The prime minister said that a decision would be made this week whether Health Minister Andrija Hebrang, who has been ill for some time now, would leave the government or not. He added that he was hoping to meet the minister in the next two or three days, after which Hebrang would give his opinion on the matter.
Sanader did not say who would succeed Miomir Zuzul as foreign minister, but mentioned Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, Hidajet Biscevic, Goran Jandrokokovic, Ivan Misetic and Bozo Biskupic as "serious candidates" for the post.
Grabar Kitarovic is Minister for European Integration, Biscevic is State Secretary for Foreign Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, Jandrokovic is chairman of the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, Misetic is CEO of the national carrier Croatia Airlines, and Biskupic is Culture Minister.
The prime minister said that Zuzul's resignation was proof of his government's strength and credibility rather than of its weakness.
Sanader thanked leaders of parliamentary parties with whom he had agreed at a meeting earlier in the day to appoint Ambassador to the UN Vladimir Drobnjak chief Croatian negotiator for membership talks with the EU and European Integration Minister Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic head of the negotiating team.
"Croatia's accession to the EU is a historic project. Negotiations with the EU will mark the next two and a half to three years, and what we achieve in the negotiations will substantially determine Croatia's status within Europe," he stressed.
Sanader went on to say that the privatisation of the oil company INA would continue this year, but that a position had not yet been taken on the further privatisation of the telecommunications company T-HT and the privatisation of the electric company HEP and some other public companies.
Speaking of macroeconomic indicators, the prime minister said that the deficit had been reduced from 6.3 per cent of Gross Domestic Product in 2003 to 4.5 per cent, and that foreign debt growth had been stopped in 2004. He said that the foreign debt had grown by about USD3.5 billion last year in comparison to the foreign debt growth of USD8.2 billion in 2003.