After month and a half, director of the Security Intelligence Agency has still not been fully dismissed.
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović said that she had still not come to an agreement with Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković about the name of the new director of the Security Intelligence Agency (SOA) and added that the issue was taking too much time, reports Index.hr on March 20, 2016.
In early February, the President signed a decision to dismiss SOA director Dragan Lozančić. However, for the decision to become final, it still needs to be countersigned by the Prime Minister. “I can only say that my position remains the same. I have asked for Mr. Lozančić to go because he has lost my trust. However, this is an issue which is being prolonged too much”, said the President. She said that she expected the Prime Minister to make a decision and added that she was “worried about a general lack of speed in decision-making”.
Prime Minister Orešković said that the appointment of the SOA director was a process and added that he would meet with several candidates next week. “I think you know me by now. This is the same process we had with the appointment of the Veterans Affairs Minister. I will meet with several candidates, present the proposed candidate to the President and then together we will decide”, said Orešković.
First Deputy Prime Minister and HDZ president Tomislav Karamarko said on Saturday that he had two candidates for the SOA director. Commenting on media reports that the Prime Minister would propose Danijel Markić, Karamarko said that he did not know anything about that. “I do not know that the Prime Minister has officially proposed something. I hope these are just public relations spins, because we as the largest party and I personally have some suggestions to the Prime Minister, and I expect they will be accepted”, said Karamarko.
He added that he had two candidates but would not disclose their names. Karamarko did not answer the question whether it was true that the Prime Minister rejected his proposal that the new SOA chief should be Toni Matas, the former head of the SOA branch in Zadar.
