Andrej Plenković

Andrej Plenković

Andrej Plenković in 2015
Member of the European Parliament for Croatia
Assumed office
2013
Member of the Sabor
In office
2011–2013
Personal details
Born (1970-04-08) 8 April 1970
Zagreb
Political party  Croatian:
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ)
 EU:
European People's Party (EPP)
Profession Lawyer, diplomat
Religion Roman Catholic
Awards Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class
Website http://www.andrejplenkovic.com/

Andrej Plenković (born 8 April 1970 in Zagreb) is a lawyer, diplomat and a Croatian Democratic Union politician. After Croatia's accession to the European Union in 2013, he was elected as one of the first twelve Croatian members of the European Parliament.[1] Following his graduation from the University of Zagreb's faculty of law in 1993, Plenković held various positions in the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. After completing a postgraduate degree in 2002, he served as deputy chief of Croatia's mission to the EU. Between 2005 and 2010, he was Croatia's deputy ambassador to France, before leaving the post to become Secretary of State for European Integration. He was subsequently elected to the Croatian Parliament in 2011.[2]

Education and early career

Plenković started his law degree in 1988 and graduated in 1993 at the Law Faculty, University of Zagreb. His dissertation was entitled "Institution of European Community and the decision making process" at the Department of International Public Law under Professor Nina Vajic, former Judge of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

During university, Plenković worked as a volunteer translator in the observing mission of the European Community in Croatia from 1991 to 1992. At the beginning of the 1990s, he became interested in Europe and actively participated in European Law Students Association (ELSA) of which he was President of ELSA Zagreb in 1991, the first President of ELSA Croatia in 1992 and President of the International ELSA committee, situated in Brussels. During that time Plenković participated in numerous conferences throughout Europe and the USA as well as organising numerous symposiums in Croatia. As a student, he interned in the London law firm Stephenson Harwood in 1992 and following this, an internship in the European People's Party in the European Parliament (as a part of Robert Schuman Foundation program). He also worked in the Croatian mission for the European Community in 1993 and 1994 which was then chaired by Ambassdor Ante Čičin-Šain.

In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Plenković completed a programme to become a diplomat and in 1992, passed the consultation exam at the diplomatic academy. Plenković passed the Bar in 2002. At the Law Faculty in the University of Zagreb, he finished his Masters in International Public and Private Law and got the title of Master of Science in 2002 by defending his Masters thesis by the title of "Subjectivity of EU and development of the common foreign and security policy" under the tutorage of professor Budislav Vukas, judge of International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg.

Plenković speaks Croatian, English, French and Italian fluently and is conservant in German.[3]

Diplomatic career

From 1994 to 2002 Plenković worked at different positions within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Inter alia, as a Chief of the Department of European integration, Adviser of Minister for European Affairs, Member of the negotiation team on the Treaty on Stabilisation and Accession.

From 2002 to 2005, Plenković was a deputy chief of Croatian Mission for the EU in Brussels. He was in charge of the coordination of political activities of the Mission and he worked on networking with the officials of the European Commission, Council, European Parliament and other permanent representations of various Member States. He was working on Croatian application for membership in the European Union in 2002. and in 2003, making pressure for the status of candidate country in 2004. and for the opening of the accession negotiations in 2005.

From 2005 to 2010, Plenković was serving as the deputy ambassador in France where he was in charge of political and organizational issues. During his diplomatic career, Plenković participated in numerous symposiums, seminars and programs on international and European law, international, foreign relations and foreign policy and management.

State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2010–2011

Appointed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Gordan Jandrokovic, Plenković worked as a State Secretary for European Integration during the Government of Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor. He had a prominent role in the campaign for a referendum on EU membership. Together With numerous media appearances, Plenković held dozens of lectures on joining the European Union in all Croatian counties.

As a State Secretary, Plenković also performed the duties of the political director for EU Affairs, co-chair of the Stabilisation and Association Croatia-EU, national coordinator for the Danube Strategy of the European Union and co-chairman of the duties of the international commissions (Bavaria-Croatia, Croatia-Baden-Württemberg, Croatia-Flanders). He was on a board member of the Foundation for Civil Society Development, President of the Organizing Committee of the Croatia Summit in 2010 and 2011 and Secretary of the Organizing Committee of the pastoral visit of the Pope Benedict XVI in 2011.[3]

Political engagement

Member of the Croatian Parliament, 2011–2013

In 2011, after seventeen years of professional work in diplomacy, Plenković joined the Croatian Democratic Union. From December 2011 to July 2013 he was a Croatian Democratic Union member in the Croatian Parliament. He was elected in the VII. electoral district. Plenković was also a deputy member of delegation of the Croatian Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM), and a member of a group of friendship with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, France, Malta and Morocco.[4] Prior to the referendum, Plenković held series of lectures on the European union at the party rallies across Croatia and participated in numerous public debates, TV and radio shows. He is a member of the HDZ Central committee, City committee Zagreb, Regional committee Črnomerec, basic branch Jelenovac and the Committee for Foreign and European affairs.

Member of the European Parliament, 2013–present

By decision of the Croatian Parliament from April 2012 until July 2013 Plenković was one of the 12 Croatian observers in the European Parliament. In his capacity as an observer member in the European Parliament, he supported the completion of the ratification process of the Treaty on Croatian accession to the European Union, the positive reports and resolutions on Croatia and the appropriate allocation of EU funds to Croatia in the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020.

As a HDZ candidate on the joint list for the first Croatian elections to the European Parliament, which were held on 14 April 2013, he actively participated in the election campaign. He participated in the drafting of the HDZ programme for the European elections, “a Croatian voice in Europe”, adopted by the presidency of the party led by President Tomislav Karamarko. The program has been based on the main principles of the Platform of the European People's Party and its program documents, as well as the priorities of Croatia in the European Union from the perspective of the HDZ.[3] He was elected to the winning coalition list, where he received the highest number of preferential votes among the HDZ candidates.[5]

Between 2013 and 2014, Plenković was a member of the Committee on Budgets. Since 2014, he has been serving as vice-chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and a member of the parliament's delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. He led the parliament’s monitoring mission during the Ukrainian parliamentary elections in 2014.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Profile European Parliament
  2. ↑ "Andrej Plenković, životopis" (in Croatian). 8 April 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 Andrej Plenković – About me
  4. ↑ Hrvatski sabor - Andrej Plenković
  5. ↑ Results of European elections 2013
  6. ↑ Jeanette Minns (October 9, 2014), Parliament’s mission to Ukrainian elections European Voice.

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