Analysis

Under fire Croatian minister resigns

Croatia’s under fire public administration minister and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) political secretary Lovro Kuščević has resigned.

“Given all the activities in recent weeks in public and the media, we estimated that a lot of damage is being done to him personally and, of course, to the government and the HDZ, and that there’s no point anymore,” said Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who initially rejected calls for the minister to quit.

“It is now up to Mr Kuščević to resolve all the doubts that appear in public and make his political activity possible,” he added.

Mr Kuščević has come under severe criticism in the local media regarding the sale of commercial office space at Supetar on the island of Brač and other properties. The Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) has launched a preliminary investigation into the sale.

“I’m a responsible politician. I’ve been in politics a long time,” Mr Kuščević explained. “It’s clear to me that this negative perception in the media, the basis of all the unfounded attacks on me, represents a big burden on both the party and the government.”

“I don’t want to be a burden to this government, which is doing a good job and has excellent results so that these results can be even better,” he added.