Croatia’s PM proposes new candidate after finance minister resigns

SARAJEVO (Reuters) -Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Wednesday that he proposed economy professor Marko Primorac as the new finance minister after Zdravko Maric filed his resignation in an unexpected move.

Maric, who had initiated tax reforms and a stricter control of expenditure, has not talked publicly yet about his reasons for leaving but the government said that he cited private reasons. Plenkovic said Maric would talk to media on Thursday.

Plenkovic said that he discussed the move with Maric over the past several weeks and thanked him on behalf of the government for his 6-1/2-year work.

“He contributed greatly to the financial stability and we are now completing a huge project of Croatia’s membership in the euro zone,” Plenkovic told reporters.

Croatia is preparing to join the euro zone from 2023.

Plenkovic said that he proposed Primorac, a lecturer at Zagreb University and the World Bank and IMF consultant, as the new candidate for the job to the cabinet and the parliament majority, who approved him.

He said that he would introduce Primorac, who has contracted Covid-19, to the parliament next week.

“I believe that he will be new finance minister from next Friday,” Plenkovic said, adding he believed that Primorac, 38, will quickly find himself in the job.

(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Alison Williams and Angus MacSwan)