Dragan Äilas
Dragan Äilas | |
---|---|
72nd Mayor of Belgrade | |
In office 19 August 2008 ā 18 November 2013 | |
Deputy |
Milan KrkobabiÄ Tatjana PaÅ”iÄ |
Preceded by |
Nenad BogdanoviÄ Zoran AlimpiÄ (Acting) Branislav BeliÄ (Acting) |
Succeeded by | SiniŔa Mali |
Minister without portfolio in charge of the National Investment Plan | |
In office 15 May 2007 ā 7 July 2008 | |
Prime Minister | Vojislav KoŔtunica |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Verica KalanoviÄ |
Director of the People's Office of the President | |
In office 11 July 2004 ā 15 May 2007 | |
President | Boris TadiÄ |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Tatjana PaÅ”iÄ |
Personal details | |
Born |
Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia | 22 February 1967
Political party | Democratic Party |
Spouse(s) |
Milica DeleviÄ (1994ā2007) Iva PeleviÄ (2009ā2013) |
Children |
Sofija Jovana Ana Vuk |
Alma mater | University of Belgrade |
Religion | Serbian Orthodoxy |
Signature |
Dragan Äilas (Serbian Cyrillic: ŠŃŠ°Š³Š°Š½ ŠŠøŠ»Š°Ń, pronounced [drĒÉ”an dĶ”ŹĆ®laĖs], born 22 February 1967 in Belgrade, Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Serbian politician and businessman who was the Mayor of Belgrade.
From 25 November 2012[1] until 31 May 2014, he served as the President of the Demokratska Stranka (DS), the nation's main opposition party.
As a member of the Democratic Party (DS), Äilas has been the mayor of the Serbian capital city since 2008. He served as the Minister without Portfolio in charge of the National Investment Plan in the 2007-2008 Cabinet of Serbia and prior to that as the director of the People's Office of the President between 2004 and 2007.
On 18 April 2011 Äilas became the President of Basketball Federation of Serbia (KSS).
Early career
Äilas graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in the aerospace engineering program.
He worked as journalist at Radio Index. On 15 May 1989, part of Radio Index merged with Ritam Srca radio programme thus forming Radio B92, meaning that Äilas was one of the new station's founders. He soon became a news editor at the station.
Simultaneously, Äilas was active in opposing the rule of Slobodan MiloÅ”eviÄ, leading the student protests in 1991 and 1992. On 19 March 1991, only ten days following the violent March 9th Protest that claimed two lives and the ensuing student clashes with the police, MiloÅ”eviÄ (at that time the President of Serbia) came to the University of Belgrade in order to face the students where student leader Äilas got a chance to address him in an uncomfortable encounter recorded by the TV cameras.[2] Later, Äilas was part of an official student delegation that MiloÅ”eviÄ received. As a student leader/activist, in June 1992, Äilas appeared on RTS interview programme Razgovor s povodom thus getting 50 minutes of air time on state television, which he used to further criticize MiloÅ”eviÄ's policies. All throughout this period Äilas continuously received offers from two largest opposition parties at that time, the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) and the Democratic Party (DS) to join their ranks, but he refused.
In the coming years, he continued to actively participate in various anti-MiloÅ”eviÄ rallies between 1996 and 2000, although by now his activism took a back seat to his budding business career in the mass media market.
Business career
Since the mid-1990s, Äilas is very active in the Serbian media market. After completion of the journalistic career has entered into marketing business as media director at the agency "Saatchi & Saatchi". He then went to Prague, and there with a few friends opened company in 1995. He began his first business in Belgrade 1998.
He has a minority stake in a limited-liability company called Multikom Group whose ownership is dividid between Äilas (25%), Dragoslav IliÄ (42%), Milica DeleviÄ (25%) and NebojÅ”a GariÄ (8%).[3]
The company is also active in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Montenegro.
