ZAGREB, May 17 (Xinhua) -- The Croatian parliament, officially constituted on Thursday, approved a new government led by incumbent Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Friday.
According to the plans proposed by Plenkovic, the new government will have a total of 18 ministries, and most of the ministers of the previous government will remain in power. After the approval by the Croatian parliament, Plenkovic and the ministers took their oaths and were sworn into office.
Prior to the vote, Plenkovic presented his five priorities -- a successful, vital, fair, sustainable and sovereign Croatia -- for his new government for the next four years to the parliament. He also pledged to increase employment opportunities, raise average salaries, fight against corruption, safeguard border and internal security and modernize the military.
In the parliamentary elections held on April 17, the center-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) led by Plenkovic won 61 out of the total of 151 seats in the parliament. The HDZ formed a new coalition government with the right-wing party Homeland Movement and the representatives of the national minorities after a series of negotiations.
On May 10, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic approved the mandate for Plenkovic to form the new government, after Plenkovic presented the president with signatures of 78 newly-elected parliament members who supported him.
Plenkovic, born in 1970, used to be a diplomat and a member of the European Parliament. He has been serving as HDZ president since July 2016, and prime minister since October 2016. ■
