Croatia's Deputy PM Quits Over Agrokor Emails

At a joint press conference with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Monday, Croatia's Deputy Prime Minister Martina Dalic said she was resigning as she "did not want to be a burden" to the Prime Minister's government and to Plenkovic's ruling Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ.

Dalic denied causing any damage to the troubled food giant Agrokor and said that she had done everything she could to ensure the company's employees and suppliers and the Croatian economy got "what they were looking for".

Dalic resigned less than a week after leaked emails suggested that she had used her position to help her friends and business associates in the process of passing a law on the state management of Agrokor.

On May 9, the news website Index published leaked emails containing pieces of correspondence between Dalic and various consultants, lawyers and brokers who later became members of the state-appointed extraordinary management of Agrokor - or whose companies made lucrative deals with Agrokor.

She rejected allegations of trying to help her friends and associates on the same day the emails were published.

On Monday, Plenkovic stated he had accepted Dalic resignation, but saying he felt sorry that the vice-president of the government had left, and he regretted a lack of transparency that might have ensured such "small stains" could be avoided.

Dalic had made a big contribution, he said. "It remains our task to complete the process [of dealing with Agrokor] within the legal deadline, to clear up all aspects that need to be cleared, and I think this is in the interest of both the government and the people involved in this process," said Plenkovic.

Plenkovic was referring to settlement agreement that the government is supposed to reach with...

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