He insists that accusations about the sale of national resources "are out of place" and explained that the new legislation was aimed at attracting more investors and that the bill did not introduce any new procedures but included only the existing ones already defined by the valid legislation.

The proposed bill is designed to accelerate the procedures that usually now take two years, Vrdoljak said in response to the objections to Article 18 of the bill.

According to his explanation, the state and the government "can already shift the boundaries of common good, but it takes years."

The state authorities can, for instance, build a motorway and dispossess local, regional or private owners of their ownership, but under the proposed legislation this procedure will be shortened, the minister said in his response to fears that the proposed bill would pave the way for the privatisation of water and forest resources.

He called on all interested parties to take part in a broad discussion and said that the door of the economy ministry was open to them.

He pushed for the acceleration of procedures for the sake of 370,000 jobless people and tens of thousands of those "who are about to be out of work". The minister said that firstly, the law should be adopted and after that "we will open a discussion on each individual project."

The minister said that apart from the criterion of 150 million kuna of investment, there were also other criteria for the approval of an investment which might be considered strategic.

The authorities will first estimate the benefits for the society, owners and people who will be engaged in such projects and for a possible rise in gross domestic product.

Vrdoljak said that if the bill had already been enacted, the case of the Dina Petrokemija petrochemical company would have been solved easier.