The Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs is leaving the government.
Confirming recent media rumours, Croatian Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Davor Ivo Stier announced that he has resigned from the government on Monday afternoon. His resignation comes several days after HDZ executed a parliamentary majority reshuffle and entered into a coalition with the liberal HNS. Stier is considered to be one of the most prominent members of HDZ’s conservative faction.
“One week ago, I asked the Prime Minister to appoint a new person to head the Foreign Ministry, who will function well in the new political constellation. In this new situation, it is necessary to strengthen the Christian Democratic option in direct contact with citizens, and I think that as a member of the Parliament I can do that. It is a great honor to represent the Republic of Croatia in the world, but now it is more important to be in the country to spread the Christian Democratic option and restore the trust of people in institutions.
Therefore, it would be best for the Prime Minister to propose a new person to the head the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. I returned from New York on Friday, and the Prime Minister did not want to dismiss me while I was abroad, so there would be no inaccurate speculations. One of those speculations is that I might deny my support to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. That is incorrect. I have resigned to devote more time to intraparty work, which requires spending much more time in the field. I have officially resigned, and I want to thank all the employees of the Ministry.
Of course, I will continue to perform my duties until my successor is appointed, but I expect that could happen in the next few weeks or perhaps earlier. I would like to point out that, in the first part of our term, in co-operation with the Prime Minister and the President, we have established a framework for conducting an independent foreign policy.
As for the party, the task ahead of me is to implement what I wrote in my earlier essay about the party affairs. It is time to introduce the principle of ‘'one member, one vote'’ for elections of all HDZ officials at all levels. I believe this should be the principle in all the parties, not just in HDZ. HDZ belongs to all our members, and they must have the right to elect people to party bodies that will make critical decisions for the party and Croatia,” said Stier, who is HDZ’s political secretary.
