After the Croatian Parliament on Friday evening endorsed the 16th Croatian government with 79 to 61 votes and one abstention, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who has started his third consecutive term in office, promised that his government would continue working committedly to the benefit of Croatia.

During his speech after the vote, Plenkovic thanked the majority in the national legislature for placing their confidence in him and in his third premiership.

We will continue working in a committed manner to the benefit of the Croatian people, all our citizens, our economy and we will work on making connections between the homeland and the Diaspora stronger, said Plenkovic.

He added that he was particularly honored to be the first Croatian PM who has won three terms as the premier.

He recalled that during the global crises, his cabinet has had invested a lot of energy and effort to maintain social justice and cohesion and to accomplish the strategic goals in parallel.

Plenkovic said that the first session of his new cabinet will be held on Monday.

PM calls on the Opposition to defuse tensions and show willingness to strike up dialogue

He said that developing dialogue with the Opposition on essential topics concerning Croatian society and economy is important and useful and that the majority is willing to strike up dialogue with Opposition leaders.

He said that this would be good headway after this dialogue was absent in the second term of his government.

“When we have well-structured dialogue within the parliamentary majority and with our social partners, employers, trade unions, and authorities at the local level, it is a bit odd that we only do not have dialogue with the Opposition in the Sabor, said Plenkovic.

In this context, he called on the Opposition to defuse tensions after a very aggressive election campaign and polarisation of the society.

Plenkovic on SDSS

Asked by reporters whether he regrets the exclusion of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) from the ruling majority in his third term, after their fair and loyal partnership in the last two terms, Plenkovic answered that “such were the circumstances”.

One of the conditions of the Homeland Movement (DP), a new junior partner in the ruling partner, was that the SDSS could not be part of the majority.

The HDZ won the most votes in the April 17 elections but not enough to rule alone, with 61 seats in the 151-seat Sabor, and therefore it made a new coalition with the DP, which has now 12 seats in the legislature.

Plenkovic recalled that during the vote of confidence in his third cabinet, the SDSS leader Milorad Pupovac abstained from the vote, while the other two SDSS MPs — Anja Simpraga, who was a deputy PM in his second cabinet, and Dragana Jeckov — did not attend the vote.

Plenkovic said that abstention by Pupovac during the vote is understandable and a very fair message.