Ivo Sanader: Difference between revisions

Ivo Sanader
Member of Parliament from X District
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 February 2000
Prime Minister	Ivica Račan (2000-2003) Himself (2003-2009) Jadranka Kosor
8th Prime Minister of Croatia
In office 23 December 2003 – 6 July 2009
President	Stjepan Mesić
Deputy	Đurđa Adlešič Jadranka Kosor Slobodan Uzelac Damir Polančec
Preceded by	Ivica Račan
Succeeded by	Jadranka Kosor
Leader of the Opposition
In office 30 April 2000 – 23 December 2003
Preceded by	Vladimir Šeks (Acting)
Succeeded by	Ivica Račan
President of the Croatian Democratic Union
In office 30 April 2000 – 4 July 2009
Preceded by	Vladimir Šeks (Acting)
Succeeded by	Jadranka Kosor
Personal details
Born	(1953-06-08) 8 June 1953 (age 71) Split, Yugoslavia
Political party	Independent (2010–present)
Other political affiliations	Croatian Democratic Union (1989-2010)
Spouse	Mirjana Sanader née Šarić[1]
Children	Bruna Sanader Petra Sanader
Alma mater	University of Innsbruck

Ivo Sanader (Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: [ǐːʋɔ sanǎːdɛr]; born Ivica Sanader;^[2] born 8 June 1953 in Split) is a Croatian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Croatia from 2003 to 2009.

Sanader obtained his education in comparative literature in Austria, where he also later worked in the 1980s. He worked as a journalist, in marketing, publishing and also as a private enterpreneur. In the 1990s, he was briefly in charge of the theatre in Split before becoming the Minister of Science and Technology as a member of Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). Soon thereafter, he moved to diplomacy, and served two terms as the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

He was elected leader of the HDZ party in 2000 and 2002, and with them won the 2003 election, becoming the Prime Minister. He was also reelected in the 2007 parliamentary elections. In June 2009, Sanader abruptly resigned his post, leaving scarce explanation for his actions, and rumours of involvement in various criminal cases became increasingly rampant. In January 2010, he tried to stage a political comeback inside HDZ, but was then ejected from party membership.

In December 2010, the Croatian authorities charged him in two high-profile corruption indictments, but he made himself unavailable and had to be arrested in Austria. He was extradited from Austria to Croatia in July 2011.

Ivo Sanader was born in Split in religious, poor working family with three brothers and sister. Since his family was financially unable to educate all four children, his mother asked the rector of Archbishopric Classical Gymnasium to accept Ivo as their student.^[3] After completing his high school education, Sanader moved to Rome to pursue higher education in philosophy. He soon realized that he did not like the academic environment there very much.^{[citation needed]} Following his return from Rome he met his future spouse, Mirjana Sanader, whom he married in 1978.

After their wedding, Ivo and Mirjana left Split for Innsbruck. His wife studied archaeology, while Ivo studied comparative literature and Romance languages at the University of Innsbruck. The young couple was accompanied, while studying in Innsbruck, by Ivo’s younger brother Miro who also lived and studied in Innsbruck. During that time, Sanader also reported for the Zagreb sport newspaper Sportske novosti.

In 1982, Sanader graduated, and returned to Croatia (then Yugoslavia) with his wife. He found a job in the marketing department of Dalmacijaturist, however he did not stay very long. He found his next job at the publishing house Logos in 1983 where he was employed as a program editor. In 1988, he became a chief editor and at one time he was working on the organization of the magazine Mogućnost. His career at the publishing house was later terminated suddenly.^{[clarification needed]} At that time, his wife also received a notice of termination from her workplace.

Sanader then decided to return to Austria with his family. There he co-founded two private businesses, one of which was founded in 1989 and liquidated by court in 1992, while the other existed between 1986 and 2001.^[4] Sanader achieved B.A. in Romance languages and comparative literature from Innsbruck University in Austria.

Apart from his native Croatian, he is fluent in English, German, French, and Italian.^[5][6]

Unlike many Croatian political figures of Sanader's generation, he had not been actively involved in politics throughout his young life - neither as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia (Croatia's party which formed the single bloc which governed Yugoslavia), nor as a dissident in exile.

At the end of 1980s, as a multi-party system was returning to Yugoslavia, he founded the first branch of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in Austria and at this time he first came into contact with Franjo Tuđman. He returned to Split, on persuasion from Franjo Tuđman, although his wife was against their return to Croatia as war was beckoning. His first public office was intendant of the Croatian National Theatre in Split.

