Croatia’s parl approves coalition cabinet of PM Plenkovic

The appointment was adopted in a 79-61 vote with one abstention in the 151-seat assembly, according to data published on the website of the parliament.

Marko Primorac remains finance minister, Ivan Anusic keeps his position as defence minister and Gordan Grlic-Radman has been reappointed as minister of foreign and European affairs.

Lawyer Ante Susnjar is the new economy minister, following a proposal by DP, which was in opposition in the previous parliament.

The cabinet consists of 18 ministries and includes a new one, in charge of demography and immigration, to be headed by theologian Ivan Sipic.

Along with Susnjar and Sipic, the third minister from the quota of DP in the new cabinet will be the formation’s main secretary, kinesiologist Josip Dabro, who becomes the minister of agriculture.

The former economy minister Damir Habijan will become minister of justice and public administration.

Plenkovic has been prime minister since October 2016. During his tenure, the Adriatic country of 3.8 million people entered the eurozone and Europe's free-travel Schengen area on January 1, 2023.

HDZ and its partners won 61 seats in the unicameral parliament in the general election held on April 17. Centre-left Social Democrats, SDP, came in second with 42 seats. DP emerged as the third strongest political group in the new parliament with 14 seats.