Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, said at a government session on Friday that he would present the new government ministers, Branko Bacic and Sime Erlic, in the parliament next week.

Bacic, who is the new Minister of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets, and Erlic, the new Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds, will first be presented before the competent parliamentary committees and then at a plenary session of the parliament, he said.

Plenkovic stressed that the government wanted to step up the reconstruction of areas hit by earthquakes in 2020 and make significant progress in that process this year.

The process will unfortunately take years but we want the priorities – notably the status of people staying in temporary accommodation – to be resolved in 2023, Plenkovic said. He said that the government would today make a decision on additional financial support of €4 million for Sisak and €3 million for Glina, to deal with the consequences of the December 2020 earthquake.

On Croatians arrested in Zambia

Plenkovic also commented on the case of eight Croatians, adoptive parents, arrested in Zambia on suspicion of human trafficking, who were released by a court in Ndola pending further proceedings after spending a month in custody on Thursday.

The PM said that Croatian diplomats and state institutions had been in touch with them through the Pretoria-based diplomatic office that also covers Zambia, and that together with the Zambian authorities, they had been assisting the Croatian nationals, and that the services of the EU Delegation in Lusaka were also being used.

“We will continue providing our citizens with legal aid. In parallel, the competent Croatian institutions have been conducting activities related to the case,” he said.