Andrej Plenković (pronounced [ǎndreːj plěːŋkoʋitɕ] (listen); born 8 April 1970) is a Croatian politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Croatia since 19 October 2016. He was previously one of eleven Croatian members of the European Parliament, serving from Croatia's accession to the European Union in 2013 until his resignation as MEP when he took office as prime minister. Plenković has also been serving as the president of the Croatian Democratic Union since 2016.Following his graduation from the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb in 1993, Plenković held various bureaucratic positions in the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. After completing a postgraduate degree in 2002 (research master in International law), he served as deputy chief of Croatia's mission to the European Union. Between 2005 and 2010, he was Croatia's deputy ambassador to France, before leaving the post to become State Secretary for European Integration. He was subsequently elected to the Croatian Parliament in 2011.He was elected president of the HDZ in 2016, following Tomislav Karamarko's resignation. Plenković campaigned on a pro-European and moderate agenda and led his party to a plurality of seats in the 2016 parliamentary election. He was designated as Prime Minister of Croatia by President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović on 10 October 2016 after presenting 91 signatures of support by members of Parliament to her. His cabinet was confirmed by a vote of Parliament on 19 October with a majority of 91 out of 151 MPs. His first cabinet had 20 ministers, while the second cabinet has 16 ministers.
