Prime Ministers of Croatia

Croatia's new government must tackle growing public debt and maintain the independence of the central bank, Croatia's creditors and potential investors - taking part in the South-Eastern Europe investment conference in Kitzbuhel in Austria last Thursday and Friday - have agreed.

The Women's Network of Croatia told BIRN that a rumoured candidate to head the proposed new Ministry of the Family, Immigration and Demography could push "highly conservative" attitudes towards women and try to curb legal rights to abortion.

Zoran Milanovic said on Monday he was concerned that "people from a criminal, spying, and pro-Ustasha coalition" are coming to power in Croatia.

Grabar Kitarovic on Wednesday evening named Oreskovic, a non-party candidate with a business background in the pharmaceutical industry, as prime minister designate.

Croatia's Bridge of Independent Lists, MOST, has received over 3,600 comments in less than 24 hours on a Facebook page after opting to form a government with the centre-right parties.

The political deadlock in Croatia should finally be resolved on Monday when the prime minister-designate will be named, according to key negotiating political parties.

Croatia's governing centre-left coalition, Croatia Grows, on Wednesday said it had accepted the key terms set by the post-election kingmaker party, the Bridge of Independent Lists, MOST.

The inability of Croatia's competing coalitions to establish a mandate to form a new government after parliamentary elections in November finished without a clear winner could cause serious problems for the country if it drags on, experts told BIRN.

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic called the first session of the new parliament for Thursday despite the fact that no coalition has yet secured enough backing from MPs to form a government.

The first session will be run by the former chair of the parliament, Josip Leko, from the previous centre-left Social Democratic Party, SDP-led government.

Former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader left prison custody on Wednesday following a ruling by the Zagreb County Court that morning.

The county court decision came after Croatia's constitutional court terminated Sanader's custody on Tuesday, giving the county court until December 1 to pass a new decision. Sanader had been in prison since November 2012.