Government fires board of national forestry company

The three-member board of the national forestry company Hrvatske Šume has been fired, the government said in a statement released after the close-door portion of Thursday's cabinet meeting.

The HDZ has been under pressure from its coalition partners the Homeland Movement to dismiss of the president of the board, Nediljko Dujić. The Homeland Movement's disgraced agriculture minister, now an MP, Josip Dabro, had said he would vote NO on the new nominee, a man from his own party, if Dujić was not fired. Dabro claimed that Hrvatske Šume, which falls under the purview of the Ministry of Agriculture, was mired in corruption.

The decision today, goes well beyond that, with the dismissal of all three members of the board.

The government said the decision on the dismissal would come into effect after the new minister of agriculture was confirmed and named a member of the company's assembly. After that, the government will name a new acting, non-partisan board-chairman.

According to sources close to the government, the move was prompted by growing public concern about what was happening at the state-run firm.

Homeland Movement leader Ivan Penava, speaking to reporters in Vukovar Thursday, did not want to answer when asked if he had given Prime Minister Plenković an ultimatum to fire the head of Hrvatske šume or lose his party's support.

"The coalition is stable. We are resolving our issues behind closed doors, the way it should be done. We are here to solve problems. I think this is what motivates everyone here. I cannot say that we've reached the end of the road for any of these issues that we're discussing," said Penava.