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{{Short description|Croatian politician, 9th
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{{Infobox officeholder
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'''Jadranka Kosor''' ({{IPA-hr|jǎdraːnka kɔ̂sɔr|hr}}; born 1 July 1953) is a Croatian politician and former journalist who served as [[Prime Minister of Croatia]] from 2009 to 2011, having taken office following the sudden resignation of her predecessor [[Ivo Sanader]]. Kosor was the [[List of elected or appointed female heads of government|first and so far only woman]] to become Prime Minister of Croatia since [[Independence of Croatia|independence]].<ref>Skard, Torild (2014) "Croatia's Milka Planinc and Jadranka Kosor" in ''Women of power - half a century of female presidents and prime ministers worldwide'', Bristol: Policy Press, {{ISBN|978-1-44731-578-0}}, pp. 326-33</ref>
Kosor started working as a journalist, following her graduation from the [[Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb|Zagreb Faculty of Law]]. During the [[Croatian War of Independence]], she hosted a radio show dealing with [[refugee]] problems and disabled [[war veteran]]s. She joined the [[centre-right]] [[Croatian Democratic Union]] (HDZ) in 1989 and quickly climbed up the party hierarchy. In 1995 she was elected party vice-president and was elected to serve in [[Croatian Parliament|Parliament]] for the first time. After the death of [[President of Croatia|president]] and longtime HDZ leader [[Franjo Tuđman]], Kosor supported [[Ivo Sanader]]'s successful party leadership bid in 2000. Three years later, her party won the [[2003 Croatian parliamentary election|parliamentary election]] and Kosor became the [[Ministry of Veterans' Affairs (Croatia)|Minister of Family, Veterans' Affairs and Inter-generational Solidarity]] in the [[Cabinet of Ivo Sanader I|Sanader's first]] and, later, [[Cabinet of Ivo Sanader II|Sanader's second cabinet]], during which time she served as [[Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia|deputy prime minister]] as well. In the [[2005 Croatian presidential election|2005 presidential election]] she ran as a representative of the HDZ, but lost to incumbent president [[Stjepan Mesić]] in the second round. After the abrupt resignation of Sanader, Kosor managed to form a functioning [[parliamentary majority]] and was approved to her new post as prime minister in July 2009, also becoming leader of her party. Kosor was the party's candidate for prime minister in the [[2011 Croatian parliamentary election|2011 general election]], but HDZ lost in a landslide over the [[centre-left]] [[Kukuriku coalition]], led by the [[Social Democratic Party of Croatia|Social Democratic Party]]. Kosor handed power to the new
As prime minister, Kosor failed to commit to structural reforms although she managed to prevent the country's budgetary meltdown with two budget revisions and the introduction of new taxes as a response to the ongoing economic crisis. During her tenure, she strongly advocated a zero-tolerance policy to political corruption and organized crime. This uncompromising stance, along with the new [[criminal code]] passed before her term began, opened the door to unprecedented efforts to combat corruption. This resulted in arrests of numerous influential business-people and politicians from across the political spectrum, although most of them were members of HDZ, which severely damaged the party's reputation. The discoveries made by prosecutors were far-reaching and criminal charges were even raised against former
In 2021, Kosor was awarded with the [[Grand Order of Queen Jelena|Grand Order of Queen Jelena with Sash and Morning Star]] by President of Croatia [[Zoran Milanović]] for "extraordinary contribution to the international position and reputation of the Republic of Croatia" and for "the development of relations between the Republic of Croatia and the Croatian people and other states and peoples."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.predsjednik.hr/en/news/president-milanovic-confers-grand-order-of-queen-jelena-with-sash-and-star-on-former-croatian-prime-minister-jadranka-kosor/|title=President Milanović Confers Grand Order of Queen Jelena with Sash and Star on Former Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor|date=9 December 2021}}</ref>
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==Prime minister==
On 1 July 2009, Croatian
===Domestic policy===
