Croatian finance minister resigns after half a year of taking the country into the eurozone

BELGRADE, Jul 6 (.) – Croatian Finance Minister Zdravko Maric resigned on Wednesday, half a year before his country’s planned integration into the eurozone, local news agency HINA reported.

Marek, who is considered a great expert in economics and finance, did not specify the reasons for his resignation.

According to Hina, the government of Prime Minister Andrei Plenkovich met with the parties represented in Parliament before appointing a successor to the resigned minister.

Government sources told local media that Marcy, an economics doctor, is expected to present a report on Thursday on the reasons for his unexpected decision.

During the term of Marek, author of tax reform, Croatia was able to meet the criteria for admission as a new member of the eurozone in 2023.

Among the most prominent of these requirements are the reduction of public debt and the budget deficit, as well as keeping the inflation rate low (until recently).

Since taking office in 2016, Hina recalls, “politically survived various sensitive situations and scandals.”

Last year, the press criticized him for spending the summer on the yacht of a Croatian businessman, and also decried his stay in a luxury hotel.

Government spokesman Marko Milic announced today on the N1 TV channel that the minister’s resignation will not affect the stability of the executive branch, and that the Prime Minister was informed in advance of the step that the outgoing chief of finance would take.

He noted that Marek will work until the middle of the month and will participate on the 12th in Brussels in the Ecofin (Economic and Financial Council of the European Union), where Croatia will be officially approved as the 20th member of the eurozone.

The spokesman announced that the candidate to replace Marek in the post is Marco Primorac, a professor at the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb, and that he is scheduled to be appointed by Parliament on July 15.