Andrej Plenkovic

Andrej Plenkovic (born 8 April 1970) is a Croatian politician serving as Prime Minister of Croatia and President of the Croatian Democratic Union since 2016. He previously was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP)-as one of eleven officeholders elected from Croatia's accession to the European Union in 2013-until his resignation when he took office as Prime Minister. Following his graduation from the Zagreb Faculty of Law in 1993, Plenkovic held various bureaucratic positions in the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. After completing a postgraduate degree in 2002 (research master in International law), he served as deputy chief of Croatia's mission to the EU. Between 2005 and 2010, he was Croatia's deputy ambassador to France, before leaving the post to become State Secretary for European Integration. He was subsequently elected to the Croatian Parliament in 2011. He was elected President of the HDZ in 2016, following Tomislav Karamarko's resignation. Plenkovic 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-Kitarovic 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 of 151 MPs. His cabinet has 20 ministers, including the newly created portfolio of Minister of State Property.