Since 2001, Äilas co-owns (through Multikom Group) a closed joint stock company called Direct Media,[4] a media company that sells advertising space in various Serbian electronic media outlets. The company also offers ad rights in large sporting events such as the World Cup, Olympics, and World Basketball Championships.
Political career
Even though he was politically active in various forms since his early youth, Äilas officially entered politics in 2004 when he joined the Democratic Party (DS).
People's Office
On October 1, 2004 Äilas became the director of the People's Office, instituted by the newly elected President of Serbia Boris TadiÄ. The creation of People's Office was one of TadiÄ's election promises at the June 2004 presidential elections. Äilas stayed in the position until May 2007 when the new Government of Serbia was finally formed by the DS and the DSS-NS coalition almost 5 months after January 2007 parliamentary election. He became the Minister without Portfolio in charge of the National Investment Plan (NIP).
Minister without Portfolio in charge of NIP
His tenure, however, was short-lived since the government fell in February 2008 following the declaration of independence of Kosovo.
Äilas' time in office was marked by frequent vicious clashes with the government colleague Minister for Capital Investment Velimir IliÄ. The two already had history[5] of public feuding when they became part of the same cabinet in May 2007. It didn't take long for their feud to reignite and in October 2007 things boiled over when IliÄ placed an angry, obscenity-laced phone call to Äilas' office, the transcript of which ended up in Serbian media.[6]
Mayor of Belgrade
On 19 August 2008, Äilas was sworn in as the new Mayor of Belgrade.
During the 2008 Belgrade mayoral election campaign, Äilas was often denounced as a "tycoon" by the Liberal Democratic Party due to his amassed personal wealth. There was even a wall-spraying campaign with the phrase "Äilas Tajkun" written on various buildings around Belgrade. However, the party denied any link with the sprayed writings.
He was dismissed as mayor on 18 November 2013 and SiniŔa Mali was appointed as President of the Temporary Council of Belgrade.
Personal life and other endeavours
Äilas is the founder and vice president of NaÅ”a Srbija humanitarian organisation for Serbian children who were left without one or both parents in the wars in the former Yugoslavia.
He divorced in 2007. He was married to Milica DeleviÄ from 1994, who is also politically active. From fall 2003 until mid-August 2004 she headed the Office for Cooperation with the European Union under the Council of Ministers. Then from 2007 until 2008, she was the deputy to Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk JeremiÄ. From November 2008, she is heading the Office for European Integration in the Serbian Government. They have two daughters together, Sofija and Jovana.
In September 2009, 42-year-old Äilas married the 28-year-old doctor Iva PeleviÄ in a low-key civic ceremony. A year later they had a church wedding.[7] They have a daughter named Ana and a son named Vuk. In 2013 they divorced.[8]
See also
References
- ā Belgrade Mayor is new leader of opposition DS, B92, November 26, 2012
- ā Äilas vs. Sloba, March 19, 1991
- ā Multikom Group d.o.o.
- ā Direct Media a.d.
- ā Ministar kapitalni opet napada, B92, November 8, 2005
- ā Velja IliÄ prostaÄki izvreÄao Ćilasa i sekretaricu, Blic, October 6, 2007
- ā Dragan Äilas posle godinu dana u braku, rekao svojoj ženi ādaā i u crkvi!
- ā Razvodi poznatih koji su obeležili 2013. godinu
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dragan Äilas. |
Civic offices | ||
---|---|---|
New title | Director of the People's Office of the President 2004ā2007 |
Succeeded by Tatjana PaÅ”iÄ |
Political offices | ||
New title | Minister without portfolio in charge of the National Investment Plan 2007ā2008 |
Succeeded by Verica KalanoviÄ |
Preceded by Branislav BeliÄ Acting |
Mayor of Belgrade 2008ā2013 |
Succeeded by SiniŔa Mali |
Party political offices | ||
Preceded by Boris TadiÄ |
President of the Democratic Party 2012ā2014 |
Succeeded by Bojan PajtiÄ |
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