Prime Minister of Croatia facts for kids

Quick facts for kids President of the Government of the Republic of Croatia
Flag of the president of the Croatian government
Incumbent Andrej Plenković since 19 October 2016
Government of Croatia Office of the President of the Government
Style	Mr. Prime Minister or President of the Government Croatian: Gospodin predsjednik Vlade (formal) His Excellency Croatian: Njegova ekscelencija (in international correspondence and abroad only)
Member of	Government of Croatia European Council (EU) Also: North Atlantic Council (NATO)
Reports to	Croatian Parliament
Seat	Banski Dvori, Trg sv. Marka 2, Zagreb, Croatia
Nominator	President of Croatia
Appointer	Croatian Parliament
Term length	At the pleasure of the parliamentary majority. Parliamentary elections must be held no later than 60 days after the expiration of a full parliamentary term of 4 years, but an incumbent prime minister shall remain in office in a caretaker capacity until a new government is confirmed in Parliament and sworn in by its speaker.
Constituting instrument	Constitution of Croatia
Inaugural holder	Stjepan Mesić (after adoption of constitutional Amendment LXXIII) Josip Manolić (under current Constitution)
Formation	25 July 1990 (by constitutional Amendment LXXIII) 22 December 1990 (under current Constitution)
Deputy	Deputy Prime Minister (position held by one or more members of the government)
Salary	€2874,92 monthly

The prime minister of Croatia, officially the president of the government of the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Predsjednik / Predsjednica Vlade Republike Hrvatske), is Croatia's head of government, and is de facto the most powerful and influential state officeholder in the Croatian system of government. Following the first-time establishment of the office in 1945, the 1990–2000 semi-presidential period is the only exception where the president of Croatia held de facto executive authority. In the formal Croatian order of precedence, however, the position of prime minister is the third highest state office, after the president of the Republic and the speaker of the Parliament.

The Constitution of Croatia prescribes that "Parliament supervises the Government" (Article 81) and that "the President of the Republic ensures the regular and balanced functioning and stability of government" (as a whole; Article 94), while the Government is introduced in Article 108. Since 2000, the prime minister has had various added constitutional powers and is mentioned before the Government itself in the text of the Constitution, in Articles 87, 97, 99, 100, 101, 103, 104. The current prime minister of Croatia is Andrej Plenković. The Government of Croatia meets in Banski dvori, a historical building located on the west side of St. Mark's Square in Zagreb.

Name

The official name of the office, literally translated, is "President of the Government" (Predsjednik / Predsjednica Vlade), rather than a literal translation of "Prime Minister" (Prvi Ministar). In Croatian, the shorter term Premijer / Premijerka (Premier) is commonly used as well.

History

Background

The Royal Government of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia (1868–1918) was headed by the Ban of Croatia (Viceroy), who represented the King.

The first head of government of Croatia as a constituent republic of Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was Vladimir Bakarić, who assumed the position on 14 April 1945. The position was then the most powerful public office in the state in addition to the position of the Secretary of the League of Communists of Croatia, as a single-party system was in place. The head of government was renamed to the President of the Executive Council in 1952. Notably, Savka Dabčević-Kučar was the first woman (not only in Croatia, but in Europe) to hold an office equivalent to a head of government as Chairman of the Executive Council of the Socialist Republic of Croatia (1967–1969).

Transition to independence

After the constitutional amendments that allowed for multi-party elections in Croatia in 1990, the country was still a constituent republic of SFR Yugoslavia, the position of the President of the Executive Council of the Socialist Republic of Croatia was filled by Stjepan Mesić on 30 May 1990 (the 14th Executive Council).

The newly-elected Croatian Parliament enacted numerous amendments to the constitution on 25 July 1990. It eliminated socialist references and adopted new national symbols, while the Government of the Republic of Croatia was formally instituted by Amendment LXXIII.

The Constitution of Croatia was subsequently also changed significantly on 22 December 1990, as the so-called "Christmas Constitution" fundamentally defined the Republic of Croatia and its governmental structure. From this point onwards, Croatia was a semi-presidential republic, which meant the president of Croatia had broad executive powers (further expanded with laws to a point of superpresidentialism), including the appointment and dismissal of the prime minister and other officials in the government.

Following the May 1991 independence referendum in which 93% of voters approved secession, Croatia formally proclaimed independence from Yugoslavia on 25 June 1991, with Josip Manolić continuing in the role of prime minister as head of government of an independent Croatia. However, the country then signed the July 1991 Brijuni Agreement in which it agreed to postpone further activities towards severing ties with Yugoslavia. Meanwhile, the Croatian War of Independence ensued, and Franjo Gregurić was appointed to lead a Government of National Unity. In October the same year, Croatia formally severed all remaining legal ties with the Yugoslav Federation.

