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.
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.[5] 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.[5] 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.
After the constitutional amendments that allowed for multi-party elections in Croatia, the Parliament enacted amendments to the constitution (25 July) which eliminated socialist references and adopted new national symbols. The newly elected tricameral Parliament proceeded to change the Constitution of Croatia, and on 22 December 1990, this so-called "Christmas Constitution" fundamentally defined the Republic of Croatia and its governmental structure. From the 1990 constitutional reforms onward 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. During this period, lasting until constitutional amendments in late 2000, Croatia had seven prime ministers. The first prime minister of Croatia since the 1990 constitutional reforms was Stjepan Mesić, assuming office on 30 May 1990.[6][7]
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.
To date 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), while 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).
1.^ From 1990 until the constitutional changes enacted in 2000, which replaced a powerful semi-presidential system (de facto a superpresidential system) with an incomplete parliamentary system, the term of the Prime Minister legally began on the date on which he was appointed by the President of the Republic and not on the date when he received a vote of confidence in Parliament, as is the case since 2000.
Facts and records of Croatian prime ministers (since 30 May 1990)
Age at appointment
Oldest person to assume office: Josip Manolić (70 years, 155 days)
Youngest person to assume office: Nikica Valentić (42 years,130 days)
Age at retirement
Oldest person to leave office: Josip Manolić (71 years, 117 days)
Youngest person to leave office: Nikica Valentić (44 years, 348 days)
Oldest and youngest living prime ministers
Oldest living prime minister: Josip Manolić (102 years, 180 days)
Youngest living prime minister: Andrej Plenković (52 years, 163 days)
Longest and shortest lived prime ministers
Longest-lived prime minister: Josip Manolić (102 years, 180 days)
Shortest-lived prime minister: Andrej Plenković (52 years, 163 days)
Longest and shortest retirements
Living prime minister with the longest period lived after leaving office: Stjepan Mesić (32 years, 25 days)
Living prime minister with the shortest period lived after leaving office: Tihomir Orešković (5 years, 334 days)
Deceased prime minister with the longest period lived after leaving office: Hrvoje Šarinić (24 years, 109 days)
Deceased prime minister with the shortest period lived after leaving office: Ivica Račan (3 years, 127 days)
Age difference between incoming and outgoing officeholders
Largest age difference between an incoming and outgoing prime minister: Franjo Gregurić (born 12 October 1939) was 19 years, 204 days younger than Josip Manolić (born 22 March 1920) whom he succeeded in 1991.
Smallest age difference between an incoming and outgoing prime minister: Jadranka Kosor (born 1 July 1953) was 23 days younger than Ivo Sanader (born 8 June 1953) whom she succeeded in 2009.
Length of service
Longest-serving prime minister: Andrej Plenković (5 years, 334 days)
Shortest-serving prime minister: Stjepan Mesić (86 days)
Prime Minister of cabinet with largest number of members during its duration (including removed or deceased members): Franjo Gregurić (45 members including the Government secretary)
Prime Minister of cabinet with smallest number of members during its duration (including removed or deceased members): Ivo Sanader (19 members in First Sanader cabinet)
Prime Minister of cabinet with largest number of members on date of formation: Josip Manolić (27 members named on 17 July 1990)
Prime Minister of cabinet with smallest number of members on date of formation: Stjepan Mesić (5 members named on 30 May 1990. Another 15 named on 31 May 1990)
Prime Minister of cabinet with largest number of members on date of dissolution (excluding removed or deceased members): Franjo Gregurić (30 members on 12 August 1992)
Prime Minister of cabinet with smallest number of members on date of dissolution (excluding removed or deceased members): Ivo Sanader (14 members on 12 January 2008 upon dissolution of First Sanader Cabinet)
Number of political parties in cabinet
Prime ministers of cabinets with largest number of political parties represented in them during their total duration (including removed or deceased members on date of dissolution): Franjo Gregurić (8 parties had representation in his cabinet during some part of its time in office)
Prime ministers of cabinets with the smallest number of political parties represented in them during their total duration (including removed or deceased members): Stjepan Mesić, Josip Manolić, Hrvoje Šarinić and Zlatko Mateša (each prime minister had only 1 party (the HDZ) represented in their cabinet)
Prime minister of cabinet with the largest number of parties represented in it on the date of its formation: Ivica Račan (6 parties had representation in his First cabinet on 27 January 2000)
Prime ministers of cabinets with the smallest number of parties represented in them on the date of their formation: Stjepan Mesić, Josip Manolić, Hrvoje Šarinić and Zlatko Mateša (each prime minister had only 1 party (the HDZ) represented in their cabinet on the date it was formed)
Prime minister of the cabinet with the largest number of political parties represented in it on the date of its dissolution: Ivica Račan (5 parties were represented in his Second cabinet on 23 December 2003)
Other national and international offices held after retirement
Only prime minister to have held the three highest offices of government: Stjepan Mesić — Prime Minister (1990), Speaker of Parliament (1992–1994) and President (2000–2010)
Prime ministers who served under the most heads of state (including Acting Presidents): Ivica Račan (served under three heads of state — Acting Presidents Vlatko Pavletić and Zlatko Tomčić and President Stjepan Mesić)
