Public Administration Minister Kuscevic steps down

"Minister Kuscevic and I talked upon my return from Poland and over the weekend and today. He tendered his resignation as both public administration minister and as the HDZ's political secretary. As prime minister and party president, I accepted his resignation and... he will return to parliament," said Plenkovic.

"Given all the activities in recent weeks in public and the media, we estimated that a lot of damage is being done to him personally and, of course, to the government and the HDZ, and that this makes no sense anymore," Plenkovic said, adding that it was now up to Kuscevic "to resolve all the doubts that appear in public and make his political activity possible."

"I'm a responsible politician. I've been in politics a long time," Kuscevic said, adding that "it's clear to me that this negative perception in the media, the basis of all the unfounded attacks on me, represents a big burden on both the party and the government."

"I don't want to be a burden to this government, which is doing a good job and has excellent results, so that these results can be even better," Kuscevic added.

The opposition and the government's coalition partners had been calling for Kuscevic's resignation due to alleged scandals involving real estate on the island of Brac.

Last Thursday, the parliament added to the agenda a motion by the opposition, which collected 43 signatures, for a vote of no confidence in Kuscevic.

The opposition claimed that while Kuscevic was the head of Nerezice municipality on Brac island, and later as minister, he showed that the protection of public interest was not important for him, that he continually put his own private property interests before public interest, and that he abused his position, gaining millions of kuna."

Plenkovic said he had also talked with the state secretary at the Foreign Ministry concerning Slovenia's border arbitration suit against Croatia.

"A hearing was held on Slovenia's suit against Croatia regarding the arbitration agreement that we do not accept. The impressions from our delegation... are also positive, i.e. that Croatia presented its arguments that the European Court (of Justice) is not competent for the dispute," he added.