Zlatko Mateša (; born 17 June 1949) is a Croatian politician who served as

Prime Minister of Croatia , type = Head of Government , member_of = , reports_to = Croatian Parliament , appointer = Croatian Parliament , nominator = President of Croatia , termlength = At the pleasure of the parliamentary majority. Parliamentary elections must be h ...

from 1995 to 2000. A member of the Croatian Democratic Union, Mateša is currently the president of the

Croatian Olympic Committee The Croatian Olympic Committee ( hr, Hrvatski olimpijski odbor (HOO)) is the non-profit organization representing Croatian athletes in the International Olympic Committee. The COC organizes Croatia's representatives at the Summer and Winter Olymp ...

and

honorary consul A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

in Croatia. Mateša was born and grew up in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, then

Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

, and obtained a law degree at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...

in 1974. He worked in INA since 1978, where he rose through the ranks to the position of an assistant director. He was friends with

Nikica Valentić Nikica Valentić (; born 24 November 1950) is a Croatian entrepreneur, lawyer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from 1993 to 1995. He is to date the youngest person to have served in that capacity, being 42 years old when taki ...

, Mladen Vedriš and

Franjo Gregurić Franjo Gregurić (; born 12 October 1939) is a Croatian politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from July 1991 to September 1992 leading a national unity government at the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence. Gregurić was ...

. In 1990, he entered politics and became a high-ranking HDZ member, along with the aforementioned group. President Franjo Tuđman named him the sixth President of the Government on 4 November 1995. The Mateša government is perhaps best remembered for the introduction of the

value-added tax A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the en ...

, which originated from the previous government before being put to effect from 1996 under Mateša's government. In 1998, the tax rate was fixed for all products at 22%. The finance minister in the

Cabinet of Zlatko Mateša The Sixth Government of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Šesta Vlada Republike Hrvatske) was the Croatian Government cabinet led by Prime Minister Zlatko Mateša. Its members took office on 7 November 1995 by decree of President Franjo Tuđman. T ...

was Borislav Škegro. In the 2000 Croatian parliamentary election he was elected into the

Sabor The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sabo ...

and served until the end of 2003. Since 2002, Mateša is the president of the Croatian Olympic Committee (HOO). In 2009, Mateša obtained a Ph.D. degree from

Beijing Sport University Beijing Sport University (BSU) (), formerly known as "Central Institute of Physical Education" () and "Beijing Institute of Physical Education" (), is a nation-level public university located in Beijing, China. It is one of the National Key Univ ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matesa, Zlatko 1949 births Living people Politicians from Zagreb Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb alumni Prime Ministers of Croatia Croatian Democratic Union politicians Croatian sports executives and administrators Economy ministers of Croatia

See also

References