Andrej Plenković

Biography

Andrej Plenković, born on April 8, 1970, in Zagreb, is a Croatian politician who has been the Prime Minister of Croatia since October 2016 and the president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) since the same year. He graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb in 1993 and started a career in diplomacy, taking on various roles at the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. After finishing his postgraduate studies in 2002, he became the deputy chief of Croatia's mission to the European Union, focusing on European affairs. From 2005 to 2010, Plenković was Croatia's deputy ambassador to France before returning to Zagreb to become the State Secretary for European Integration, playing a key role during Croatia's final EU accession negotiations. His diplomatic skills and focus on Europe led to his participation in Croatia's delegation to the European Parliament after the country joined the EU in 2013. As one of eleven Croatian Members of the European Parliament, Plenković represented Croatia in Brussels from 2013 until he stepped down to become prime minister in 2016. He was elected HDZ president in 2016 after Tomislav Karamarko resigned, and he successfully shifted the party toward a pro-European and moderate stance. He led the HDZ to victory in the September 2016 parliamentary elections, securing enough seats to form a government. President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović named him prime minister on October 10, 2016, after he presented 91 signatures of parliamentary support. His cabinet was approved on October 19, 2016, with 91 out of 151 MPs voting in favor. Plenković is one of only two Croatian prime ministers to serve more than one term, winning consecutive elections in 2016, 2020, and 2024. On May 4, 2022, he became the longest-serving prime minister in Croatia's history since independence, surpassing Ivo Sanader's tenure.