Mladen Ivanić

Mladen Ivanić (Serbian Cyrillic: Младен Иванић, pronounced [mlâden ǐʋanit͡ɕ]; born 16 September 1958)[1] is a Bosnian Serb politician who served as the 6th Serb Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 17 November 2014 until 20 November 2018. He is the founder, member and former president of the Party of Democratic Progress.

Mladen Ivanić
15th Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
In office
17 November 2016 – 17 July 2017
Preceded byBakir Izetbegović
Succeeded byDragan Čović
In office
17 November 2014 – 17 July 2015
Preceded byBakir Izetbegović
Succeeded byDragan Čović
6th Serb Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
In office
17 November 2014 – 20 November 2018
Prime MinisterDenis Zvizdić
Preceded byNebojša Radmanović
Succeeded byMilorad Dodik
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
23 December 2002 – 11 January 2007
Prime MinisterAdnan Terzić
Preceded byZlatko Lagumdžija
Succeeded bySven Alkalaj
7th Prime Minister of Republika Srpska
In office
16 January 2001 – 17 January 2003
PresidentMirko Šarović
Dragan Čavić
Preceded byMilorad Dodik
Succeeded byDragan Mikerević
Additional positions
President of the Party of Democratic Progress
In office
26 September 1999 – 28 November 2015
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byBranislav Borenović
Personal details
Born (1958-09-16) 16 September 1958
Sanski Most, PR Bosnia and Herzegovina, FPR Yugoslavia
NationalityBosnian Serb
Political partyParty of Democratic Progress (1999–present)
SpouseGordana Ivanić
Children2
Alma materUniversity of Banja Luka
University of Belgrade

Ivanić also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 23 December 2002 until 11 January 2007. He was the 7th Prime Minister of Republika Srpska as well.

Early life and education

Born in Sanski Most, Ivanić has lived in Banja Luka since 1971, earning his university diploma in economics there. He then received a doctorate in Belgrade; the thesis was titled Contemporary Marxist political economy in the West. He undertook post-Doctoral studies at the University of Mannheim and the University of Glasgow. Upon completion of his studies, he worked as a journalist. From 1985 to 1988, he lectured in Political economy at the Faculty of Economics in Banja Luka, and later also in Sarajevo and Glasgow.

Early political career

Ivanić's political career began in 1988, when he became a member of the Presidency of SR Bosnia and Herzegovina during Yugoslav Socialist times.

From 2001 until 2003, he was Prime Minister of Republika Srpska, one of Bosnia and Herzegovina's two entities. He also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, succeeding Zlatko Lagumdžija on the post, and as such was a member of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (i.e. the national government). In turn, he was succeeded on the post in 2007 by Sven Alkalaj.[2] Ivanić is a founding member of the center-right Bosnian Serb Party of Democratic Progress (PDP) and was its President from 1999 to 2015.

Presidency (2014–2018)
Ivanić speaking at an EPP Congress in Malta, 29 March 2017

At the 2014 general election, held on 12 October, Ivanić was elected as the Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, narrowly beating Alliance of Independent Social Democrats' (SNSD) candidate, the Republika Srpska Prime Minister Željka Cvijanović. His victory marked the first time since the Dayton Agreement that a Serb member of the Presidency received the highest number of votes in the country, out of the three elected members. He was then Chairman of the Presidency (head of state) from 17 November 2014 until 17 July 2015 and again from 17 November 2016 until 17 July 2017.

On 7 June 2015, Ivanić met with Pope Francis in Sarajevo, as part of the Popes's 2015 papal visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina.[3]

In March 2017, he visited Jerusalem and met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.[4] While in Jerusalem, Ivanić talked about the Jewish community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, saying that "the community should not expect property expropriated during the Holocaust in Bosnia to be given back or to be compensated for its seizure. A restitution law had at one time been created in Bosnia, but fell by the wayside because the process would be too complicated. The seized properties were taken over by the Yugoslav Communists after the war, then privatised, while some of them have been demolished or replaced." Ivanić further insisted that he would restore the property or give compensation if he could, but that the matter was not in his hands.[5]

At the 2018 general election, held on 7 October, Ivanić lost his bid for re-election to the Bosnian Presidency to SNSD's leader and Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik.[6][7]

Attitudes towards the European Union and the Republika Srpska referendum
See also: 2016 Republika Srpska National Day referendum

Ivanić advocated Bosnia and Herzegovina's accession to the European Union. In an interview with web portal European Western Balkans in January 2016, he stated that "by joining the EU, Bosnia and Herzegovina would receive rules that were developed by a third party, and thus internal differences would become less important. It is also a good economic space." Ivanić mentioned the slowness of the Bosnian authorities in making decisions as possible difficulties that the country could face, and pointed out that this is why reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina is needed.[8][9]

Regarding the Republika Srpska National Day referendum announced by Milorad Dodik regarding the legislation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ivanić stated:

I believe that Republika Srpska has the right to the referendum, that is the first and very important thing. Another thing, I think that the judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not good, that it was under huge political influence and that objectively that influence was expressed by international representatives. I think that the judiciary was a mechanism of political action of international representatives in Bosnia and that it did not prove to be good at all. But, I am not in favor of organizing the referendum at this moment. I don't think the referendum will produce a solution. We know the results of the referendum. If it happens, over 90% of the citizens of Republika Srpska will say that they do not accept the imposed decisions of the High Representative, that is the question, and especially not the decision on the formation of the court and the prosecutor's office. My key question is: What happens the day after? Since the government did not say what follows after that, because it does not have any concept and vision of what the next steps are, I cannot be the one to promote the referendum.[8][9]

Personal life

Mladen is married to Gordana Ivanić, and together they have two children.[10] They live in Banja Luka.

He is fluent in English.[11]

References
  1. Profile page Archived 30 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine at the Council of Europe
  2. Bosnian ministries, etc. at Rulers.org
  3. Smith-Spark, Laura; Robertson, Nick; Karimi, Faith (7 June 2015). "Pope Francis urges peace on visit to Sarajevo, 'Jerusalem of Europe'". Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  4. "Predsjedavajući Predsjedništva BiH dr. Mladen Ivanić razgovarao u Jerusalemu s predsjednikom Vlade Izraela Benjaminom Netanyahuom i ministrom odbrane Izraela Avigdorom Liebermanom". predsjednistvobih.ba (in Bosnian). 15 March 2017. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  5. Eleanor Rose (15 March 2017). "'Compensation Unlikely' for Bosnian Jews' Seized Property". balkaninsight.com. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  6. ksl.com
  7. couriermail.com
  8. "Ivanić: EU sigurno nije potreban nestabilan Balkan". N1. 28 January 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  9. "EWB Interview: Mladen Ivanić, Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina". European Western Balkans. 28 January 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  10. "The President of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mladen Ivanic and his wife..." Getty Images.
  11. "Money Talks: Bosnian Economy" – via www.youtube.com.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mladen Ivanić.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.