Croatian parliament endorses new Cabinet

Parliament approved on Saturday a new coalition government headed by Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, who vowed to pursue Croatia's quest to join the European Union and NATO.

Sanader ran the previous, pro-Western government and his conservative party won the most votes in Nov. 25 elections. The party, however, failed to win the elections outright and was forced into long, tough postelection bargaining to form a coalition with a majority in parliament.

To woo a leading Serb party, Sanader granted them a post of deputy prime minister. It is the highest position the minority Serbs have held since 1991, when they staged a rebellion in response to Croatia's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia. At least 10,000 people were killed in the war.

Sanader has worked hard to mend relations with Serbs — a key condition for Croatia's bid to join mainstream Europe.

The former Yugoslav country of 4.5 million people is negotiating EU membership and hopes to become the union's 28th member as early as 2010. It expects to be invited to join NATO this year.

Sanader also promised to speed up economic reforms to further the country's economic development, raise salaries and reduce the 14-percent unemployment rate.

Sanader's new coalition allies are the Liberals and the Peasants' Party, as well as eight representatives of ethnic minorities. He faces strong opposition in parliament from the center-left Social Democrats, who control more than a third of the seats.

The opposition Social Democrats' leader, Zoran Milanovic, dismissed Sanader's program as "just a list of nice wishes."