ZAGREB, May 22, 2018 – Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has the support of his coalition partners for the newly-nominated ministers, the leader of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) Darinko Kosor told the press outside government headquarters on Tuesday, after the prime minister introduced the candidates for the posts of deputy prime minister and economy minister.
Darko Horvat, who briefly served as Minister of Entrepreneurship and Crafts in 2016 when the ruling HDZ party was led by Tomislav Karamarko, has been nominated Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts, while Tomislav Tolušić, the current Minister of Agriculture, has been nominated Deputy Prime Minister. Their nominations are expected to be put to a vote in parliament on Friday.
Kosor said that they had only talked about the nominations and issues relating to the work of parliament, and not about controversial meetings in the so-called Hotmail scandal and the HDZ’s election video that was filmed in the office of lawyer Boris Šavorić, one of the lawyers involved in the drafting of the law concerning the indebted Agrokor food conglomerate.
The scandal broke out after the Index.hr news website released email correspondence between former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Martina Dalić and consultants and lawyers involved in the drafting of the Agrokor law. This led to Dalić’s resignation last week.
“The HSLS is confident that the prime minister has clean hands, that he did not participate in anything that has to do with corruption. Certain things were wrong, there should not have been communication through private email, everyone is clear about that,” Kosor said.
The parliamentary Committee on Economic Affairs, which is chaired by Kosor, and the Committee on the Constitution will hold a joint meeting on Wednesday to hear the newly-nominated ministers.
