Andrej Plenković (; born 8 April 1970) is a Croatian politician who has served as prime minister of Croatia since 2016. He is the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), serving since 2016. Plenković is the longest-serving Croatian prime minister. He has been the longest-serving head of government in the European Union (EU) since 2026. Plenković is a conservative moderate and has moved the HDZ towards the political centre.
After graduating from the Zagreb Faculty of Law in 1993, Plenković began his career in Croatia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs before supporting Croatia’s mission to the EU. From 2005 to 2010, he was deputy ambassador to France. He served in the Croatian Parliament from 2011 to 2015. After becoming the State Secretary for European Integration, he served in the European Parliament from 2013 to 2016. A year later, he was elected president of the HDZ and led the party to victory in the 2016 parliamentary election becoming prime minister. Plenković has led three governments with multiple cabinets – winning successive elections in 2016, 2020, and 2024. His complex coalition-building has led to civil unrest, including the 2024 Zagreb protest.
As prime minister, he led the nation through the COVID-19 pandemic and two earthquakes in Zagreb and in Petrinja in 2020. His government materially increased defence spending and expanded large-scale infrastructure projects, particularly in the energy sector. He facilitated Croatia's integration into the Eurozone and the Schengen Area, circulating the euro throughout the Croatian economy. He has maintained foreign policy multilateralism, sending military aid to Ukraine and strengthening NATO integration. Plenković's structural reforms since 2022 has slated Croatian accession into the OECD by late 2026.
Early life and education Plenković was born on 8 April 1970 in Zagreb to a university professor, Mario Plenković, from Svirče on the island of Hvar, and cardiologist Vjekoslava Raos. He attended elementary and the 16th Grammar School in Zagreb. As his GPA was below A range, Plenković had to write and submit a thesis to obtain his Matura. His thesis The Means of Mass Communication was published in 1989 by the office of printing and publishing companies in Yugoslavia. He was exempted from a then-mandatory conscription for a one-year active duty with the Yugoslav People's Army due to his diagnosis of thalassemia minor, a mild form of anemia, and he was deemed unfit for military service. This fact has been often put at issue later on by his political opponents during electoral campaigns, especially due to the fact that his mother worked as a doctor in a military hospital in Zagreb.
He enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb in 1988, graduating in 1993 with dissertation Institution of European Community and the Decision-Making Process at the department of International public law under Professor Nina Vajić, a former judge of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
During university, Plenković worked as a volunteer translator in the observing mission of the European Community in Croatia from 1991 to 1992. At the beginning of the 1990s, he became interested in Europe and actively participated in European Law Students Association (ELSA), of which he was president in Zagreb in 1991. He was the first president of ELSA Croatia in 1992 and president of the international ELSA committee, situated in Brussels. During that time Plenković participated in numerous conferences throughout Europe and the United States, as well as organising numerous symposiums in Croatia. As a student, he interned in the London law firm Stephenson Harwood in 1992 and following this, an internship in the European People's Party in the European Parliament (as a part of Robert Schuman Foundation program). He also worked in the Croatian mission for the European Community in 1993 and 1994, which was then chaired by Ambassador Ante Čičin-Šain.
In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Plenković completed a programme to become a diplomat, and in 1992, passed the consultation exam at the diplomatic academy. Plenković passed the Bar in 2002. At the law faculty of the University of Zagreb, he finished his master's degree in International public and private law and got the title of Master of Science in 2002 by defending his Masters thesis by the title of "Subjectivity of EU and development of the common foreign and security policy" under the tutorage of Professor Budislav Vukas, a judge of International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg.
Diplomatic career (1994–2011) From 1994 to 2002, Plenković worked at different positions within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among other things as a chief of the department of European integration, adviser of minister for European affairs, and member of the negotiation team on the Treaty on Stabilisation and Accession.
From 2002 to 2005, Plenković was a deputy chief of Croatian mission for the European Union in Brussels. He was in charge of the coordination of political activities of the mission and he worked on networking with the officials of the European Commission, Council, Parliament and other permanent representations of various member states. He was working on Croatian application for membership in the European Union in 2002, and in 2003, making pressure for the status of candidate country in 2004 and for the opening of the accession negotiations in 2005.
From 2005 to 2010, Plenković was serving as the deputy ambassador in France where he was in charge of political and organizational issues. During his diplomatic career, Plenković participated in numerous symposiums, seminars and programs on international and European law, international, foreign relations and foreign policy and management.
State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Appointed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Gordan Jandroković, Plenković worked as a state secretary for European integration during the government of Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor. He had a prominent role in the campaign for a referendum on EU membership. Together with numerous media appearances, Plenković held dozens of lectures on joining the European Union in all Croatian counties.
As a state secretary, Plenković also performed the duties of the political director for EU affairs, co-chair of the Stabilisation and Association Croatia–EU, national coordinator for the Danube Strategy of the European Union and co-chairman of the duties of the international commissions (Bavaria-Croatia, Croatia-Baden-Württemberg, Croatia-Flanders). He was on a board member of the Foundation for Civil Society Development, president of the Organizing Committee of the Croatia Summit in 2010 and 2011, and secretary of the Organizing Committee of the pastoral visit of the Pope Benedict XVI in 2011.
Political engagement (2011–present)
Member of the Croatian Parliament In 2011, after seventeen years of professional work in diplomacy, Plenković joined the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). From December 2011 to July 2013, he was a member of the Croatian Parliament from the 7th electoral district. Plenković was also a deputy member of delegation of the Croatian Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, and a member of a group of friendship with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, France, Malta and Morocco. At that time, he was also active in the City of Zagreb's politics, specifically in the Črnomerec district, where he met many of his friends in the party. After being elected to the European Parliament, Plenković first transferred his mandate to Damir Jelić, who was shortly after succeeded by Nada Murganić.
Member of the European Parliament
Prior to the 2012 European Union membership referendum, Plenković held a series of lectures on the European Union at party rallies across Croatia and participated in numerous public debates and TV and radio shows. By the decision of the Croatian Parliament from April 2012 until July 2013, Plenković was one of the twelve Croatian observers in the European Parliament. In his capacity as an observer, he supported the completion of the ratification process of the Treaty on Croatian accession to the European Union, the positive reports and resolutions on Croatia and the appropriate allocation of EU funds to Croatia in the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014–2020.
As an HDZ candidate on the joint list for the first Croatian elections to the European Parliament, which were held on 14 April 2013, he actively participated in the election campaign. He participated in the drafting of the HDZ programme for the European elections, "a Croatian voice in Europe", adopted by the presidency of the party led by President Tomislav Karamarko. The program was based on the main principles of the platform of the European People's Party and its program documents, as well as the priorities of Croatia in the European Union from the perspective of the HDZ. He was elected to the winning coalition list, where he received the highest number of preferential votes among the HDZ candidates.
Between 2013 and 2014, Plenković was a member of the Committee on Budgets. From 2014, he served as vice-chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs and a member of the parliament's delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. He led the parliament's monitoring mission during the Ukrainian parliamentary election in 2014. In addition to his committee assignments, Plenković was a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on SMEs;Members of the European Parliament Intergroup on SMEs European Parliament. the European Parliament Intergroup on Wine, Spirits and Quality Foodstuffs;Members European Parliament Intergroup on Wine, Spirits and Quality Foodstuffs. the European Parliament Intergroup on Youth Issues;Members of the European Parliament Intergroup on Youth Issues European Parliament. and the European Parliament Intergroup on Disability.Members of the European Parliament Intergroup on Disability European Parliament.
President of the Croatian Democratic Union