Tihomir Orešković

Prime Minister of Croatia

1 January 1966 Zagreb, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia

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22 January 2016 – 19 October 2016

This article is about the politician. For the military officer, see Tihomir Orešković (officer). Tihomir "Tim" Orešković (Croatian pronunciation:  ; born 1 January 1966) is a Croatian Canadian businessman who was Prime Minister of Croatia from January to October 2016. Born in Zagreb, Orešković emigrated to Canada at a young age and spent most of his life there. He studied at McMaster University and graduated with a B.Sc. in chemistry in 1989 and an MBA in finance and information systems in 1991. Before taking office as Prime Minister, Orešković served as CEO and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Croatian pharmaceutical giant Pliva, as head of European financial management for Israeli Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, and as Chief Financial Officer for Teva's division of global generics. In the aftermath of a parliamentary election held on 8 November 2015 where no party secured enough seats necessary to form government, and the ensuing 76 days of negotiations, Orešković was named as a technocratic non-partisan compromise for the post of Prime Minister by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the coalition Bridge of Independent Lists (Most) on 23 December 2015. He was formally named Prime Minister-designate on the same day by President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. Orešković formed the 13th Croatian Government, made up of two deputy prime ministers and 20 ministers on 22 January 2016. As Prime Minister, Orešković introduced fiscal controls aimed at reducing public expenditures and lowering the public debt and deficit. However, his government was marked by tense relations between the two governing parties, with political maneuvering behind the scenes resulting in a government crisis in May 2016. Contrary to expectations that he would take direction from HDZ, the new Prime Minister showed his independence going against HDZ recommendations on several occasions. On June 16, 2016, the HDZ introduced a vote of no-confidence, which brought the government down and early parliamentary elections were called for September. Although Orešković initially considered running for re-election as a candidate of Most, he returned to the private sector. On 19 October 2016, Orešković was succeeded by the new Prime Minister, Andrej Plenković from the HDZ.