Croatia Deputy PM resigns, seeks new parliamentary majority

The governement led by non-partisan PM Tihomir Oreskovic fell on Thursday after parliament adopted a no-confidence motion with 125 votes against 15 and two abstentions.

Lawmakers will now have 30 days to form a new government or face a snap election.

The former deputy prime minister denied that his resignation was linked to the ruling and blamed the “dysfunctional” government.

Parliament’s action was taken on a motion filed by the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ – Hrvatska demokratska zajednica in Croatian), the senior party in the ruling coalition. The conservatives have said Oreskovic, a Canada-educated financial expert who was elected to the post in January, proved incapable of leading the country amid deep economic and social problems.

Croatian Vice Prime Minister Tomislav Karamarko resigned as expected on Wednesday, after weeks of opposition and government partners calling for his resignation.

President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic will start consultations with parliamentary parties on forming a new cabinet on Friday, June 17.

While the HDZ says it can muster a new majority of at least 76 of parliament’s 151 deputies, analysts are sceptical.

The concern is a snap election would slow reforms necessary to fix the fragile public finances, improve the investment climate and spur growth.

The HDZ says it has the backing of 68 at the moment.

By resigning in order to save the HDZ alliance with MOST, Karamarko and HDZ are trying to put the pressure on Petrov and Oreskovic to resign and to convince MOST to support a new government headed by Maric.

The biggest opposition party, the Social Democrats, along with its allies, says it hopes to gather the signatures of a majority of deputies to demand parliament be dissolved to pave the way for an election.

Mr Karamarko said: “Tomorrow we will hold a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Oreškovi? as this government is dysfunctional”.

Croatia, the newest member of European Union, entered the EU in 2013 as the 28th member state.

Next year, the country faces a tough financial challenge when it has to repay nearly 30 billion kuna ($4bn) in maturing bonds and interest.