July 12 (SeeNews) - Croatian prime minister Andrej Plenkovic has nominated the dean of the Sibenik Polytechnic, Ivan Malenica, for new public administration minister, the government said.
The nomination comes several days after Lovro Kuscevic submitted his resignation from the ministerial post following allegations that he had illegitimately enriched himself during his term as mayor in the past.
"Malenica is a young man, a lawyer who has knowledge of public administration," Plenkovic was quoted as saying in a government statement late on Thursday, following a meeting with the coalition partners of the governing Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party,.
Plenkovic also said that he will carry out consultations on changes in other government posts in the next several days, after which the names of Malenica and other proposed new cabinet members will be put to the vote.
Malenica, born in 1985 in Sibenik, graduated from the faculty of law at the Split University and has been dean of the Sibenik Polytechnic since October 2017.
Apart from a new public administration minister, Croatia is expected to also have a new foreign and EU affairs minister, after incumbent Marija Pejcinovic Buric was elected in June as new secretary general of the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly.
Local media have been speculating that apart from these two ministers Plenkovic might change some other cabinet members due to unsatisfactory results.
Plenkovic stated on Tuesday he has received a mandate to carry out a government reshuffle, aimed at improving the work of his cabinet ahead of the country's upcoming presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2020.
He has not provided a timeframe for the reshuffle but media reports have have it that the changes could take place already in July, prior to the parliament's summer recess.