page_title: Croatian Democratic Union
section_title: First Sanader government (2003–2008)
hierarchical_section_title: Croatian Democratic Union / History / First Sanader government (2003–2008)
caption_attribution_description: Hrvatski: Ivo Sanader na svečanosti podizanja NATO-ve zastave ispred zgrade MORH-a u Zagrebu.
context_page_description: The Croatian Democratic Union is the major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Croatia, along with the centre-left Social Democratic Party. It is currently the largest party in the Sabor with 60 seats. The HDZ ruled Croatia from 1990 before the country gained independence from Yugoslavia until 2000 and, in coalition with junior partners, from 2003 to 2011, and since 2016. The party is a member of the European People's Party. The HDZ's leader, Andrej Plenković, is the current Prime Minister of Croatia, having taken office following the 2016 parliamentary election.
context_section_description: At the 2003 Croatian parliamentary election, the party won 33.9% of the popular vote and 66 out of 151 seats. Although it failed to win a clear majority in the Croatian Parliament, even with the help of the allied DC and HSLS, it formed a government with the nominally left-wing Independent Democratic Serb Party and the Croatian Party of Pensioners.
  With such a broad and diverse mandate, the Sanader-led government vigorously pursued policies that amounted to the implementation of the basic criteria for joining the European Union, such as the return of refugees to their homes, rebuilding houses damaged in the war, improving minority rights by including minority representatives in the government, cooperating with the ICTY, and continuing to consolidate the Croatian economy. Despite this, the EU's Council of Ministers postponed Croatia's membership negotiations with the union on the grounds of its non-cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia over the case of indicted general Ante Gotovina.
  This setback brought an increase in Eurosceptic views among the Croatian public, which also affected support for the HDZ. Since accession to the EU was a key part of Sanader's reformist course, opposition to his leadership within and outside the HDZ was on the rise. This opposition manifested itself at the 2005 local elections and the defection of Glavaš, who not only successfully challenged Sanader's authority but also managed to nominally deprive Sanader of his parliamentary majority.
caption: Ivo Sanader, president of the HDZ from 2000–2009; expelled from party membership on 4 October 2010
exif: {}