| Stjepan Mesić | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 18 February 2000 |
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| Prime Minister | Ivica Račan Ivo Sanader Jadranka Kosor |
| Preceded by | Zlatko Tomčić (Acting) |
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16th President of SFR Yugoslavia
President of the Presidency of SFR Yugoslavia |
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| In office 30 June 1991 – 6 December 1991 |
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| Prime Minister | Ante Marković |
| Preceded by | Sejdo Bajramović (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Branko Kostić (Acting) |
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| In office 30 May 1990 – 24 August 1990 |
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| President | Franjo Tuđman |
| Preceded by | Antun Milanović (as President of the Executive Council) |
| Succeeded by | Josip Manolić |
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| In office 30 June 1991 – 6 December 1991 |
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| Preceded by | Borisav Jović |
| Succeeded by | Branko Kostić |
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2nd President of Croatian Parliament
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| In office 7 September 1992 – 24 May 1994 |
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| Preceded by | Žarko Domljan |
| Succeeded by | Nedjeljko Mihanović |
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| Born | 24 December 1934 Orahovica, Yugoslavia (now Croatia) |
| Nationality | Croatian |
| Political party | Currently: President of Croatia cannot be a member of any political party[1] Formerly: League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ) Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) Croatian Independent Democrats (HND) Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats (HNS) |
| Spouse(s) | Milka Dudundić |
| Alma mater | University of Zagreb |
| Occupation | Judge Manager |
| Religion | Agnostic [2] |
Stjepan "Stipe" Mesić (Croatian pronunciation: ['stjɛpa:n 'mɛ:sitɕ]) (born December 24, 1934) is a Croatian politician and current President of Croatia since 2000. He had previously held the posts of the Prime Minister of Croatia, President of the Croatian Parliament, Mayor of Orahovica, the final president of SFR Yugoslavia, Secretary General of Non-Aligned Movement, and judge in Našice.[3]
Mesić was a deputy in the Croatian Parliament in the 1960s, and was then absent from politics until 1990 when he joined the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), and was named the Prime Minister after HDZ won in the elections. He was elected as the Croatian member of the Yugoslav Federal Presidency where he served first as Vice President and then in 1991 as the last President of SFR Yugoslavia.
After Yugoslavia disintegrated, Mesić served as President of the Croatian Parliament from 1992 to 1994, when he left HDZ over disagreements about Croatian policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. With several other members of parliament, he formed a new party - Croatian Independent Democrats (HND). In 1997 the majority of HND members, including Mesić, merged into the Croatian People's Party (HNS).
After Franjo Tuđman died in December 1999, he was elected in two rounds the President of the Republic of Croatia in February 2000. He was re-elected in January 2005 for a second term. As an opposition of Tuđman's personality, relaxed and charming Mesić has many times been voted as the most popular politician in Croatia.[4][5][6][7]
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Early life
Stjepan, commonly shortened to Stipe, was born in Orahovica, Kingdom of Yugoslavia to Josip and Magdalena "Mandica" Mesić. After his mother died in 1936, his older sister was sent to their uncle in France, while Stjepan was put in the care of his grandmother Marija until his father was remarried (to Mileva Jović).
The Mesić family spent most of the Second World War in refuges in Mount Papuk and Orahovica when it was occasionally liberated. In 1945, the family took refuge from the final fighting of the war in Hungary, along with 10,000 other refugees, and subsequently settled in Našice, where Josip Mesić became the chairman of the District council. The family soon moved to Osijek, where Stipe graduated from 4-year elementary school and finished two years of 8-year gymnasium. In 1949, his father was reassigned back to Orahovica, and Stipe continued his education at the gymnasium in Požega. He graduated in 1955 and, as an exemplary student, was admitted to the League of Communists of Yugoslavia.
He continued his studies at the Law Faculty at the University of Zagreb, where he graduated in 1961. Also in 1961, Mesić married Milka Dudundić, an ethnic Ukrainian[8] from Hrvatska Kostajnica, with whom he has two daughters. After graduation, he worked as an intern at the municipal court in Orahovica and the public attorney's office at Našice. He served his compulsory military service in Bileća and Niš, becoming a reserve officer.
