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Croatian parliament to vote on new cabinet

Xinhua, January 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

Croatian Prime Minister-designate Tihomir Oreskovic, who is seeking parliamentary approval for his cabinet, said on Friday that the primary tasks of the new government would be to restore economy and improve living standards of citizens.

Oreskovic, a non-partisan and a Canadian-raised businessman, presented his plans to the 151-seat parliament which will vote the cabinet later today.

He said his team would aim for GDP growth of more than 3 percent. The figure in 2015 was about 1.5 percent.

The government would also reduce public debt from the current 90 percent of GDP to less than 80 percent by 2020 and cut the budget deficit to less than 3 percent of GDP by 2017, matching EU demand, he said.

The goal is to deal with high unemployment, which reached 17.9 percent in November 2015, and bring it below 14 percent, Oreskovic added.

"I am ready to take on the challenges. We should be ready to make difficult decisions," he told the parliament.

If approved by parliament, 49-year-old Oreskovic will become the first Croatia's premier not from one of its two main parties -- the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Social Democratic Party -- since its independence in 1991. Endit