Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Friday that the process of appointing the new state attorney-general will take place in accordance with the law and that the government "will not violate legal provisions like President Zoran Milanovic" in nomination of the president of the Supreme Court.

Unlike Milanovic, we will certainly not violate the legal provisions, as he violated them when it came to proposing a candidate for the president of the Supreme Court, the prime minister told the press in Paris, where a commemoration was held for the deceased Jacques Delors, a former president of the European Commission.

This way, Plenkovic responded to the president, who had previously issued a statement in which he said that a politically independent and non-partisan person should be elected to the position of state attorney general.

Any, current or earlier, connection of the state attorney general with politics and party interests would mean a dangerous violation of the autonomy and independence of the DORH, which would undoubtedly raise doubts about the future actions of that institution, said Milanovic.

The prime minister underscored that every state attorney, as before, would be completely independent and professional in their work.

I don’t see that any state attorney general was under any influence, he said.

The candidates for the successor of Zlata Hrvoj-Sipek include Mladen Dragicevic, a lawyer, Niksa Wagner, a deputy county prosecutor in Split, Emilijo Kalabric, the incumbent deputy state attorney general, and Ivan Turudic, a High Criminal Court judge.

According to the prime minister, there has been no talk of candidates in the government yet, because their names have yet to be submitted by the State Judicial Council. The Government will then form a special commission, and after interviewing the candidates, they will propose one of them to the Croatian Parliament, Plenkovic explained the procedure, adding that it will be in accordance with the law.

Opposition MPs Sinisa Hajdas Doncic, Anka Mrak Taritas and Domagoj Hajdukovic said earlier today that the government would be guided by political criteria when selecting a new state attorney general, alluding to the fact that Ivan Turudic was the one who answered to the HDZ.