Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament on Wednesday reappointed Ivana Jakir-Bajo as a vice-governor of the Croatian National Bank (HNB) for another six-year term.
Jakir-Bajo, whose previous mandate expired on 1 July, was nominated by the ruling HDZ party and received the support of 81 lawmakers, including ruling coalition MPs and representatives of the Serb minority SDSS. Opposition parties did not take part in the vote.
She was the only one of five candidates for three positions to receive a positive opinion from the relevant parliamentary committee.
Other candidates included Zagrebačka banka chief economist Hrvoje Dolenec and Alen Stojanović, a professor at the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb, both nominated by HDZ. The SDP and We Can! parliamentary groups proposed SDP MP and former finance minister Boris Lalovac, while the Independent and HSU parliamentary group nominated Zagreb Stock Exchange board member Tomislav Gračan.
Following Jakir-Bajo's appointment, two of the six HNB vice-governor positions remain vacant after Tomislav Ćorić left the central bank to become finance minister and Romano Šubić's term expired two years ago.
SDP criticises HDZ over failure to back Lalovac
SDP and We Can! MPs did not support Jakir-Bajo because the ruling majority did not also put Lalovac's nomination to a vote, although they said they would otherwise have backed her.
"There are moments when we are not only voting on individuals, but on the very soul of this country and the kind of Croatia we want. We nominated Lalovac with one goal: to permanently change the political model, so that expertise, knowledge and ethics prevail over ideology and obedience," SDP MP Mirela Ahmetović said.
She accused Prime Minister Andrej Plenković of missing an opportunity to demonstrate inclusiveness and statesmanship, claiming that, in his view, institutions serve not citizens but loyal party appointees.
HDZ MP Marko Pavić said Jakir-Bajo was unquestionably an expert. Regarding Lalovac, he said the party was not opposed to him personally, but noted that Lalovac had said in an interview that he would withdraw if SDP came to power.
"Tomislav Ćorić was also at the HNB before moving to the government," SDP MP Arsen Bauk replied, drawing a parallel between these two cases.