"Croatia's president named Andrej Plenkovic, head of the conservative HDZ party, as prime minister-designate on Monday, with the 46-year-old former diplomat to lead a coalition government that needs urgently to tackle a struggling economy," Reuters said.
"Plenkovic -- a moderate who took over HDZ three months ago, pledging to move away from extremism and towards the centre-right -- said Monday that his cabinet's priorities would be the economy and creating a tolerant society," the French AFP said.
The AFP recalls that the HDZ won the 11 September snap elections.
"HDZ won 61 seats in a snap election on September 11 but fell short of an absolute parliamentary majority. Last week, HDZ renewed a deal with its former coalition partner, the conservative Most (Bridge) party which won 13 seats, taking on the role of kingmaker. It was the second election in less than a year in Croatia, which joined the EU in 2013, becoming the bloc's newest member," the AFP notes.
The Austrian APA news agency comments that the negotiations between the HDZ and Bridge had been conducted quite quickly, partly thanks to the fact that Plenkovic could secure a parliamentary majority without Bridge deputies.