ZAGREB, July 20, 2019 – The Croatian parliament confirmed seven new government ministers and two deputy prime ministers at an extraordinary session on Friday, with all but three opposition MPs boycotting the vote.
Ivan Malenica is the new Minister of Public Administration, Vesna Bedeković has become the Minister for Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy, and Marija Vučković was confirmed as the Minister of Agriculture.
The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs will be led by Gordan Grlić Radman.
Mario Banožić was confirmed as the Minister of State Assets and Marko Pavić as the Minister of Regional Development and European Union Funds.
The parliamentary majority also voted in favour of Interior Minister Davor Božinović and Finance Minister Zoran Marić becoming deputy prime ministers. Božinović will be responsible for the coordination of human rights and Marić will be in charge of economic affairs.
The new Labour and Pension System Minister Josip Aladrović was also confirmed by the 151-seat parliament on Friday, with 79 votes in favour of and one against. The vote for Aladrović was held half an hour after the legislature confirmed six new government ministers and two deputy prime ministers as part of the reshuffle plan proposed by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.
The vote on the seventh new minister was delayed due to a procrastinated debate by the Committee on Labour, Pension System and Social Partnership. The committee eventually supported the ministerial nominee by a majority of votes.
The lion’s share of the Opposition boycotted the vote on the new ministers in the parliament.
Some of the opposition leaders reiterated at the beginning of the extraordinary parliamentary session that this government shake-up was actually an attempt to cover up corruption.
The only three opposition MPs attending the vote were independent Marko Vučetić, Goran Aleksić (SNAGA) and Snježana Sabolek (Živi Zid), and they voted against.
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