There are growing rumours that a prominent minister will leave the government.
Members of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković’s government said today they had not heard anything about government reshuffle or the possibility that early parliamentary elections might be called, which was recently alleged by The Economist, reports N1 on November 23, 2017.
Minister of Environment and Energy Tomislav Ćorić, who is rumoured to be the replacement for Finance Minister Zdravko Marić, did not want to respond to journalists’ questions when asked this morning while arriving at a meeting of the government. Finance Minister Zdravko Marić, who is supposedly expected to leave the government, gave just a short answer. “They will dismiss me? I have not heard anything about it.”
Labor and Pension System Minister Marko Pavić, Justice Minister Dražen Bošnjaković, State Property Minister Goran Marić, Health Minister Milan Kujundžić and Science and Education Minister Blaženka Divjak also ignored the questions or briefly said they had not heard anything about it.
In a special edition “The World in 2018”, The Economist reported that there was a possibility that the Prime Minister could soon call early parliamentary elections. “The coalition government led by the conservative HDZ is weak, and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković could convene earlier elections in order to make use of the strong rating of the party. If he does not do that, economic reforms will be slow. If he secures a firmer mandate, the government will try to limit the large public debt and boost domestic investment,”’ analysts from The Economist wrote.
Regarding the possible reshuffle, the rumour is that Finance Minister Zdravko Marić will leave the government. His position in the cabinet was the reason for the collapse of a previous ruling coalition between HDZ and MOST earlier this year, when MOST wanted to remove him, but the Prime Minister refused. Marić is tainted by the fact that, before becoming a minister in January 2016, he worked for years as a high-ranking official in the finance department of Agrokor, Croatia’s giant whose crisis exploded at the beginning of this year and still threatens the stability of the whole economy. Marić said he did not know anything about financial irregularities which occurred while he worked for the company.
According to the same rumours, Marić is supposed to be replaced by Tomislav Ćorić, who is now the Minister of Environmental Protection and Energy. This would be his third portfolio in just six months. Until early June, he was the Minister of Labour and Pension System. After the breakup with MOST, he became the Minister of Environmental Protection and Energy in the new HDZ-HNS government. He is supposed to be replaced by Ivan Vrdoljak, the controversial former and probably future president of HNS. He resigned his post in spring after his party initially rejected to switch sides and enter into a coalition with HDZ. He is currently the favourite to win a new term as party president. In previous SDP-led government, Vrdoljak was first Minister of Construction and Physical Planning (2011-2012), and then Minister of Economy (2012-2016).