Early career
After passing the judicial examination, he was appointed a municipal judge, but soon became embroiled in a scandal when he publicly denounced local politicians for using official vehicles for private purposes. He was nearly expelled from the party over the incident and in 1964 he moved to Zagreb to work as a manager for the company "Univerzal".
In 1966, he ran as an independent candidate in the election for his municipal council, and defeated two other candidates, one from the Communist Party and the other from the Socialist Union of Working People. In 1967, he became the mayor of Orahovica and a member of the Parliament of SR Croatia.
As mayor, Mesić attempted the building of a private factory in the town, the first private factory in Yugoslavia. However, this was personally denounced by Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito as an attempt to silently introduce capitalism, which was illegal according to the then-current constitution.
Croatian spring
In 1967, when a group of Croatian intellectuals published the now-famous "Declaration" about the Croatian language, Mesić publicly denounced it as a diversionary attack against the very foundations of Yugoslavia and called for its authors to be prosecuted by law. However, in the 1970s, Mesić supported the nationalist Croatian Spring movement which called for Croatian equality within the Yugoslav Federation on economic, political and cultural level. The government indicted him for "acts of enemy propaganda". The initial trial lasted three days in which 55 witnesses testified, only five against him, but he was sentenced to 20 years in jail on charges that he was a member of Croatian terrorist group[9]. He appealed and the trial was prolonged, but eventually in 1975 he was incarcerated for one year, and served his sentence at the Stara Gradiška prison.
Return to politics
He was elected again in 1990 as a candidate of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in the first multi-party elections in Croatia after World War II. He became the general secretary of HDZ and later the Prime Minister of Croatia and served from May until August 1990. He then resigned to take the post in the Yugoslav Federal Presidency where he served first as Vice-President.
Presidents rotated annually according to republic-province key automatically. When Mesić's turn came to automatically become the President on May 15, 1991, the Serbian incumbent Member Borisav Jović demanded, against all constitutional rules, that an election be held. The members from Serbia and its provinces voted against, and the member from Montenegro abstained, leaving Mesić one vote short of majority [1]. Under pressure from the international community after the Ten-Day War in Slovenia, Mesić was eventually appointed but [2].
When Croatia declared its complete independence, he returned to Croatia and resigned from the Presidency. In 1992, he was elected to Parliament and became the President of the Parliament.
In 1994, Mesić left the HDZ to form a new party, the Croatian Independent Democrats (Hrvatski Nezavisni Demokrati, HND). He opposed the government policy toward Bosnia and Herzegovina, accusing Franjo Tuđman of agreeing to carve Bosnia and Herzegovina with Slobodan Milošević. He also criticized privatization during war and unresolved privatization criminality as war profiteering.
In 1997, he and the majority of his party merged into the Croatian People's Party ("Hrvatska Narodna Stranka" or HNS), where Mesić became an executive vice-president.
Presidency of Croatia
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The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (November 2009) |
He was elected President of the Republic of Croatia in the 2000 election after winning the first round and defeating Dražen Budiša of HSLS in the second round. Mesić ran as the joint candidate of the HNS, HSS, LS and IDS. He received 41% of the vote in the first round and 56% in the second round. After becoming president, he stepped down from membership in the HNS.
He heavily criticized former President Franjo Tuđman's policies as nationalistic and authoritarian, lacking a free media and employing bad economics, while Mesić favored a more liberal approach to opening the Croatian economy to foreign investment.
As President, in September 2000 he retired seven Croatian active generals who had written two open letters to the public arguing that the current Government administration "is campaigning to criminalize Homeland War and that the Government is accusing and neglecting the Croatian Army". Mesić held that active duty officers could not write public political letters without approval of their Commander-in-Chief. Opposition parties condemned the President's decision as being a dangerous decision that could harm Croatian national security. Mesić later retired four more generals for similar reasons.
