Not all dismissed ministers would strongly support the government in parliament.
In recent days, the media reported that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković is planning a government reshuffle. Some of the current ministries could be abolished or merged with other departments, while some of the ministers could return to parliament or be sent to other posts. Plenković hopes that the changes would strengthen his position, particularly within his party. However, the prime minister’s plan is not so easy to implement, especially given the fact that he has a very unstable and thin majority in parliament, reports Jutarnji List on April 22, 2018.
Of the twenty current ministers, ten are those who were elected to parliament at the last elections. They are Defence Minister Damir Krstičević, Environmental Protection and Energy Minister Tomislav Ćorić, Finance Minister Zdravko Marić, State Property Minister Goran Marić, Agriculture Minister Tomislav Tolušić, Justice Minister Dražen Bošnjaković, Health Minister Milan Kujundžić, Transportation Minister Oleg Butković, Veterans Affairs Minister Tomo Medved and Administration Minister Lovro Kušcević. They are currently substituted in parliament by other candidates from HDZ’s lists. If he decides to dismiss some of these ministers and return them to parliamentary benches, Plenković will hardly strengthen his position.
By returning to parliament, for example, ministers such as Tomislav Tolušić and Goran Marić, who do not belong among prime ministers’ closest associates, Plenković could further strengthen the opposition within the party. Both Tolušić and Marić have strong support within HDZ, and both of them won a massive number of preferential votes in the elections: Tolušić more than 11,000 and Marić almost 16,000. Veterans Affairs Minister Medved, whose ministry has been mentioned as one of those about to be abolished, has won an impressive number of preferential votes – more than 11,000. It is not expected that they would bring down their own government if they were to return to parliament, but they could undoubtedly create problems for Plenković.
The recent ratification of the Istanbul Convention was not supported by 17 HDZ’s MPs, despite intense pressure coming from Plenković, which is sufficient evidence that he cannot be sure how his MPs will vote. In the party, there is an increasing number of those who are not satisfied with his latest moves, and the discontent would only grow if dismissed ministers were to return to the parliament.
Particular problems could arise if the Veterans Affairs Ministry is split and merged with the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of the Interior, although Plenković’s associates believe that the move should not be controversial, given that all the veterans’ benefits would remain the same.
Interestingly, rumours about government reshuffle do not mention the fate of Health Minister Milan Kujundžić, who should normally be among the first to be replaced, given that the situation in his portfolio is by far the most difficult. But, Kujundžić is one of those ministers who received a high number of preferential votes. He entered the parliament from the tenth constituency, where he was at the last position on the candidate slate. But, he received nearly 14,000 votes, enough for him to jump over better-positioned candidates. His possible return to parliament would be a significant headache for Plenković, given that Kujundžić is somewhat unpredictable and would probably not keep silent and vote as expected.
During the reshuffle, Plenković should carefully consider each step and, above all, acknowledge the achievements and expertise of individual ministers. The primary criterion must not be loyalty to the party leader. If he wants to establish control over the party and achieve stability, he should strengthen the government and implement the necessary reforms. In that way, maybe he could better reinforce his position, instead of continuously threatening rebels with early parliamentary elections.
Translated from Jutarnji List (reported by Rozita Vuković).
