Ivo Sanader
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Ivo Sanader (born June 8, 1953 in Split, Croatia) is the current Prime Minister of Croatia (President of the Government).
After the victory of his Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in the 2003 parliamentary elections the President of the Republic named Sanader the Prime Minister designate on December 9, 2003. When Croatian Parliament subsequently gave its consent by 88 votes (out of 152) on December 23, 2003 Sanader was formally appointed. His predecessor as Prime Minister was Ivica Račan of the Social Democratic Party.
Sanader's political career was launched after he surprisingly took charge of the HDZ in 2000. The party was in a delicate situation following the death of its founder Franjo Tuđman and the loss of the 2000 parliamentary and presidential elections. Previously Sanader had played a low-key role as Minister of Science and Technology (1992-1993) and later as Deputy Foreign Minister (1996-2000; when Mate Granić was the minister).
Sanader's government successfully implemented the criteria stipulated in the Association Agreement signed with the European Union in 2001. As a result Croatia became an official candidate for the entry into the EU. Sanader's HDZ has also sought to establish better relations with minority parties and has continued to promote minority rights. Amongst other factors contributing to the positive opinion of the European Commission and the European Council regarding Croatia's bid to become an EU member were Croatia's cooperation with the ICTY, continued economic growth and country's compliance with political and economic criteria established by the 1993 Copenhagen European Council. Croatia is expected to complete negotiations with the EU during Mr Sanader's government's term of office.
Sanader has close relations with other moderate conservative politicians in Europe, including Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber and German Christian Democratic Union leader Angela Merkel.
Sanader was the last statesman to visit Pope John Paul II in Vatican, in February 2005, a few weeks before his death.
Sanader has a PhD in Romance languages and comparative literature from Innsbruck University in Austria. Besides his native Croatian he is fluent in German, English, French and Italian. He is married and has two children.de:Ivo Sanader fr:Ivo Sanader gl:Ivo Sanader pl:Ivo Sanader ru:Санадер, Иво