The vice-president of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Branko Bacic, said on Monday that a government reshuffle was not being considered for now, after Construction Minister, Darko Horvat, resigned following his arrest on Saturday on suspicion of abuse of office in 2018.

“We cannot link the latest developments to a government reshuffle. The prime minister has formed the government and it is up to him to propose replacement of individual ministers if he decides that they do not fulfill the government’s criteria and programd,” Bacic told reporters during an HDZ presidency meeting.

Bačić announced that the governing coalition would meet on Tuesday and that a new construction minister would be appointed already this week. Asked if there would be a wider government reshuffle, he said: “That’s not on the table at this point.”

He said that a government reshuffle had not been discussed either at a meeting of the presidency or of the national council.

Bacic said that despite media reports, the government had no official information on the status of Labour and Pension System Minister Josip Aladrovic and Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milosevic in the investigation by the State Attorney’s Office (DORH) into the awarding of funds for enterprise development in areas predominantly populated by ethnic minorities.

“When and if it comes to that, when we have relevant information about what we, too, are reading in the media, we will open a discussion at the level of the government and the ruling coalition. At this point we do not have any information based on which we might treat the ministers who enjoy the prime minister’s confidence differently,” Bacic said.