Croatian Democratic Union

The Croatian defence ministry told BIRN that it is analysing options after the government the possibility of reintroducing compulsory military service, although the costs of bringing back conscription are not yet clear.

Despite its recent controversies, Croatia's anti-establishment Living Wall party is growing in popularity, which many see as evidence that Croatia is following the global trend towards more populist politics.

A poll last week conducted on 967 people by the agency Ipsos puls showed that its popularity had risen lately.

Despite media pressure, the Office of Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic has supplied little information about the purpose of her visit to the US capital, Washington, fuelling speculation about the possible reasons.

Despite a dispute with the ruling centre-right Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic may win the upcoming local elections in May, political analyst Zarko Puhovski told BIRN.

Reports last week suggested that the HDZ rejected Bandic's city budget proposal for 2017 in order to initiate a process to oust him.

Croatian media reports on Thursday said the governing centre-right Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, plans to oust the controversial Mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandic, by refusing to support his budget in the city assembly.

Croatia's new centre-right government has announced that it will be directly naming the new presidents and board members of state companies, insisting that this was only a temporary solution.

BELGRADE - The Croatian parliament approved on Wednesday a new government led by HDZ party leader Andrej Plenkovic, whose main task will be to boost growth and sort out fragile public finances in one of the weakest European Union economies, VOA reports.

A new centre-right coalition government in Croatia under Andrej Plenkovic, president of the leading Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, was voted in by the country's parliament on Wednesday.

The coalition government of the HDZ, the centre-right Bridge of the Independent Lists, MOST, and all eight national minority MPs gathered the support of 91 of the 151 MPs in parliament.

Croatia's parliament will hold its first session on Friday since the September general elections, before voting in a new government.

After 23 days of negotiations with future partners in government, Andrej Plenkovic, president of the leading centre-right party, the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, is due to be named prime minister-designate on Monday by the country's President.