Zoran Milanović

Zoran Milanović (Croatian: [zǒran milǎːnoʋitɕ] ; born 30 October 1966) is a Croatian politician who has served as the current president of Croatia since 2020. A political independent, he was affiliated with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and led the party from 2007 to 2011. Milanović was the prime minister of Croatia from 2011 to 2016, following his time as leader of the opposition from 2007 to 2011. He is the first and only Croatian to hold both the presidency and prime ministership since independence.

Born in Zagreb, Milanović graduated from the Zagreb Faculty of Law and later worked within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1996 to 1999, he advised the Croatian mission to NATO and European Union (EU). He briefly served as an assistant to the Croatian foreign minister for political multilateral affairs in 2003. He jointly became the leader of SDP and the opposition in 2007, forming the eventual Kukuriku Coalition.

As prime minister, he held the 2012 EU membership referendum, passed the Life Partnership Act, and introduced a variety of economic reforms centered on tax codification, fiscalisation, and infrastructure development. He was succeeded by Tihomir Orešković after the 2015 parliamentary election which he unsuccessfully contested in the 2016 parliamentary elections. After a brief withdrawal from politics, Milanović returned to win the 2019–20 presidential election.

As president, Milanović has pursued non-interventionist foreign policy, at times in opposition to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; he has called for greater alignment of Croatian foreign policy. He has taken a critical stance of Israeli actions in the Gaza war and Croatian intervention in the Russo-Ukrainian war as well as a supportive stance on equal rights for Croats in neighboring Bosnia. He ordered the total withdrawal of Croatian troops in the Middle East amid the 2026 Iran war, effectively ending foreign intervention in the region.