Four candidates for Public Ombudsman to be interviewed next Tuesday

Zagreb - The Parliament's Constitution and Standing Orders Committee will on March 2 interview four candidates for the Public Ombudsman who could be elected on March 7.

Of five candidacies that were submitted following a call for applications published by the Parliament, one was eliminated at a session of the committee on Tuesday because candidate Renata Žličarić did not have all the necessary documentation, failing to submit a document on the number of her years of service.

The committee will therefore conduct interviews next Tuesday with Marko Bonifačić, Sandra Jančić, Tena Šimonović Einwalter and Neven Štimac.

- After we interview the candidates, we will wait for the opinion of the Human and Minority Rights Committee and choose two candidates who will be proposed to the Parliament so that next Friday the Public Ombudsman could be elected, said Committee chair Dražen Bošnjaković of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

Current Ombudswoman Lora Vidović's eight-year term expires on March 1, but Bošnjaković says that there should be no problems because of that.

The Public Ombudswoman authorises one of her deputies to stand in for her, he explained.