Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic’s proposals to appoint Agriculture Minister Tomislav Tolusic for Deputy Prime Minister, and Darko Horvat as Economy Minister, were accepted with a majority vote on Wednesday, in a joint session of parliamentary committees on economy, and on the Constitution, standing orders, and the political system.

The Prime Minister put forward Tolusic and Horvat as candidates for the positions following last week’s resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Martina Dalic.

The session mostly focused on the situation in Agrokor, Croatia’s debt-ridden food and retail group currently undergoing negotiations for a restructuring process under state-appointed crisis management, per provisions of a controversial law passed in 2017, dubbed Lex Agrokor.

The opposition questioned the Prime Minister on the e-mail scandal which surfaced earlier in May, when the news portal Index.hr leaked a private correspondence between the then Economy Minister Martina Dalic and private law firms and brokerages which participated in the drafting of Lex Agrokor.

“The only mistake in that process was the fact that those who helped write Lex Agrokor were later included in the process as subcontractors,” Plenkovic said, adding that it was a pity a shadow was cast over the entire process, and everything that was done right.

The Prime Minister said that the Agrokor crisis was the result of poor business decisions made by the conglomerate’s owner, and the government had little time to adopt the law.

“The intention was not to jeopardise the core of the economic process by a political decision. We did the best we could in the shortest time possible, with good intentions. Everything that has not been done right initially, we are correcting now,” Plenkovic said, adding that the process of negotiating a settlement between the crisis management and Agrokor’s creditors

MPs will vote on the candidates’ appointments in a parliament session on Friday.

Follow N1 via mobile apps for Android | iPhone/iPad | Windows| and social media on Twitter | Facebook.