HDZ Presidency makes the decision on potential new Croatian Prime Minister.
HDZ presidency held a telephone meeting today and decided to nominate Finance Minister Zdravko Marić as the Prime Minister-designate.
Marić will be officially named as Prime Minister-designate if current Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković is defeated in Parliament in a motion of no confidence and if HDZ manages to collect signatures from at least 76 MPs in support of Marić.
Although Marić entered the government of Tihomir Orešković as HDZ’s representative, he is a not a member of the party. He is an economist who worked for years in the Ministry of Finance. When HDZ’s Ivan Šuker was the Minister, Marić was his deputy. Then he went to private sector, where he became the executive director of strategy and capital markets at Agrokor, Croatia’s largest private-owned company. That is why many consider him to be a man of Agrokor’s owner Ivica Todorić, who is one of the richest people in Croatia.
Marić did not take part in November’s parliamentary elections and therefore has no electoral legitimacy, which was also one of the main complaints against current Prime Minister Orešković.
