Croatian Minister's Survival Leaves Crisis Unresolved

Ahead of talks between President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic and leaders of Croatia's parliamentary parties and MPs on Friday, a resolution to the political crisis in the country is not in sight.

Grabar Kitarovic called the meeting in order to get insight into "the balance of power in the parliament" between the government and the opposition, amid a crisis in relations between the senior party in government, the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, and the Bridge of Independent Lists, MOST.

Finance Minister Zdravko Maric survived an opposition-led no-confidence vote demanding his resignation, after which MOST leader Bozo Petrov resigned as chair of parliament on Thursday.

However, it remains unclear whether HDZ has weathered the storm and still commands a majority in the chamber to continue governing without MOST.

The latest turmoil began when Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic last week axed three MOST ministers for not supporting Maric.

The HDZ then entered into open conflict with MOST, which left the government and supported the opposition move to remove the minister.

Plenkovic's government was voted into office last October by 91 MPs. Without the support of MOST's 15 MPs and five MPs from centrist Croatian Peasants' Party, HSS - which has also stated it will no longer support the government - that majority appears non-existent.

On Thursday, after the unsuccessful no-confidence motion, Plenkovic refused to clarify whether the HDZ had a majority in parliament or not, claiming that "wasn't the topic of discussion in the parliament".

"The only moment when it will be seen who supports my government will come when the new ministers [instead of the MOST ministers] are introduced," he said, adding that his party was ready for early...