Andrej Plenković

Andrej Plenković (born 8 April 1970) is a Croatian politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Croatia since 19 October 2016.

Plenković was born on 8 April 1970 in Zagreb to a university professor, Mario Plenković, from Svirče on the island of Hvar, and cardiologist Vjekoslava Raos.

He enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb in 1988, graduating in 1993 with dissertation Institution of European Community and the Decision-Making Process at the department of International public law under Professor Nina Vajić, a former judge of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

His thesis The Means of Mass Communication was published in 1989 by the office of printing and publishing companies in Yugoslavia.

He was exempted from a then-mandatory conscription for a one-year active duty with the Yugoslav People's Army due to his diagnosis of thalassemia minor, a mild form of anemia, and he was deemed unfit for military service.

This fact has been often put at issue later on by his political opponents during electoral campaigns, especially due to the fact that his mother worked as a doctor in a military hospital in Zagreb.

At the beginning of the 1990s, he became interested in Europe and actively participated in European Law Students Association (ELSA), of which he was president in Zagreb in 1991.

During university, Plenković worked as a volunteer translator in the observing mission of the European Community in Croatia from 1991 to 1992.

He was the first president of ELSA Croatia in 1992 and president of the international ELSA committee, situated in Brussels.

During that time Plenković participated in numerous conferences throughout Europe and the United States, as well as organising numerous symposiums in Croatia.

As a student, he interned in the London law firm Stephenson Harwood in 1992 and following this, an internship in the European People's Party in the European Parliament (as a part of Robert Schuman Foundation program).

In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Plenković completed a programme to become a diplomat, and in 1992, passed the consultation exam at the diplomatic academy.

Following his graduation from the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb in 1993, Plenković held various bureaucratic positions in the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.

He also worked in the Croatian mission for the European Community in 1993 and 1994, which was then chaired by Ambassador Ante Čičin-Šain.

From 1994 to 2002, Plenković worked at different positions within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Among other things as a chief of the department of European integration, adviser of minister for European affairs, and member of the negotiation team on the Treaty on Stabilisation and Accession.

After completing a postgraduate degree in 2002 (research master in International law), he served as deputy chief of Croatia's mission to the European Union.

Plenković passed the Bar in 2002.

At the law faculty of the University of Zagreb, he finished his master's degree in International public and private law and got the title of Master of Science in 2002 by defending his Masters thesis by the title of "Subjectivity of EU and development of the common foreign and security policy" under the tutorage of Professor Budislav Vukas, a judge of International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg.

From 2002 to 2005, Plenković was a deputy chief of Croatian mission for the European Union in Brussels.

He was in charge of the coordination of political activities of the mission and he worked on networking with the officials of the European Commission, Council, Parliament and other permanent representations of various member states.

He was working on Croatian application for membership in the European Union in 2002, and in 2003, making pressure for the status of candidate country in 2004 and for the opening of the accession negotiations in 2005.

Between 2005 and 2010, he was Croatia's deputy ambassador to France, before leaving the post to become State Secretary for European Integration.

From 2005 to 2010, Plenković was serving as the deputy ambassador in France where he was in charge of political and organizational issues.

During his diplomatic career, Plenković participated in numerous symposiums, seminars and programs on international and European law, international, foreign relations and foreign policy and management.

Appointed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Gordan Jandroković, Plenković worked as a state secretary for European integration during the government of Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor.

He had a prominent role in the campaign for a referendum on EU membership.

Together with numerous media appearances, Plenković held dozens of lectures on joining the European Union in all Croatian counties.

He was subsequently elected to the Croatian Parliament in 2011.

He was previously one of eleven Croatian members of the European Parliament, serving from Croatia's accession to the European Union in 2013 until his resignation as MEP when he took office as prime minister.

Plenković has also been serving as the president of the Croatian Democratic Union since 2016.

He was elected president of the HDZ in 2016, following Tomislav Karamarko's resignation.

Plenković campaigned on a pro-European and moderate agenda and led his party to a plurality of seats in the 2016 parliamentary election.

He was designated as Prime Minister of Croatia by President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović on 10 October 2016 after presenting 91 signatures of support by members of Parliament to her.

His cabinet was confirmed by a vote of Parliament on 19 October with a majority of 91 out of 151 MPs. His first cabinet had 20 ministers, while the second cabinet has 16 ministers.

He is one of only two Croatian prime ministers (along with Ivo Sanader) who have served more than one term, winning general elections in 2016 and 2020.

He is also, along with Ivica Račan and Sanader, one of the three prime ministers who have been at the head of more than one government cabinet.

Furthermore, on 4 May 2022 Plenković surpassed Sanader's tenure, thus becoming the longest-serving prime minister in Croatia's post-independence history.

He attended elementary and the 16th Grammar School in Zagreb.

As his GPA was below A range, Plenković had to write and submit a thesis to obtain his Matura.