Croatia's first woman Premier takes office

Jadranka Kosor became Croatia's first woman Prime Minister vowing to revive the country's bid to join the EU and tackle the economic crisis.

The journalist-turned-politician and her centre-right cabinet were approved by 83 deputies in a late night vote in the 153-member Parliament. Forty-five voted against, no one abstained while the remaining were not present.

Ms Kosor is succeeding Ivo Sanader who, after holding Croatia's most powerful political position for the past six years, shocked the nation by resigning last week, pushing the country into political turmoil.

The 56-year-old Ms Kosor is taking up the mantle amid deep economic woes that have the country facing its worst crisis since its war of independence from the former communist Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.

Her appointment is seen as controversial, but she has pledged to tackle Croatia's economic struggles and its stalled bid to become the EU's 28th member by 2011.

The EU accession talks have been blocked by Slovenia due to a long-standing border row between the two former Yugoslav republics.

In a speech to Parliament before the vote, Ms Kosor said she was convinced that EU talks would eventually be unblocked and called on EU officials to help resolve the issue.

"I want to tell to our European friends that we did our part, we are doing our job, and the burden of historic responsibility (to solve the issue) is at this moment lying on them," she said.

"Croatia will become a full-fledged member of the European family... despite historical short-sightedness of our northern neighbours," she said in a reference to Slovenia.

Ms Kosor also faces a big challenge with the economy, which shrank 6.7 per cent in the past year, according to first quarter figures. It is the sharpest fall in gross domestic product since 2000. The central bank forecasts that GDP will contract by four per cent this year.

"Recovery of the economy is a central plank in the programme for the next period but also continuation of Croatia's EU talks," she told lawmakers.