PHOTO: Sanader’s Path from Poverty to State Top

Sanader’s political career was marked by numerous scandals, he was criticised by the opposition as well as citizens.

ZAGREB, CROATIA – Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader resigned to his position and has decided to withdraw from politics in which he has been active for a full 20 years. His career had been marked by ups and downs and his withdrawal came after numerous criticisms by the opposition, as well as calls for his resignation. 

Croatian Premier Resigns Position Contently

Ivo Sanader was elected for the second time as prime minister in 2008 and that same year he was elected president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) for the fourth consecutive mandate.

During his second and also last mandate as prime minister, he was forced to face problems brought

on by the global economic crisis, numerous criticisms from the opposition, unions, but also civil associations. He also was not able to resolve the border dispute with Slovenia and so secure the completion of accession negotiations with the European Union. But after giving up on the Protected Ecology and Fishery Zone (ZERP) in 2008 which happened due to pressures from the EU, Sanader did not want to concede for the second time.

In agreement with parliamentary parties, he did not give up on his firm stance that Croatia would not give up one centimetre of its territory to Slovenia. In the first year of Sanader’s second mandate the government went through cadre changes. After the murder of Ivana Hodak, the prime minister fired interior and justice ministers Berislav Roncevic and Ana Lovrin and hired Tomislav Karamarko and Ivan Simonovic in their place.

Internal problems put foreign policy successes second 

Croatia’s foreign policy successes during Sanader’s mandate includes Croatia joining NATO as full member and its permanent membership in the UN’s Security Council.

But these successes never managed to come first in the eyes of dissatisfied Croatian citizens, unions’ protests, peasants’ protests, students’ protests… Blame for the increase of unemployment, the growth of prices and the blockade of negotiations with the EU all fell on Sanader.

Sanader and his government were also slammed for criticism from the war crimes tribunal in The Hague for not handing over the so-called Artillery Logs, and also numerous scandals took a toll on his popularity. The most famous scandal is the most recent one, when information leaked into the media about him buying a high-security, bullet-proof BMW worth 4.2 million kuna.

The car was bought at the end of last year and Sanader put on it his old license plate so the new purchase would go unnoticed.

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Last year, Sanader became Grinch when he told citizens that it would be good to save money by not buying gifts for Christmas. He also advised people to “tighten their belts” in the time of crisis and his wish evidently came true with the fall of the GDP.

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Also remembered was Sanader’s watches scandal. Two years ago, the media published that he possessed a collection of watches worth at least 150,000 euros.

According to Branimir Glavas, Sanader came to lead the HDZ by fraud, allegedly because of 300 ballots that were added into the voting box.

It is interesting to note that during his political career, Sanader changed his stances. In 2001, he voiced support to Croatian generals. He announced big actions in the case of arrest of General Mirko Norac, only to later decide that joining he EU and cooperating with The Hague’s tribunal was more important.

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Apart from Sanader himself, his government often provided the media with things to write about. The military trucks scandal needs to be mentioned here. In 2004, as minister of defence, Berislav Roncevic issued a tender for the procurement of 76 non-combat vehicles, for which the Ministry of Defenceprepared 35.8 million kuna. After offers arrived from companies like Land Rover, Mercedes, Renault and Iveco, Roncevic cancelled the public competition without giving a reason. Right after that he bought 39 military trucks from Eurokamion, the dealer for Iveco, which the ministry paid 34,435,764.90 kuna for. After the competition was cancelled, Roncevic dissolved the board that were evaluating the offers and formed a new one, who he ordered to immediately make a direct deal with Eurokamion. The Office for the Prevention of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) confirmed it got the findings of the criminal investigation and experts in the purchase of the trucks, but it did not wish to confirm or deny media speculations that the experts’ findings concluded that the trucks were bought at a higher price and that Roncevic had made a harmful deal.

Sanader has been active in politics for a full 20 years, ever since he founded the HDZ in Tirol. Two years later he was elected MP at the Croatian parliament’s lower house and in the period between 1992 to 1993 he was science and technology minister. From 1993 to 1995 he was deputy foreign minister and remained in that position in the second mandate until 2000. After that, he was elected president of the HDZ for the first time at the party’s 5th General Assembly. In 2003 he became the Prime Minister of Croatia.

Ivo Sanader was born on June 8, 1953 in Split. He grew up in a Christian family with three brothers and a sister. Sanader’s family could not afford his education, so his mother asked of the director of Split’s Archbishopric Classical Gymnasium to enrol Ivo Sanader.

After his high school education, Sanader left for Rome to study philosophy, but returned to Split soon after where he met his wife Mirjana. After their wedding in 1987 the couple left for Innsbruck where Sanader studied comparative literature and his wife studied archaeology.

After the completion of their studies, they returned to Croatia and Sanader got a job in marketing. Soon after, in 1983, he became the programme editor at the Logos company and five years later he became editor-in-chief. But his career in the publishing company ended with resignation. Even though he had the opportunity to teach at the German Studies Department at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zadar, he and his wife returned to Austria. In late 1980’s he made contacts with Franjo Tudjman and so slowly entered politics.

Sanader returned to Split just before the war in Croatia began and took up the position of the director of Split’s Croatian National Theatre (HNK). But after he was in 1992 elected member of parliament, he left the HNK.

In 2008 Ivo Sanader was bestowed with one of the highest medals of the Croatian state. He published two books: “Pink Is Black Too” and “The Phenomenon of Perfume”. In cooperation with Ante Stamac he collected the anthology of Croatian was lyrics “In This Terrible Moment”. He is a member of the Croatian Writers’ Society and the Croatian PEN club. He has two daughters.