Zlatko Kramarić (born 5 February 1956) is a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n liberal politician from

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

. Kramarić was born in Osijek and graduated in philology (Macedonian literature) at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. Later he obtained a master's degree and a doctorate from the same faculty. He entered Croatian politics in 1990, during the first free democratic elections when he was candidate of non-partisan "Osijek List" () for Osijek local assembly. With the backing of Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), he became the first non-Communist mayor of

after 1945. A year later, Osijek became a battleground in the conflict between Croatian government and local

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

, backed by Yugoslav People's Army. During those events Kramarić had little power and city became under full control of local HDZ strongman Branimir Glavaš. But Kramarić, with his boyish looks, calm demeanour and a great sense of humour managed to use media spotlight in order to become one of the most charismatic and popular public figures in Croatia. Soon after the hostilities ended, Kramarić described his experience in a book of memoirs. Some of more colourful passages, especially those describing the role of local HDZ officials in the opening stages of conflict, brought him great enmity from government and even public threats against his life. By that time, Kramarić had joined

Croatian Social Liberal Party The Croatian Social Liberal Party ( or HSLS) is a conservative-liberal political party in Croatia. The HSLS were established in May 1989 in Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#Li ...

(HSLS) and quickly became one of its high-ranking-members. In 1993, HSLS easily won the election for Osijek City Council and Kramarić was elected mayor. Under his rule, Osijek became one of few liberal strongholds of Croatia. In 1997, after a split in HSLS, Kramarić followed Vladimir Gotovac and joined newly formed

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

(LS). In most of Croatia, HSLS quickly got the upper hand over its former dissidents, but not in Osijek, where LS was much stronger than HSLS. In the 2000 Croatian parliamentary election, Kramarić was elected to the Croatian Parliament on a joint electoral list of LS, HSS and HNS. In the 2003 Croatian parliamentary election, Kramarić was reelected to Parliament, on a joint electoral list of LS, SDP and LIBRA. In 2004 Kramarić opposed the merger of LS into Croatian People's Party. Because of that he orchestrated the removal of LS leader Ivo Banac, who was replaced by Kramarić's long-time associate Zlatko Benašić. In the spring of 2005, Glavaš embraced regionalism and left HDZ, taking few of Sabor representatives with him and making government majority of Ivo Sanader precariously thin. Kramarić immediately volunteered to help Sanader extinguish this threat and offered LS support in Parliament. This didn't reflect very well on local electorate, which abandoned LS in May 2005 local elections. In June 2005 Kramarić's attempts to create broad anti-Glavaš coalition failed when Glavaš sided with

Croatian Party of Rights The Croatian Party of Rights (, HSP) is an Extra-parliamentary opposition, extra-parliamentary Croatian nationalism, nationalist and Neo-fascism, neo-fascist List of political parties in Croatia, political party in Croatia. The word "right(s)" i ...

. Glavaš supporters took

Osijek-Baranja County Osijek-Baranja County (, , ) is a Counties of Croatia, county in Croatia, located in northeastern Slavonia and Baranya (region), Baranja which is defined part of the Pannonian Plain. Its center is Osijek. Other towns include Đakovo, Našice, Val ...

while

Anto Đapić Anto Đapić (born 22 August 1958) is a Croatian far right politician and the former president of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP). He served as a representative in the Croatian Parliament, a post he was elected to at the 1992, 1995, 2000, 2003 ...

became mayor of Osijek, thus replacing one of the longest-serving elected officials in recent history of Croatia. In 2005, Kramarić started merger negotiations with the

, and the Liberal Party re-joined HSLS in early 2006. He became the leader of the HSLS parliamentary club. He was not reelected in the 2007 Croatian parliamentary election. In December 2008, Kramarić became the first ambassador of Croatia to

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

. One of his columns published in a local newspaper in 2010 caused a minor incident with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2011 to 2015 he was the Croatian ambassador to the

Republic of Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. In 2019, Kramarić was bestowed the Zvane Črnja Award for his book ''Sat hrvatskog, re:vizija prošlih sjećanja.''. Kramarić is married and a father of one.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kramaric, Zlatko 1956 births Living people Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament Mayors of Osijek Croatian Social Liberal Party politicians Liberal Party (Croatia) politicians Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb alumni Ambassadors of Croatia to Kosovo Ambassadors of Croatia to North Macedonia