A junior partner in Croatia's governing coalition has announced it is pulling out because of what it calls a lack of government commitment to addressing local issues in the district of Istria.

The Istrian Democratic party, the IDS, has been campaigning to introduce Italian as the second official language for local government business in Istria, where it has a majority.

Correspondents say the departure of the IDS is no immediate threat to the reformist government of prime minister, Ivica Racan, which will still have a comfortable majority in parliament.