Hrvoje Šarinić

Who is Hrvoje Šarinić?

Hrvoje Šarinić is a Croatian politician.

Šarinić was born in Sušak, Rijeka and graduated from the University of Zagreb then-Faculty of Architecture, Construction and Geodesy.

Šarinić had a business career in Paris, France. He is a dual citizen of both Croatia and of France, as he spent 25 years in France. After the first democratic elections in Croatia, he joined the government of Franjo Tuđman and became head of his personal office.

After the parliamentary elections of 1992 he, as member of Croatian Democratic Union, was appointed to the post of prime minister.

His cabinet, like all in Tudjman years, was less concerned with foreign policy and war and more with domestic issues. One of those issues was privatisation of state-owned companies. During his time many of the most controversial events of that process took place, including the now infamous takeover of Slobodna Dalmacija in early 1993.

By that time Croatian economy continued to decline, Šarinić himself became immensely unpopular and even his native Primorje-Gorski Kotar County rejected HDZ at local elections in February 1993. All that, together with escalating war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, led Tudjman to replace him with Nikica Valentić.