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In the last quarter of 2009, many public officials, as well as members of the boards of various government agencies, became suspected of participating in corrupt activities. An unprecedented number{{how many|date=July 2018}} of officials were detained and arrested under these allegations which resulted in both praise and criticism of Kosor's government. The praise was mostly directed by those{{who|date=July 2018}} who believed that the government had finally taken a stronger stance against political corruption, while others{{who|date=July 2018}} criticized the fact that most suspects were, in fact, members of Kosor's own [[Croatian Democratic Union]]. The Opposition accused the government, especially the prime minister, for political responsibility, claiming that it was impossible that Kosor didn't know what was happening around her when she was a vice president of the government almost seven years before becoming prime minister.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} The accusations grew louder as more and more corruption affairs were tied with the former prime minister, Ivo Sanader.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} On 30 October 2009 [[Damir Polančec]], member of the HDZ Presidency, resigned as deputy prime minister and minister of the economy following allegations of corruption.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCFoDwAAQBAJ|title=Political Handbook of the World 2018-2019|editor-first=Tom|editor-last=Lansford|chapter=Croatia|year=2019|publisher=CQ Press |isbn=978-1-5443-2712-9}}</ref>
On 3 January 2010, Ivo Sanader announced he was returning to active politics, saying it was a mistake he ever left. He accused Kosor and the members of the HDZ Presidency of failed leadership citing [[Andrija Hebrang (son)|Andrija Hebrang's]] poor result in the [[Croatian presidential election, 2009-2010|first round of the presidential election]] held just a week earlier.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/sanader-odluka-da-se-povucem-iz-aktivne-politike-bila-je-pogreska-74610|title=Sanader: Odluka da se povučem iz aktivne politike bila je pogreška}}</ref> Hebrang received, for HDZ as the largest party in the country, an embarrassing 12% of the votes claiming third place, the lowest result for an HDZ presidential candidate ever. [[Ivo Josipović]], the candidate of the largest opposition party, the [[Social Democratic Party of Croatia|Social Democratic Party]], won a landslide victory in the resulting runoff on 10 January.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/josipovic-uvjerljivo-pobijedio-za-bandica-samo-lika-i-dijaspora/2212542/|title=Josipović uvjerljivo pobijedio, za Bandića samo Lika i dijaspora|date=10 January 2010}}</ref> Most political pundits, as well as the majority of the public, believed the true reason of Sanader's surprise return was fear that he will eventually be tied with the numerous corruption scandals which have emerged since he left office. On 4 January, the day after Sanader's ''coup'' as it was called by the press, the HDZ Presidency decided to evict Sanader from the party.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/ivo-sanader-izbacen-je-iz-hdz-a/2210571/|title=Ivo Sanader izbačen je iz HDZ-a!|date=4 January 2010}}</ref> The Croatian public quickly rallied in support of Kosor against the hugely unpopular former prime minister, resulting in the highest support for any
Throughout 2010, the economy topped corruption as the biggest concern of the government, and the enthusiasm for Kosor and her government soon wore off. Industry shed tens of thousands of jobs, and unemployment soared. Consumer spending reduced drastically compared to record 2007 levels, causing widespread problems in the trade as well as transport industries. The import/export balance did derive a benefit from a large decrease in imports and a more tempered decrease in exports. The continuing declining standard resulted in a quick fall in both the Prime Minister's as well as government's support. In June, Kosor proposed loosening the labor law and making it more business-friendly. This was greatly opposed by the unions who have organized a petition against the proposed changes demanding a referendum on the issue. The petition was signed by over 700,000 citizens, unprecedented in Croatia. Just as the [[2010 Croatian labour law referendum]] was being prepared, the government decided to drop the proposed changes.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/kosor-milanovicu-ja-i-tebi-skupljam-placu-154892|title=Kosor: Milanoviću, ja i tebi skupljam plaću}}</ref> The [[Constitutional Court of Croatia|Constitutional Court]] ultimately declared the referendum issue moot, but ordered the government not to subject any changes to the labor law in the following year.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/ustavni-sud-sindikatima-vi-ste-neznalice-koje-pozivaju-na-rusenje-drzave/1887987/|title=Ustavni sud sindikatima: Vi ste neznalice koje pozivaju na rušenje države|date=20 October 2010}}</ref> This was seen as a legal way to avoid the referendum which many speculated would be a referendum on the Government rather than on the labor law. The unions criticized the move calling it undemocratic, announcing protests.
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