Zagreb - On Friday, the Croatian Parliament elected Nikola Vištica as the new President of the Governing Council of the Croatian Energy Regulatory Agency (HERA) and Zlatko Zmijarević as a member.
However, part of the opposition boycotted the vote, arguing that the criteria for an independent regulator had not been met.
Vištica received 73 votes in a secret ballot, while Zmijarević garnered 75 votes, Parliament Deputy Speaker Željko Reiner announced.
The Parliament dismissed the former President of HERA's Governing Council, Danijel Žamboki, in November 2022 at his personal request, following strong public criticism of both him and the Agency over its controversial role in granting a licence for gas trading to OMS, a company that was one of the key players in the embezzlement of INA’s gas supplies, resulting in losses exceeding one billion kuna (€133m).
With the appointment of the new President and member of the HERA Governing Council, Parliament concluded its session on Friday and will resume its work on Tuesday, 25 February.