PM Plenkovic says government protects general interest, economy, jobs

After a marathon session on a no-confidence vote in the government, a motion tabled by the strongest Opposition party -- the Social Democratic Party (SDP) over the government's handling of the crisis in the debt-laden food conglomerate Agrokor, which the Croatian 151-seat legislature rejected early on Saturday morning, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said his government protected the general interest, Croatia's economy, stability of the financial system and jobs.

"This was the fourth unsuccessful Opposition initiative. Both the government and Minister Nada Murganic received a vote of confidence. They used an instrument for which they knew in advance that it would not stand in the Croatian Parliament," Plenkovic said.

He also said there was no state of emergency in the country, as President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic claims.

Croatia, of course, has difficulties, problems, but it also has a government that is monitoring these problems, and we have shown that while dealing with all issues that were on the agenda, Plenkovic said, adding that the government would continue in the same fashion. He declined to comment on criticism which the president made against the government over the past several days.

Plenkovic's government survived the no-confidence vote since the SDP motion was beaten by 78 votes against while only 59 were in favour during the voting in the early hours of Saturday.

The motion was put forward to the parliament by the SDP which criticises the government for how it is handling the crisis in the heavily indebted private group Agrokor. When making this proposal, the Opposition admitted that it did not believe in the success of the motion but that the intent of the motion was to make PM Plenkovic appear in the parliament to answer the questions about Agrokor.

A no-confidence motion against Minister of Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy, Nada Murganic, also failed as it was supported by 49 lawmakers, whereas 78 MPs were against it.

Any new no-confidence motions by the Opposition in the government cannot be put forward in the next six months.

Text: Hina

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