"The budget and the debate show that there are no disputes, and it is the budget that shows whether the ruling coalition is harmonious or not," Linic told the press in the Parliament building.

Reporters wanted to know if the differences over the introduction of real estate tax had been overcome. "As you can see from today's debate on the budget, there are no disagreements. We have different approaches, different opinions, and we have four months to discuss every detail of the bill," Linic said.

Linic said that the partners' views about the proposed tax would become clearer in a public debate and would not affect relations within the governing coalition.

Commenting on statements by some of the HNS officials that the government had initially planned a tax on property and not on real estate, Linic said that a possibility of taxing interest and works of art could also be addressed in the public discussion.

Four months is a long enough time for us to make changes in that regard as well, but they must clearly say whether they want us to do it, and we will try to explain why we think it is not acceptable at the moment, he added.

When asked if he was ready to give up some aspects of the new tax if that turned out to be necessary, Linic said that the process of harmonisation of views implied that and that its purpose was to improve the proposals that had been put forward.