| Zoran Milanović | |
|---|---|
| 10th Prime Minister of Croatia | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 23 December 2011 |
|
| President | Ivo Josipović |
| Deputy | Radimir Čačić Milanka Opačić Neven Mimica Branko Grčić |
| Preceded by | Jadranka Kosor |
| Leader of the Opposition | |
| In office 2 June 2007 – 23 December 2011 |
|
| Prime Minister | Ivo Sanader Jadranka Kosor |
| Preceded by | Željka Antunović (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Jadranka Kosor |
| 2nd President of the Social Democratic Party |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2 June 2007 |
|
| Deputy | Zlatko Komadina Milanka Opačić |
| Preceded by | Željka Antunović (Acting) |
| Member of Parliament | |
| In office 11 January 2008 – 22 December 2011 |
|
| Prime Minister | Ivo Sanader (until 2009) Jadranka Kosor |
| Constituency | I electoral district |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 October 1966 Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia) |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party |
| Spouse(s) | Sanja Musić-Milanović |
| Children | Ante Marko |
| Alma mater | University of Zagreb |
| Occupation | Civil servant |
| Religion | None[1] |
Zoran Milanović (pronounced [zǒran milǎːnoʋitɕ]; born 30 October 1966) is a Croatian politician, leader of the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) and the current Prime Minister of Croatia, having taken office on December 23, 2011.
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His father Stipe and mother Gina have roots in Sinj. Zoran has a brother named Krešimir. He attended the Center for Management and Judiciary (an elite high-school). By his own admission, he was ve ery lively and prone to fighting.[2] In 1986, he entered the University of Zagreb in Judiciary. Apart from his native Croatian, he speaks English, French and Russian.
After college, he became an intern at the Croatian Trade Court, and in 1993 got a job in the Croatian Foreign Ministry, being accepted by future political rival Ivo Sanader. A year later, he went to Nagorno-Karabakh as part of a United Nations peace mission.[3]
In 1994, he married Sanja Musić with whom he later had two sons, Ante and Marko.[4][5] In 1996, he became an advisor at Croatian mission to the European Union and NATO at Brussels. He returned to the Foreign Ministry in 1999, at the end of his mandate.
In 1999, he enrolled in the Social Democratic Party (SDP) as he had not yet been an official member. Following SDP's win in the 2000 elections, he was given responsibility for liaison with NATO, three years later he became assistant to Foreign Minister Tonino Picula. He left his post after the 2003 elections when the conservative HDZ were reelected.
He was elected to SDP's Chief Committee in 2004. Two years later, he briefly became party spokesman, standing in for absent Gordana Grbić. He was also elected coordinator for the IV. election area for the upcoming 2007 elections.
An extraordinary Party convention was held in Zagreb on 2 June 2007, due to the 11 April resignation of the first Party President and Croatia's former Prime Minister Ivica Račan. Milanović entered the contest, despite being considered an "outsider", because of his shorter term in the party, running against Željka Antunović (acting Party President since Račan's resignation), Milan Bandić and Tonino Picula. On 29 September 2007, during the campaign for party president, he publicly promised to resign and never to seek presidency of the party again, if party didn't win more seats that HDZ in next elections.[6] In the first round he led with 592, well ahead of his nearest rival Željka Antunović.[7] In the second round, he faced Antunović and again won by a large margin, thereby becoming president of the party.
Milanović caused a stir in the papers when he stated that Josip Broz Tito was a more positive and overall better politician than Franjo Tuđman.[8]
In September 2008, Milanović made a highly-publicized visit to Bleiburg, Austria to commemorate the Bleiburg massacre.[9] This made him the second leader of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia to visit the site, the first being Ivica Račan.
The 2007 parliamentary election ended extremely close with SDP winning 56 seats, only 10 mandates short of HDZ's 66 (which included 5 from Croatian diaspora, which was one of the main campaign issues of SDP that promised eliminating the right of vote to those not living in the country). The resulting close race left both sides in a position to form a government, provided they gather 77 of the 153 representatives. After the election, Milanović controversially made himself the candidate for prime minister over Ljubo Jurčić, despite not consulting the party's Main Committee.[10] However the SDP remained in opposition, due to Prime Minister Ivo Sanader forming the majority coalition.
After losing general elections, not only he didn't resign (as he previously promised[6]), but he also again entered elections for president of the party in May 2008. Despite the election loss, Milanović remained the leader of the party receiving the support of the majority of the delegates.
The 2011 parliamentary election saw SDP joining three other left-wing parties to create the media-dubbed Kukuriku coalition with Milanović at the helm. Kukuriku won the election with an absolute majority of 81 seats. The election was the first in which rival HDZ was not the leading individual party in Parliament.
Milanović was elected by the Croatian Parliament as the Prime Minister of Croatia, having taken office on December 23, 2011.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Željka Antunović Acting |
Leader of the Social Democratic Party 2007–present |
Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Željka Antunović Acting |
Leader of the Opposition 2007–2011 |
Succeeded by Jadranka Kosor |
| Preceded by Jadranka Kosor |
Prime Minister of Croatia 2011–present |
Incumbent |
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