Croatia: Government Ousted, Parliament Dissolved

What You Need To Know:

✅ Croatian lawmakers voted to dissolve Parliament, bringing an end to the coalition government led by Croatia’s Croatian Democratic Union Government.

✅ “The corruption scandal was already involved between these two companies which involved previous Government.”

✅ The crisis began with accusations of corruption when it was revealed that Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Karamarko’s wife, Ana Saric Karamarko, received €60,000 (US$ 68,000) as a consulting fee from a lobbyist working for MOL.

✅ “As a result, the Social Democratic Party began a motion of no confidence against Karamarko and they required a resignation.”

After just five months in power, Croatian lawmakers voted to dissolve Parliament, bringing an end to the coalition government led by Croatia’s Croatian Democratic Union Government. Prime Minister Oreskovic told Parliament he was being ousted because he tried to resolve the dispute over managing rights between the Croatian energy company INA and the Hungarian mineral oil group, MOL. According to Nina Brankovic, Political Science Researcher at the University of Zagreb, “the corruption scandal was already involved between these two companies which involved previous Government.”

The crisis began with accusations of corruption when it was revealed that Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Karamarko’s wife, Ana Saric Karamarko, received €60,000 (US$ 68,000) as a consulting fee from a lobbyist working for MOL. In May of 2016, a Croatian Newspaper published the contract. “As a result, the Social Democratic Party began a motion of no confidence against Karamarko and they required a resignation,” says Brankovic.

But corruption is nothing new for Croatia, explains Brankovic. “Croatia should take some policy measures against corruption issues,” she advises. An election is scheduled for September 11th of this year, and results will be hard to predict.

Hromadske and Kyiv Post’s Josh Kovensky spoke to Nina Brankovic, Political Science Researcher at the University of Zagreb via Skype on July 31st 2016.