ZAGREB, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Croatian Parliament on Friday voted for the new deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Tolusic and the new Minister of Economy Darko Horvat.
77 parliament members voted for Tolusic while eight were against, and Horvat got the same number of "yes" while eleven were against him.
Representatives of the four opposition parties, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Croatian Peasant Party, Living Wall and Bridge walked out of the parliamentary hall and did not vote.
Tolusic is also the Minister of Agriculture, while Horvat has been a member of the Croatian parliament before being appointed Minister of Economy. Both are members of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).
Ahead of the vote, Horvat suggested that more favorable credits should be approved by the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) and the Croatian Postal Bank for Croatian investors with one percent interest rate.
This proposal has led to negative comments from economists who believe that the state, as the owner of the Croatian Postal Bank, should not interfere with the bank's business or impose interests and that it is the matter of market.
Former deputy PM and economy minister Martina Dalic resigned on May 14 after her leaked emails showed that a group of people called the "Borg Group" had agreed to draft a law on Agrokor, the largest private company in Croatia that was in huge debt, and many of them later worked as highly-paid consultants and lawyers for the restructuring of Agrokor.
Leaked emails also showed that Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic had learned about the deal. The SDP has filed a lawsuit against Plenkovic to the Conflict of Interest Committee and asked for his resignation.
