Miomir Žužul

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Miomir Žužul (born 1955) is a Croatian diplomat and politician.

Žužul obtained a doctorate in psychology at the University of Zagreb as well as a doctorate in conflict management at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at the Harvard University.

Žužul was previously the foreign minister of Croatia (2003-2005), ambassador to the United States (1996-2000), deputy foreign minister (1992-1993), ambassador to the United Nations (1993-1996).

During his early diplomatic career, Žužul has befriended many important people in American political and business circles. As such, he was often perceived as one of the more pro-American politicians in Croatia. In early 2000s, he was one of the most trusted allies of Ivo Sanader in his struggle for the leadership of HDZ, because his support was often interpreted as the support of USA and other Western countries for future Croatian prime minister.

He was named the new foreign minister in the Ivo Sanader government in December 2003. Due to his public pro-American and pro-Israeli statements, he quickly became one of the least popular of all Sanader's ministers among increasingly anti-American Croatian public. Many didn't like his previous lobbying for Bechtel Corporation at the expense of Croatian construction companies.

In 2004 various Croatian media began to publish details of alleged corruption scandals involving Žužul. Although Žužul denied those charges, even some of Sanader's allies in Sabor expressed desire to have him removed. Sanader resisted this pressure and had Žužul keep his post. The Croatian Parliament cleared Žužul of the charges brought against him, and the majority of the media outlets that initially reported corruption allegations against Žužul have retracted their stories. Court cases against the rest are pending.

However, in January 2005, Žužul announced his resignation because he did not want to pose a burden for the Government, and formally left his post in February. Sanader's candidate Jadranka Kosor during presidential elections commented that she expected the resignation to come.