Croatia's new cabinet takes office
ZAGREB, Croatia (Reuters) -- Croatia's new center-right government headed by Prime Minister Ivo Sanader took office on Tuesday, pledging to improve living standards, gain Western trust and speed progress toward European Union membership.
Eighty-eight deputies in the new 152-seat parliament voted for Sanader's government, run by his conservative Croatian Democratic Union, which won November general elections and returned to power after four years in opposition.
The HDZ has outlined a reformist pro-Western agenda with respect for law and human rights under the pragmatic technocrat Sanader, but Western mistrust for the party once headed by hardline nationalist leader Franjo Tudjman still lingers.
"It is time to move on. Citizens want a safe future and a reliable state able to find its place in global integration. This government is ready and determined to start dealing with all problems now," Sanader told parliament.
He will have to work hard to prove he has truly reformed the party that led Croatia to independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and then to international isolation because of its defiance of the West and poor human rights.
To underscore this, he has vowed to speed up reforms and catch up with EU candidates Bulgaria and Romania during his mandate in the next four years. Zagreb applied for membership of the bloc in February and expects an answer on its candidacy early next year.
Twelve of 14 ministers -- slashed from 19 in the previous center-left cabinet -- will be from the HDZ, one from a small centrist ally and one a nonpartisan member.
Although technically a minority government -- the HDZ won 66 seats in the 152-seat assembly -- it will have backing from deputies for ethnic minorities, pensioners and the conservative Peasants' Party, bringing its overall support to a comfortable 90 deputies.
The cabinet will hold its first session on January 5.
Among top economic priorities, Sanader named macroeconomic stability, taming foreign debt, cutting public spending and taxes while boosting Gross Domestic Product, exports and foreign investment.
He also vowed to help the return of Serb war refugees, reform the judiciary and cooperate with the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague -- the key political criteria Zagreb has to meet to advance its EU membership bid.
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