In 1992 he was elected as an HDZ deputy to the lower house of the Croatian parliament. Shortly thereafter, he became Minister of Science and Technology (1992–1993). From 1993 to 1995 and 1996 to 2000, he was a Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. His biggest success as Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs was the termination of required visas for Croatia citizens who traveled to Greece. But Sanader's sense for negotiation was also used for other purposes. He used his negotiation skills for bringing people around to the Croatian Democratic Union from other Croatian parliamentary parties.

At the end of November 1995, he became a head of the President of Croatia's office and general secretary of Croatia national security and defense council (VONS) after Hrvoje Šarinić was released from his duty. In January 1996 he became a member of the council for cooperation between Croatia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

During his second term as a Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs he worked hard to bring Croatia and Israel together. The peak of these efforts was the meeting between himself, Hrvoje Šarinić and Eytan Bentsur, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Israeli government, in Budapest in 1997, after which diplomatic relationships between Croatia and Israel were established.^[7]

In 2000, following Tuđman's death, HDZ suffered defeat in a parliamentary election. Furthermore, their candidate Mate Granić also failed to enter the second round of the presidential election. Granić then left to form the Democratic Centre party hoping to attract moderates from the HDZ. Inner-party election within the HDZ ensued in April that year and Sanader emerged victorious as a compromise candidate.

Initially, Sanader criticized the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) indictments against Croatian Army generals which had provoked much discontent in Croatia. In 2001, he took part in a massive rally against a war crimes indictment against general Mirko Norac. Sanader also criticised Ivica Račan and his cabinet's stance towards the ICTY. Afterwards, he gradually began to distance the party and himself from the protests somewhat softening his criticism towards the government.

Sanader focused his efforts on transforming the HDZ into a modern pro-European right-of-center party. However, his course was challenged by the more conservative wing of the party led by Ivić Pašalić. The ensuing leadership struggle culminated at the 2002 party convention. Sanader, who was supported by Vladimir Šeks and Branimir Glavaš, managed to win his second mandate. Pašalić left the party to form his Croatian Bloc (political party), but failed to draw many of his former supporters from the HDZ.

Sanader was later accused by Ivan Drmić, a former member of Croatian Democratic Union, for framing the presidential election at the 5th convention of the Croatian Democratic Union.^[8] Spokesman for the Croatian Democratic Union Ratko Maček said such accusations "belong in the anthology of political stupidity."^[9]

Sanader was now able to concentrate on defeating Ivica Račan and his left-of-centre coalition at the 2003 parliamentary elections. HDZ won the election, but did not win the absolute majority in Sabor.

After the victory of his Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) the President of the Republic named Sanader the Prime Minister-designate on 9 December 2003. In the post-election negotiations Sanader ensured the support of ethnic minority representatives, nominally left-wing Croatian Party of Pensioners and the Independent Democratic Serb Party. When the Croatian Parliament subsequently gave its consent by 88 votes (out of 152) on 23 December 2003, Sanader was formally appointed.^[10]

The Sanader government's main foreign goal was Croatia's entry into the European Union and NATO. As a result of the successful implementation of the Association Agreement - signed with the European Union in 2001 - Croatia did become an official candidate for entry into the EU.

Sanader's HDZ also sought to establish better relations with minority parties and 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 the country's compliance with political and economic criteria established by the 1993 Copenhagen European Council.

Sanader was the last statesman to visit Pope John Paul II in Vatican City, in February 2005, a few weeks before his death on 2 April 2005.^[11]

In October 2005, following the formal start of EU accession negotiations, opinion polls showed Sanader to be the most popular Croatian politician.

The biggest affair that has hindered Sanader as Prime Minister was a mostly tabloid-fueled affair regarding his collection of wrist watches. He reportedly possesses a collection of wrist watches worth in excess of €150,000.^[12] Former Minister of Justice Vesna Škare-Ožbolt in the Sanader government was the one who reported Sanader to a resolution council for conflict of interests.^[12] Škare Ožbolt stated that Prime Minister Sanader hadn’t reported a collection of expensive wrist watches in his assets.

As Prime Minister, Sanader had close relations with other moderate conservative politicians in Europe: including former Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, former Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, and Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern.

The cabinet saw some curious changes during Sanader's term, notably the departure of the foreign minister Miomir Žužul who was accused of conflict of interest. Furthermore, Sanader's government was challenged by the rising tide of Euroscepticism in the country.

In July 2006, Sanader was named in the "Verona Affair", accused by the opposition in the Croatian parliament for fixing the sale of pharmaceutical company Pliva to Barr Pharmaceuticals from the US.^[13] Such accusations against Sanader have been denied,^[14] and they were never proven.

