Zagreb - Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, who stunned Croatia by announcing his resignation Wednesday, still had two years to go before his second term in the office was to expire. The conservative Sanader, 56, took over the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in 2000 after the death of the "father of the nation" Franjo Tudjman and steered it from hardline nationalism to a moderate centre-right position.
Sanader forged a coalition with former foes, the ethnic Serbs, after his first election victory in 2003, eight years after Croatia defeated a four-year Serb insurgency to finally assert its authority over its entire territory.
Under his leadership Croatia joined NATO, in April, and was making big steps toward European Union membership until a border dispute with fellow former Yugoslav republic Slovenia stalled the process this year.
In the row with Slovenia, Sanader displayed a hard streak, saying his country would not trade territory to become the 28th EU nation.
A holder of PhD in philosophy from the university in Innsbruck, Austria, Sanader entered Croatia's politics as a diplomat, presenting Tudjman's hardline policies as the deputy foreign minister.
But after assuming the reins in HDZ after Tudjman died, he threw nationalist dogma out of the party agenda and won his first election in late 2003. Four years later, he won another term.
During his time in office, owing largely to more moderate politics and opening toward the EU, Croatia recorded rapid economic growth and infrastructural development aimed at tapping more of the enormous potential offered by its beautiful, 1,100-kilometre coast.
