood it will be, the Constitutional Court will decide on the matter," he said.