Stjepan "Stipe" Mesić is a Croatian lawyer and politician who served as President of Croatia from 2000 to 2010. Before serving two five-year terms as president, he was prime minister of SR Croatia (1990) after the first multi-party elections, the last president of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1991) and consequently secretary general of the Non-Aligned Movement (1991), as well as speaker of the Croatian Parliament (1992–1994), a judge in Našice, and mayor of his hometown of Orahovica.
Mesić in 2004
Mesić with Michelle and Barack Obama in the New York City in September 2009.
Mesić with President of Russia Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on 16 April 2002.
President Mesić and First Lady Milka Mesić with Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria Kaczyńska at the Presidential Palace in Zagreb in 2008.
The president of Croatia, officially the president of the Republic of Croatia, is the head of state, commander-in-chief of the military and chief representative of the Republic of Croatia both within the country and abroad. The president is the holder of the highest office in Croatia. However, the president is not the head of the executive branch as Croatia has a parliamentary system in which the holder of the post of prime minister is the most powerful person within the country's constitutional framework and everyday politics.
President of Croatia
The front of the St. Mark's church in Zagreb is the site of the traditional inauguration of Croatia's presidents. Franjo Tuđman took his oath as President of the Republic in 1992 and 1997, Stjepan Mesić in 2000 and 2005, Ivo Josipović in 2010, and Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović in 2015.
"Constitution no. 1", which is used on the occasion of the presidential inauguration.
An honor guard in front of the Presidential Palace normally welcomes foreign heads of state. On the picture: President of Israel Reuven Rivlin, first state visit to Croatia 2018.