Nacional, an independent political weekly, carried out an investigative report on Sanader which showed that he was a part of two bankrupt businesses in Austria, received bribe in 1995 and 1996 from a tycoon amounting to 800,000 DEM.^[15]

After the closely contested Croatian parliamentary election, 2007, and the first ever situation of ambiguity on who gets the mandate to form a government, Sanader emerged as the winner when President Stipe Mesić gave him his second mandate, though this time in a coalition with HSS and HSLS.^[16][17]

Owing in part to the global recession that set in during Sanader's term, Croatia's economic growth stalled and foreign direct investments slowed down. While displaying symptoms of economic decline shared by larger nations, Croatia's decline during Sanader's term was amplified in comparison with the fortunes of Serbia and next door Montenegro - who gained greater investments due to major reforms. Under Sanader, judicial reforms in Croatia stopped and the land registry issue was not resolved. Over 1.3 million court cases (in a country of 4.1 million people) were yet to be resolved in 2009.

Croatia was expected to complete negotiations with the EU in 2009. However, the negotiations were stalled for 10 months due to Slovenia's blockade of Croatia's EU accession in December 2008.

On 1 July 2009, Sanader announced his resignation as the Prime Minister of Croatia and President of Croatian Democratic Union, as well as his complete withdrawal from all active politics, adding that he does not intend to return.^[18] At his press conference in Zagreb, Sanader remarked, "There is always a time in life for a new beginning. Such a moment has come and now it's time for others to take over."^[19] According to BBC News, the announcement "came as a surprise", as Croatian media had quite recently named Sanader as a potential candidate for the 2010 presidential election.^[20] Sanader announced that his prime minister-designate would be deputy Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor.^[19][20] The Parliament of Croatia accepted his resignation on 2 July 2009 and informed the President of the Republic. Sanader was elected Honorary President of HDZ for life.

At the September 2009 Global Creative Economic Summit, Sanader discussed Croatia’s shift from a heavily controlled economy to a bustling “knowledge-based” economy. According to Sanader, fostering the “competitiveness in everyday life” played an important role in this process.^[21]

On 3 January 2010, contrary to his earlier statements (July 1, 2009), Sanader announced he would be returning to a more active role in politics, stating that his decision to withdraw was a mistake, and that the HDZ is a "winning party and not a party that wins 12% of the vote", a remark made in connection with the first round of the presidential election held one week before.^[22] He was supported by a dozen HDZ MPs, including Luka Bebić, but none of the members of the Government. Several of those MPs later disclaimed any association with Sanader and claimed they were misled.^[23]

On 4 January 2010, following an entire day of meetings of HDZ leadership, Ivo Sanader was ejected from the Croatian Democratic Union. Of 22 members of the party presidency, 16 voted for ejection, three were against (Luka Bebić, Mario Zubović and Damir Polančec) and two abstained (Bianca Matković and Petar Selem). Sanader himself was not present at the meeting.^[24]

In October 2010, Sanader reactivated his parliamentary seat and regained parliamentary immunity.^[25]

On 9 December 2010, Sanader was seen crossing the border into Slovenia shortly before the Croatian parliament voted to remove his immunity from prosecution by USKOK. The next day the Croatian police issued an arrest warrant^[26] and applied to Interpol requesting his arrest to face charges of corruption.^[27] He was arrested near Salzburg, Austria on 10 December 2010.^[28] Croatian authorities froze his assets and bank accounts, and formally applied for extradition on 13 December.^[29]

Austrian authorities, including a Carinthian parliamentary committee inquiring into the more recent Hypo Group Alpe Adria scandal, have questioned Sanader while in custody, ^[30] while USKOK expanded its investigation of Sanader to include alleged bribes by the Hypo Bank in the 1990s.^[31]

Sanader was extradited by Austria on 18 July 2011.^[32] He was transferred to Remetinec prison in Zagreb.^[32] His trial is expected to take place by 2012.^[33] On the first court hearing on October 28th, he complained about having heart problems, and he also stated that he did not even know he was being taken to court. After hearing this, the judge decided to reschedule, and Sanader was taken to the hospital. Next court hearing is expected to be set in November, pending medical reports.

• 1993 - Honorary rank of Colonel of Armed Forces of Croatia
• 1995 - Order of Duke Trpimir^[34]
• 2007 - Bayerischer Verdienstorden
• 2008 - Grand Order of Queen Jelena^[35]

• Cabinet of Ivo Sanader I
• Cabinet of Ivo Sanader II

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