Tonino Picula

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tonino Picula

Tonino Picula (born August 31, 1961 in Mali Lošinj, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia) is a Croatian politician of the left-oriented Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP). Currently, he is serving as mayor of Velika Gorica.

1 Biography
2 References

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early biography and professional background

Picula completed both primary and secondary education at Šibenik. He graduated sociology at Zagreb's University. He is a long-time member of the SDP and was the party's Secretary of international relations from 1993 to 2000. He also led the SDP branch in Velika Gorica from 1997 to 2000. He has been member of the Croatian Parliament for several mandates.

[edit] Minister of foreign affairs

After the year 2000 elections in which SDP, under Ivica Račan, won in a broad coalision, he was appointed to be Foreign Minister until the end of the governments mandate in 2003.

During his term in office, Croatia had several important foreign-relation successes, including becoming a candidate for NATO and the European Union.

[edit] Later biography

During local elections in 2005, he was elected mayor of Velika Gorica. After Ivica Račan died in mid-2007, Picula ran to succeed him as president, but lost during the first round of elections to Zoran Milanović and Željka Antunović.