Marija Pejcinovic Buric to be Croatia's new foreign minister

Marija Pejcinovic Buric, currently a state secretary at Croatia's Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, will be the country's new Minister of Foreign and European Affairs after Davor Ivo Stier stepped down on Monday, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic announced in a Croatian Television prime-time news programme in the evening.

"Marija Pejcinovic Buric will be the new Minister of Foreign and European Affairs. We have agreed that. I expect the government to function normally. (Her appointment) will be included on Parliament's agenda, and Mr Stier will continue to be active in Parliament," Plenkovic said.

Plenkovic said that Stier's resignation had been expected, adding that they had discussed it over the past months and that he had felt "certain reservations" in Stier.

Plenkovic said that he had not discussed with Stier his decision to return to Parliament and to continue as the secretary-general of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), but stressed that he expected from Stier "loyal and committed work in the Croatian Parliament" along the lines of how the first Croatian president Franjo Tudjman had seen the HDZ.

"In any case, what I want is for the HDZ to be firmly positioned and anchored in the centre right, where our first president and founder Franjo Tudjman saw it and wanted it to be. If Mr Stier intends to contribute to such positioning of the HDZ, he is welcome," Plenkovic said.

Text: Hina

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