Zoran Milanović

Who is Zoran Milanović?

Zoran Milanović is the Prime Minister of Croatia and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia, the largest centre-left political party in Croatia.

After graduating from the Zagreb Law School, Milanović started working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served as counselor at the Croatian Mission to the European Union and NATO in Brussels from 1996 to 1999. That same year he joined the Social Democratic Party. In 1998 he earned his Master's degree in European Union law at the Flemish University in Brussels and was assistant Foreign Minister of the Republic of Croatia for political multilateral affairs in 2003.

He was the coordinator of the Social Democrats in the 4th constituency in 2006 and was elected party leader in June 2007, following the death of longtime leader and former Prime Minister Ivica Račan, running on a reformist platform. After endorsing Ljubo Jurčić as the party's official candidate for Prime Minister, Milanović set out his goal of making SDP the largest political party in Parliament. In the 2007 general election the Social Democrats came in second and were unable to form a governing majority. Despite losing the election, he was reelected party leader in 2008 and served as Leader of the Opposition until the next election cycle. In 2011, Milanović initiated the formation of the Kukuriku coalition, uniting four major centre-left political parties in the country. The coalition won the 2011 parliamentary election in a landslide, with SDP becoming the strongest party in Parliament. Milanović became Prime Minister in December 2011, after Parliament approved his cabinet by a large majority.