Andrej Plenković is the first Croatian Prime Minister to win a third term leading the Cabinet
Written by Andrea Vodanović, Head of EU Policy, URANIA, Brussels
Croatia’s new government was approved on late Friday evening after 79 MPs voted for the third Cabinet to be led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, with 61 voting against. Earlier in the day, Plenković presented the program of the Government. Successful, Vibrant, Just, Sustainable, and Sovereign Croatia are the five pillars outlined in the four-year platform of the new Croatian Government.
After the Croatian Parliament endorsed the 16th Croatian government, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković promised that his Government would continue its dedicated work for the benefit of Croatia.
In his speech after the vote, Plenković thanked the majority in the national legislature for placing their confidence in him and his third premiership. “We will continue working in a committed manner to the benefit of the Croatian people, all our citizens, our economy, and we will work on making connections between the homeland and the Diaspora stronger,” said Plenković.
The Croatian PM called on the Opposition to defuse tensions and show a willingness to strike up dialogue. He added that he was particularly honoured to be the first Croatian PM who has won three terms as the prime minister.
Plenković recalled that during the global crises, his Cabinet had invested a lot of energy and effort to maintain social justice and cohesion while accomplishing strategic goals in parallel. He said that developing a dialogue with the Opposition on essential topics concerning Croatian society and economy is important and useful and that the majority is willing to strike up a dialogue with the Opposition leaders, adding that there would be good headway although this dialogue was absent in the second term of his government. “When we have well-structured dialogue within the parliamentary majority and with our social partners, employers, and trade unions, and authorities at the local level, it is a bit odd that we only do not have dialogue with the Opposition in the Parliament,” said Plenković.
In this context, he called on the Opposition to defuse tensions after a very aggressive election campaign and the polarization of Croatian society.
The HDZ won the most votes in the April 17 election but not enough to rule alone. Therefore, a coalition was agreed with Homeland Movement (DP), a relatively new right-wing party built by former conservative members of HDZ and with support from some national minorities as well as independent members.