Silvano Hrelja (born 14 March 1958) is a Croatian politician who has been Leader of the

Croatian Party of Pensioners The Croatian Party of Pensioners ( hr, Hrvatska stranka umirovljenika or HSU) is a Croatian centre-left political party that is currently led by Veselko Gabričević. When the party was founded, few people took it seriously and many commentator ...

(HSU) since 2008 and a member of the

Croatian Parliament 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 Sab ...

for the VIII electoral district since 2003 having been elected in the

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

, 2011 and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

parliamentary elections.

Early life and education

Silvano Hrelja was born in a small village of Hreljani near Žminj in

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian and Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian, Italian and Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic betwee ...

. He finished

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Sl ...

''Electrical Engineering High School'', after which he graduated from the Zagreb ''College of Occupational Safety and Health'' gaining professional title of engineer of safety at work and fire protection. After graduation, Hrelja worked in

Uljanik Uljanik was a shipbuilding company in Pula, Croatia. History Uljanik was founded in 1856, in the carefully selected bay of Pula (then known as Pola) as a shipyard of the Austro-Venetian Navy (from 1867 to 1918 Austro-Hungarian Navy). The foun ...

shipyard controlling safety at work. During this period, he became active in the Croatian Metal Workers Union (SMH), becoming the Commissioner of Trade Unions in Uljanik, and then regional and county commissioner of SMH for Istria.

Political career

He got involved in politics in year 2003, when he got elected to the

Croatian parliament 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 Sab ...

. In that year, he also became Vice President of HSU, and president of the HSU Istrian county organization. In

, Hrelja managed to keep his seat in the Parliament, thus becoming the only HSU MP. He supported II Cabinet of Ivo Sanader. At the 7th General Assembly of HSU that was held on March 14, 2008, he was elected President of the Party with votes of 169 out of 330 delegates. In year 2010, he participated in the creation of the center-left

Kukuriku coalition The Restart Coalition ( hr, Restart koalicija) is a centre-left political alliance in Croatia. The coalition was formed in 2010 as the Kukuriku Coalition (''Kukuriku koalicija''). This somewhat facetious name meaning 'cock-a-doodle-doo', taken fr ...

. He was reelected to the Parliament in the 2011 and

parliamentary elections. In both terms, he supported

Zoran Milanović Zoran Milanović (; born 30 October 1966) is a Croatian politician serving as President of Croatia since 19 February 2020. Prior to assuming the presidency, he was prime minister from 2011 to 2016 and president of the Social Democratic Party f ...

( SDP) as candidate for the Prime Minister. At the 11th General Assembly of HSu that was held on May 6, 2016, Hrelja was re-elected as president of the HSU.

Private life

Mr. Hrelja is married with two children. He actively participated in the

Operation Storm }) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory for the Croatian Army (HV), which attacked across a front against the self-declared proto-state R ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hrelja, Silvano Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament Living people 1958 births