Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović
4th[a] President of Croatia
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 February 2015
Prime Minister	Zoran Milanović
Preceded by	Ivo Josipović
Assistant Secretary General of NATO for Public Diplomacy
In office 4 July 2011 – 2 October 2014
Preceded by	Stefanie Babst (Acting)
Succeeded by	Ted Whiteside (Acting)
Ambassador to the United States
In office 8 March 2008 – 4 July 2011
Preceded by	Neven Jurica
Succeeded by	Vice Skračić (Acting)
Minister of Foreign and European Affairs
In office 17 February 2005 – 12 January 2008
Prime Minister	Ivo Sanader
Preceded by	Miomir Žužul (Foreign Affairs) Herself (European Affairs)
Succeeded by	Gordan Jandroković
Minister of European Affairs
In office 23 December 2003 – 16 February 2005
Prime Minister	Ivo Sanader
Preceded by	Neven Mimica
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Personal details
Born	(1968-04-29) 29 April 1968 Rijeka, Yugoslavia (now Croatia)
Political party	Croatian Democratic Union (1993-2015)[1] Independent (2015-)
Spouse(s)	Jakov Kitarović (1996–present)
Children	Luka Katarina
Alma mater	University of Zagreb Diplomatic Academy of Vienna
Profession	Politician
Religion	Roman Catholicism[2]
Website	predsjednica.hr
^a 4th counting from the 1990 Croatian parliamentary election. 20th republican head of state overall.

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović (pronounced [kȏlǐndǎ gr̩abâr̩ kitǎːr̩oʋit͡ɕ]; born 29 April 1968) is a Croatian politician serving as President of Croatia since February 2015.

From 2011 to 2014 she served as Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy at NATO under secretaries Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Jens Stoltenberg.^[3] She is the first woman ever to be appointed to the position. Previously, she was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Croatia from 2005 to 2008 in the Cabinet of Ivo Sanader I, and Croatia's ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2011.^[4]

Grabar-Kitarović has been a member of the conservative Croatian Democratic Union party from 1993 until 2015 ^[5] and one of three Croatian members of the Trilateral Commission.^[6] She had to resign both positions due to taking office of President of Croatia.^[7]

Early life and education

Kolinda Grabar was born on 29 April 1968 in Rijeka to Dubravka and Branko Grabar.^[8] She was raised mainly in her parents' village of Lopača just north of Rijeka, where the family owned a butcher shop and a ranch.^[8]

As a high school student, she entered a student exchange program and at 17 moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico, subsequently graduating from Los Alamos High School in 1986.^[8][9]

Upon her return to Yugoslavia, she enrolled at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, graduating in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Spanish languages and literature.^[3] From 1995 to 1996, she attended the Diploma Course at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna.^[10] In 2000 she obtained a Master's degree in international relations from the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Zagreb.^[3]

In 2002–03 she attended George Washington University as a Fulbright scholar.^[11][12] She also received a Luksic Fellowship for the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and was a visiting scholar at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.^[3]

Career

Grabar-Kitarović with Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dragan Čović.

In 1992, Grabar-Kitarović became an advisor to the international cooperation department of the Ministry of Science and Technology.^[13] In 1993 she joined the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).^[14] In the same year she moved to the foreign ministry, becoming an advisor.^[13] She became the head of the North American department of the foreign ministry in 1995 and held that post until 1997.^[13] That year she began to work at the Croatian embassy in Canada as a diplomatic councilor until October 1998, and then as a minister-councilor.^[15] She remained in Canada until 2000.

In 2001 Grabar-Kitarović became minister-councilor to the ministry of foreign affairs.^[15] Two years later, she was elected to the Croatian Parliament from the seventh electoral district as a member of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in the 2003 parliamentary elections.^[16] With the formation of the new government led by Ivo Sanader, she became Minister of European integration, which entailed the starting of negotiations for Croatia's ascension to the European Union.^[3]

In 2005 Grabar-Kitarović was nominated to become the minister of foreign affairs. She was confirmed by parliament and sworn in on 17 February 2005.^[13] Her main task as foreign minister was to guide Croatia into the European Union and NATO.^[3]

Following the November 2007 parliamentary election, she was succeeded as foreign minister by Gordan Jandroković in January 2008.^[17] She was invited to join the Trilateral Commission and became an official member in April 2013.^[18]

Presidential candidacy

Croatian daily newspaper Jutarnji List published an article in September 2012 stating that Grabar-Kitarović was being considered as a possible candidate for the 2014–15 Croatian presidential election by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).^[19][20] It was confirmed in mid-2014 that she was to become the party's official candidate, going up against incumbent Ivo Josipović and newcomers Ivan Vilibor Sinčić and Milan Kujundžić.^[21] In the first round of election in December 2014 Grabar-Kitarovic won 37.2% of the vote, second to Josipović who received 38.5%, while Sinčić and Kujundžić won 16.4% and 6.3% of the vote respectively.^[22] Since no candidate received more than 50% of the vote, a run-off election was scheduled between the top two candidates, Josipović and Grabar-Kitarović, in two weeks time.

The run-off took place on 11 January 2015, with Grabar-Kitarović winning 50.7% of the vote.^[23] She became Croatia's first female president-elect.^[24] She was ceremonially sworn into office on 15 February,^[25] and assumed office officially on 19 February 2015.^[26]

Personal life

Grabar-Kitarović has been married to her husband Jakov Kitarović since 1996 and they have two children: Katarina (born c. 2001) and Luka (born c. 2003).^[27][28] She speaks Croatian, English, Spanish and Portuguese fluently and has basic understanding of German, French, and Italian.^[3][13]

References

External links

• Media related to Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović at Wikimedia Commons
• Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović presidential candidacy page

Presidents of Croatia Presidents of the Presidium of the Parliamenta (1943–1953) Vladimir Nazor Karlo-Gašpar Mrazović Vicko Krstulović Speakers of Parliamentb (1953–1974) Zlatan Sremec Vladimir Bakarić Ivan Krajačić Jakov Blažević Ivo Perišin Presidents of the Presidency (1974–1991) Jakov Blažević Marijan Cvetković Milutin Baltić Jakša Petrić Pero Car Ema Derossi-Bjelajac Ante Marković Ivo Latin Franjo Tuđman Presidents (since 1991) Franjo Tuđman Vlatko Pavletić (acting) Zlatko Tomčić (acting) Stjepan Mesić Ivo Josipović Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović a The President of the Presidium of the Parliament was the office of the head of state 1946-1953, the office of the Speaker was separate; b Speakers of the Parliament were the formal heads of state of Croatia between 1953 and 1974.