Since independence

During the period between 1990 and the next constitutional amendments in late 2000, Croatia had seven prime ministers.

Following the January 2000 general election the winning centre-left coalition led by the Social Democratic Party amended the Constitution and effectively stripped the President of most of his executive powers, strengthening the role of the Parliament and the prime minister, turning Croatia into a parliamentary republic. The prime minister again (as before 1990) became the foremost post in Croatian politics.

As of 2022^[update] there have been twelve Prime Ministers who have chaired 14 governments since the first multi-party elections. Nine prime ministers were members of the Croatian Democratic Union during their terms of office, two were members of the Social Democratic Party and one was not a member of any political party. Since independence there has been one female prime minister (Jadranka Kosor).

List of prime ministers

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Election	Term of office			Party	Cabinet	Composition	President (Term)
				Term start	Term end	Duration
1		Stjepan Mesić (1934–)	1990	30 May 1990	24 August 1990	86 days	HDZ Croatian Democratic Union	Mesić	HDZ	Franjo Tuđman (1990–1999)
2		Josip Manolić (1920–)	—	24 August 1990	25 June 1991	305 days	HDZ Croatian Democratic Union	Manolić	HDZ

Croatia formally declared itself independent on 25 June 1991. After the declaration of independence, the position continued to be named the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Election	Term of office			Party	Cabinet	Composition	President (Term)
				Term start	Term end	Duration
2		Josip Manolić (1920–)	—	25 June 1991	17 July 1991	22 days	HDZ Croatian Democratic Union	Manolić	HDZ	Franjo Tuđman (1990–1999)
3		Franjo Gregurić (1939–)	—	17 July 1991	12 August 1992	1 year, 26 days	HDZ Croatian Democratic Union	Gregurić	HDZ • SDP • HSLS • HNS • HKDS • HDS • SDSH • SSH
4		Hrvoje Šarinić (1935–2017)	1992	12 August 1992	3 April 1993	234 days	HDZ Croatian Democratic Union	Šarinić	HDZ
5		Nikica Valentić (1950–2023)	—	3 April 1993	7 November 1995	2 years, 218 days	HDZ Croatian Democratic Union	Valentić	From 3 April 1993 to 31 December 1994: HDZ • HSS
									From 31 December 1994 to 7 November 1995: HDZ
6		Zlatko Mateša (1949–)	1995	7 November 1995	27 January 2000	4 years, 81 days	HDZ Croatian Democratic Union	Mateša	HDZ
										Stjepan Mesić (2000–2010)
7		Ivica Račan (1944–2007)	2000	27 January 2000	23 December 2003	3 years, 330 days	SDP Social Democratic Party	Račan I	SDP • HSLS • HNS • HSS • IDS • LS
								Račan II	SDP • HSS • HNS • Libra • LS
8		Ivo Sanader (1953–)	2003	23 December 2003	6 July 2009	5 years, 195 days	HDZ Croatian Democratic Union	Sanader I	HDZ • DC
			2007					Sanader II	HDZ • HSLS • HSS • SDSS
9		Jadranka Kosor (1953–)	—	6 July 2009	23 December 2011	2 years, 170 days	HDZ Croatian Democratic Union	Kosor	HDZ • HSLS • HSS • SDSS
										Ivo Josipović (2010–2015)
10		Zoran Milanović (1966–)	2011	23 December 2011	22 January 2016	4 years, 30 days	SDP Social Democratic Party	Milanović	SDP • HNS • IDS
										Kolinda Grabar Kitarović (2015–2020)
11		Tihomir Orešković (1966–)	2015	22 January 2016	19 October 2016	271 days	Independent	Orešković	HDZ • MOST
12		Andrej Plenković (1970–)	2016	19 October 2016	Incumbent	8 years, 33 days	HDZ Croatian Democratic Union	Plenković I	From 19 October 2016 to 28 April 2017: HDZ • MOST
									From 28 April to 9 June 2017: HDZ
									From 9 June 2017 to 23 July 2020: HDZ • HNS	Zoran Milanović (2020–present)
			2020					Plenković II	HDZ • SDSS

Spouses of prime ministers

See also

In Spanish: Primer ministro de Croacia para niños

• List of cabinets of Croatia
• List of Croatian prime ministers by time in office
• President of Croatia
  • List of presidents of Croatia
• Speaker of the Croatian Parliament
• Secretary of the League of Communists of Croatia
• Politics of Croatia
• List of heads of state of Yugoslavia
• Prime Minister of Yugoslavia
• 2020 St. Mark's Square attack