The candidate for the new minister of defence is Osijek-Baranja County head Ivan Anusic, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday.

Anusic was nominated after Mario Banozic was relieved of duty on Saturday after causing a car crash in which one person was killed.

Anusic was born in Osijek in 1973 and graduated from the Zagreb University Faculty of Kinesiology. He is married with four children.

He has been politically active since 1993, when he joined the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), but he later joined the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

He also holds the post of president of the Osijek-Baranja County branch of the HDZ party, to which he was elected twice.

As a MP in the 8th parliament, Anusic was the vice-chair of the National Council monitoring the implementation of the Strategy to Combat Corruption, and was also a member of the Agriculture Committee and the Committee for Regional Development and EU Funds.

In the 9th parliament he was the chairman of the War Veterans Committee and a member of the Defence Committee.

He joined in the defence of Croatia in the 1990s war as a minor and he holds a number of military decorations, including for participation in the 1995 Operation Flash.