Tihomir Orešković

Tihomir "Tim" Orešković (Croatian pronunciation: [ˌtîhomiːr tîm ǒ'reːʃkoʋit͡ɕ]; born 1 January 1966) is a Croatian Canadian businessman who was the 11th Prime Minister of Croatia from 22 January 2016 to 19 October 2016.
Born in Zagreb, Orešković emigrated to Canada at a young age and spent most of his life there. He studied at the McMaster University and graduated chemistry in 1989 and finance and information systems in 1991. Before taking office as Prime Minister, Orešković served as CEO and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Pliva, head of financial management for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in Europe, and a Chief Financial Officer for Teva global generics business.
In the aftermath of an inconclusive parliamentary election held on 8 November 2015 and the ensuing 76 days of negotiations, Orešković was named as a compromise, non-partisan candidate of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the 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 2 deputy prime ministers and 20 ministers on 22 January 2016. As Prime Minister, Orešković introduced spending cuts to lower the public debt and budget deficit. However, his government was marked with tense relations between the two governing parties, resulting in a government crisis in May 2016. His cabinet lost a motion of no confidence in the Parliament on 16 June and early parliamentary election was called for September. Although Orešković considered participating in them together with Most, he announced that he will not run in the election but would rather return to the private sector. On 19 October 2016, Orešković was succeeded by the new Prime Minister Andrej Plenković from HDZ.

Orešković was born in Zagreb on 1 January 1966 to Đurđa and Dane Orešković. While he was still an infant, he moved with his parents to Hamilton, Canada. In 1989, he graduated with a degree in chemistry from McMaster University in Canada. In 1991, he graduated with a MBA in finance and information systems from the same university. Orešković is married to Sanja Orešković (née Dujmović), also from Zagreb, with whom he has two daughters and two sons.

His professional career began in 1992 in the production of American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly where he held various functions in the field of finance and international business. His last position in the company was the position of Director for relations with the state administration and economic affairs.

After leaving Eli Lilly in August 2005, he continued his career in the Canadian pharmaceutical company Novopharm (now: Teva Canada), as VP of Business Development, Specialty Products and CFO. Orešković started working for Pliva in 2009 as chief financial officer for Eastern Europe, and in 2010 was appointed to the position of Chief Financial Officer for Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, Israel and Africa. Orešković holds dual Croatian and Canadian citizenship.

Orešković was contacted by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) several months before the 2015 parliamentary elections over a possible minister position in the new government. Following the parliamentary elections held on 8 November and the ensuring 76 days of negotiations during which a new Prime Minister could not be named, finally on 23 December 2015 it was announced that HDZ and Bridge of Independent Lists (Most) would name him as their compromise candidate for Prime Minister. On the same day President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović handed him the mandate to try and form a government in the next 30 days. Orešković, a self-described fiscal conservative and a centrist, started forming his cabinet with the two parties in January. He named his cabinet on 21 January 2016 and the Orešković Cabinet was approved through a vote of confidence from Parliament on 22 January, constitutionally the last possible date of Orešković's 30-day mandate during which he was to name a government.

Prime Minister Orešković and his wife Sanja at the audience with Pope Francis, April 6, 2016

The 13th Government of Croatia was approved by 83 MPs, 61 voted against and 5 abstained during the confirmation vote. Orešković's government included two Deputy Prime Ministers: Tomislav Karamarko, president of HDZ, who is the first deputy, and Božo Petrov, president of Most. Orešković's main tasks were to cut the public debt and bring investors to Croatia that had just emerged from a six-year recession. Orešković said that his government will achieve a GDP growth of above 3%, reduce the public debt below 80%, cut the unemployment rate to 14% and raise the country's credit rating. His plan included the privatization of non-strategic assets, more investments in tourism, energy and infrastructure, taxation of unused property and increased use of EU funds.

His government faced its first political challenge with the resignation of the Minister of Veterans Affairs Mijo Crnoja, only 6 days into his term, on 28 January 2016. His replacement, Tomo Medved was appointed as minister on 21 March 2016.

On 13 March, the Parliament adopted the 2016 state budget. The budget projected a deficit below 3% in 2016, GDP growth of 2% and the reduction of public debt from 86.9% to 86.8% of GDP. In mid April, the IMF increased the Croatian GDP growth forecast for 2016 from 1% to 1.9%. In the first quarter of 2016, revenues to the budget increased for 3.7%, and expenditures decreased by 6.5%. GDP growth was 2.7%.

In June, Orešković and Economy Minister Tomislav Panenić signed contracts for onshore hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation with oil companies including INA and Vermilion Energy, worth €88 million. In case gas and oil is found in the exploration fields, located in Slavonia, it is estimated that revenues to the state budget would be between around €600 million (3,4 billion HRK) and €900 million (6,8 billion HRK) yearly. Orešković announced the first stage implementation of the Adria LNG terminal on Krk, the Križevci-Dugo Selo railway project worth €200 million, and the Pelješac Bridge worth €430 million. A new public procurement bill was adopted by the government, that replaced the lowest price criterion with the economically most favourable offer.

At the end of June, public debt was 3.9 billion HRK lower than at the end of 2015. June was also the fourth consecutive month of an annual decline of public debt. Budget deficit fell by 5.1 billion HRK in the first six months of 2016, making up 0.7% of GDP. GDP growth reached 2.8% in the second quarter.

Government crisis

Orešković's government had been plagued by tensions between HDZ and Most, the two governing parties, particularly over the INA, Croatia's national oil company, and the Ministry of the Interior. They culminated in the conflict of interest affair labeled The Consultant affair (Afera konzultantica), when it was revealed that Tomislav Karamarko's wife had business contacts with a consultant of the Hungarian oil company MOL, which is a subject of an arbitration processes with Croatia over INA. As a result, a vote of no confidence in Karamarko was initiated by the opposition in the Croatian Parliament and Božo Petrov asked for Karamarko to step down, which the latter refused to do.

In an attempt at a compromise solution to the growing crisis, on 3 June Orešković called on both Karamarko and Petrov to resign their posts for the sake of stability of the country. Petrov was ready to do so, while Karamarko's HDZ in return initiated a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister and started forming a new majority in the Parliament. Petrov's party continued to support Orešković and asked for the resignation of Karamarko.

On 15 June the Commission for determining conflicts of interest determined that Tomislav Karamarko had been in a conflict of interest in the Consultant affair and Karamarko tended his resignation as Deputy Prime Minister while vowing to challenge the ruling at the Constitutional court. The following day the confidence vote in Parliament took place and resulted in the fall of Orešković's government by a vote of 125 MPs in favour, 15 against and 2 abstentions. Both the Croatian Democratic Union and most of the opposition voted in favour, while the Bridge of Independent Lists voted against. The collapse of Orešković's coalition government led to the dissolution of parliament on 15 July 2016 and early elections in the second half of 2016. Orešković considered participating in the election together with Most, but decided that he will leave politics for a brief period.