page_title: Zoran Milanović
section_title: Foreign policy
hierarchical_section_title: Zoran Milanović / Prime Minister (2011–2016) / Foreign policy
caption_attribution_description: Victor Ponta la Summit-ul Premierilor din Europa Centrala si de Est - China, Bucuresti
context_page_description: Zoran Milanović is a Croatian politician serving as President of Croatia since 2020. Prior to assuming the presidency, he was President of the Social Democratic Party from 2007 to 2016 and Prime Minister of Croatia from 2011 to 2016.
  After graduating from the Zagreb Faculty of Law, Milanović started working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served as an advisor at the Croatian Mission to the European Union and NATO in Brussels from 1996 to 1999. During the same year he joined the Social Democratic Party. In 1998 he earned his master's degree in European Union law at the Flemish University in Brussels and was an assistant to the Foreign Minister of Croatia for political multilateral affairs in 2003. In June 2007 he was elected President of the SDP, following the death of the long-time party leader and former Prime Minister Ivica Račan. Under Milanović's leadership the party finished in second place in the 2007 parliamentary election and was unable to form a governing majority. Despite losing the election, he was reelected party leader in 2008. In 2011 Milanović initiated the formation of the Kukuriku Coalition, uniting four centre to centre-left political parties.
context_section_description: Milanović's foreign policy was initially concentrated on the accession of Croatia to the European Union. On 22 January 2012, an EU accession referendum was held, with 66.25% voting in favour and 33.13% against. About 47% of eligible voters took part in the referendum. On 11 March 2013, Milanović signed the Memorandum of Agreement with Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša, regarding the issue of Ljubljanska Banka, which closed down in 1991 without reimbursing its Croatian depositors. Croatia agreed to suspend a lawsuit against the bank and its successor, while Slovenia pledged to ratify Croatia's EU Accession Treaty. Slovenia ratified Croatia's accession bid on 2 April 2013. After all 27 member states signed the EU accession treaty, on 1 July 2013, Croatia joined the European Union, becoming the 28th member state.
  On 27 February 2012 Milanović visited Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was his first travel to a foreign country since he became prime minister. On the following day he visited Široki Brijeg and Mostar, where he met with members of the Croatian National Assembly, a political organisation of the Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Milanović said that all he is asking for Croats in that country is a fair deal and added that Croatia will support the Accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the European Union.
  Due to the ongoing civil war in Syria, in February 2012 Milanović called on Croatian companies working in Syria to withdraw from the country. On 18 January 2013 Croatian Foreign Ministry declared that Croatia, as well as the entire European Union, recognizes the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces as the only "legitimate representatives of the aspirations of the Syrian people". In February 2013 Milanović announced that Croatia is withdrawing its troops from the Golan Heights that are participating in the UN's peacekeeping mission after it was reported that Croatia sold their old weapons to the Syrian opposition.
  When demonstrations and riots started in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2014, Milanović visited Mostar, a city with a Croat majority, where the seat of HDZ BiH was damaged in the riots. Sarajevo criticized his move, saying he should have visited the capital first. Milanović later called the protest quasi-civic on ethnic and religious vertical. The Croatian Government refused to accept indictments from Sarajevo labeled as political due to unacceptable claims about the character of the Croat–Bosniak War.
  On 22 July 2015 a major scandal occurred during the arbitration procedure of the Croatian-Slovenian border dispute, when it was discovered that the Slovenian representative has been lobbying other judges to rule in Slovenia's favor. Three days later Milanović announced the withdrawal of Croatia from arbitration after a meeting with the leaders of parliamentary groups.
caption: Milanović at the Summit of Prime Ministers of the Central and Eastern Europe in Bucharest in 2013
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