Who will succeed Martina Dalić?
The resignation of Martina Dalić, the deputy prime minister and minister of economy, will have consequences for the operations of the government and for the position and authority of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković within the government and in HDZ, but will probably not have a significant adverse effect on the process of adopting a settlement between Agrokor’s creditors, since that process is already in full swing, reports Jutarnji List on May 15, 2018.
When it comes to the government, Prime Minister Plenković must now find an adequate replacement for his right hand and the person he trusted most. The most logical solution would be the one which has been discussed unofficially in the last few days, and that is Tomislav Ćorić, the current minister of environmental protection and energy, who might become the minister of both economy and energy. He would be replaced as environmental protection minister by Mario Šiljeg, who is currently a state secretary in the ministry.
This would effectively merge the Ministry of Economy with the energy portfolio, which is an idea which has been discussed for some time. Although this would be the smoothest transition after the resignation of Martina Dalić, at least as the first step, there is an unofficial rule which says that those whose names appear first on candidate lists for high offices usually do not get the job in the end.
However, Ćorić is a person trusted by the prime minister, unlike another potential candidate for the post, Ivana Maletić, the current member of the European Parliament, who does not have a good personal relationship with the prime minister.
The speculation that HNS president Ivan Vrdoljak could be named the minister does not seem likely since the position of deputy prime minister and economy minister is part of the HDZ quota, and Plenković would not give the job to a junior coalition partner. Such a decision would undoubtedly cause problems for Plenković within HDZ. Also, Vrdoljak himself today ruled out such a possibility.
It should also be borne in mind that the prime minister said last week that all ministers had six months to demonstrate their successful implementation of reforms in their sectors; otherwise they would be replaced. That shows that major reshuffle is not planned at this time.
The most natural decision for Plenković seems to be to make a switch with Ćorić, and then possibly launch a more extensive government reshuffle in six months if necessary. Interestingly, this would be the third ministerial position for Ćorić in just year and a half. Before the breakup of a coalition between HDZ and MOST, Ćorić was the minister of labour.
In recent days, there were speculations that Martina Dalić might be nominated as the next governor of the Croatian National Bank, instead of Boris Vujčić. Still, after the Agrokor email scandal and her resignation, it is not likely that Plenković would even consider to nominate her, knowing that the parliament debate and vote would cause another problem for the ruling majority.
