November the 13th, 2023 – Ivan Anušić is on track to become the new Croatian Minister of Defence after Mario Banožić was relieved of his duties by the PM. This followed a car crash which took the life of Goran Šarić, a van driver involved in the collision.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, at the beginning of a recently held press conference on the matter, the Prime Minister reminded those gathered that he had relieved ex Minister Mario Banožić of his duties on Saturday. He then said that consultations were held within HDZ that morning and that he proposed Ivan Anušić as the new Minister of Defence. He received support from both the party and his partners. “I believe that he will perform the duties of the Minister of Defence very well, up until the end of this government’s mandade,” the Prime Minister stated.
“As for the procedure itself, I will send a letter to the President of the Parliament, I believe that the competent Committee will be convened, I assume on Wednesday. As for the vote, it’s scheduled for Thursday. As things stand now and considering the importance of the Ministry of Defence as a department, we don’t want to have this temporary management regime for more than a few days”, explained Plenković, adding that he expects support at the plenary session on Thursday.
Mato Lukić will replace Ivan Anušić as Osijek-Baranja County prefect until the end of that mandate, added the prime minister, as reported by N1.
“We were elected within the same team, he’s the vice-president of HDZ. That closest team received a lot of support back in March 2020,” said Plenković when asked about how he will cooperate with Ivan Anušić, given their fairly well known disagreements in the past.
“It’s only logical that Ivan, given his great experience, has all the references to be the Minister of Defence, he will fit into the team and it will all function as it did before,” said the Prime Minister.
To questions about former minister Mario Banožić, Plenković stated that he does not know whether Banožić was at a party on Friday night, and to questions about the results of his blood tests, he said briefly: “Ask the competent state attorney’s office.” Plenković also noted that he hadn’t previously heard of any traffic accidents that Banožić had caused at any other time in his life.
