Croatia Conservative Leader Appointed as Prime Minister-Designate for Third Term
Croatian conservative leader and two-time prime minister, Andrej Plenkovic has been appointed prime minister-designate after he forged an alliance with an extreme party following an inconclusive election.
Plenkovic’s ruling Croatian Democratic Union won most votes at last month’s parliamentary vote in the European Union nation but not enough to stay in power on their own.
The party this week agreed to form a coalition with the far-right Homeland Movement for a parliamentary majority.
MPs are set to approve Mr Plenkovic’s new government next week. It will have a slim majority of 78 in the 151-member assembly, which could herald political uncertainty.
“We will continue in our third mandate to work for progress,” Mr Plenkovic said on X, formerly Twitter, after he was appointed by President Zoran Milanovic.
The 54-year-old new Cabinet is likely to push Croatia further to the right ahead of next month’s European election, which takes place as the continent faces a war in Ukraine, climate emergencies, migration and other problems.
The Homeland Movement, or DP, is a relatively new political party in Croatia, made up largely of radical nationalists and social conservatives who had left the centre-right HDZ.
The party is led by the hardline mayor of the eastern town of Vukovar, which was destroyed during Croatia’s 1991 war for independence after it split from the former Yugoslavia.
For the first time in years, Croatia’s government will not include a party representing minority Serbs because the DP opposed their inclusion. That has fuelled concerns about ethnic tensions stemming from the conflict in the 1990s.
HDZ has largely held office since Croatia gained independence. The Balkan nation became an EU member in 2013 and joined Europe’s passport-free travel area and the eurozone last year.