President Mesić is active in foreign policy, promoting Croatia's ambition to become a member of the European Union and NATO. He also initiated mutual apologies for possible war crimes with the President of Serbia and Montenegro. After Constitutional amendments in September 2000, he was deprived of most of his roles in domestic policy-making, which instead passed wholly to the Croatian Government and its Premier.
Mesić testified at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia that implicated the Croatian army in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The right-wing parts of the Croatian public took issue with this, saying that his testimony contained untrue statements and questioned his motives (he was often branded "traitor"), and noting that much of his testimony occurred before his presidency, as an opposition politician.
He opposed the U.S.'s military campaign against Iraq and Saddam Hussein's regime without United Nations approval and mandate. Immediately after U.S. attacked Iraq on 20 March 2003, Mesić accused U.S. that by attacking Iraq they marginalise UN, induces divisions in EU, cools down relationships with their allies, disturbs foundations of international order and induces crisis which could spill over borders of Iraq.[10]
Mesić improved Croatian foreign relations with Libya by exchanging visits with the Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, contrary to the wishes of U.S. and British diplomacy.[11]
The first Mesić mandate was not marked with historically crucial events such as the Tuđman presidency, and the Croatian public shifted in political orientation (HDZ partly lost in popularity, mostly to leftist parties).
When the Government changed hands in late 2003, problems were expected between the leftist President and a Government with rightist members, but Mesić handled the situation gracefully and there were few notable problems in this regard.
He served his first 5-year term until February 2005. In the 2005 election, Mesić was a candidate supported by eight political parties and won almost one half of votes, but was denied the absolute majority by a few percent. Mesić faced off with Jadranka Kosor in the second round of the elections and won. He will serve his second 5-year term until 2010.
Lawsuits
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The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (November 2009) |
In 2006, Mesić told the Croatian press that Croatian-French lawyer Ivan Jurasinović should visit the psychiatric clinic at Vrapče, after Jurasinović filed charges for Marin Tomulić against Marko Nikolić and others for attempted murder. Jurasinović subsequently launched a civil suit against Mesić which found the president guilty of using his position to attempt to discredit and slander him. Mesić was ordered to compensate Jurasinović 70,000 kuna.[12]
In April, 2008 Josip Kokić petitioned the Croatian Constitutional Court to remove the president's legal immunity, so that he could sue him. The court decided against removing the immunity.[13] Ivan Jurasinović launched another appeal to remove the immunity in November, 2008.[14]
In 2008, former Constitutional Court judge Vice Vukojević launched a case against Mesić, alleging that he embezzled money along with Vladimir Sokolić under the guise of purchasing vehicles for the Croatian Army in 1993.[15]
References
- ^ http://narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeni/232289.html
- ^ http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/55298/zivot-bez-boga-i-vraga-u-katolickoj-hrvatskoj
- ^ http://www.moljac.hr/biografije/mesic.htm
- ^ (Croatian) Nacional: Stjepan Mesić i dalje najpopularniji političar
- ^ (Croatian) Vjesnik: Najpopularniji Mesić i HDZ, Vladi prosječno trojka
- ^ (Croatian) Vjesnik: HDZ najpopularnija stranka, Mesić najpozitivniji političar
- ^ (Croatian) Slobodna Dalmacija: Dalmacija vjeruje HDZ-u i Mesiću
- ^ (Croatian)Večernji list: Milka Mesić - deset godina prve dame (Milka Mesić - Ten years of the First Lady)
- ^ New Crisis Grips Yugoslavia Over Rotation of Leadership, The New York Times, 16 May 1991
- ^ (Croatian) Nacional weekly: Mesićeva podrška UN-u blokira ulazak Hrvatske u NATO
- ^ Nacional weekly: Following Blair's visit to Libya, Mesić insisting on trade with that country
- ^ Mesic owes 70,000 Kuna in emotional damages
- ^ Constitutional Court will not remove Mesić's immunity
- ^ Jurašinović: Tražit ću skidanje imuniteta Mesiću
- ^ Podignuta kaznena prijava protiv Mesića, Metro
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Stjepan Mesić |
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Antun Milanović as Chairman of the Executive Council of Croatia |
Prime Minister of Croatia 1990 |
Succeeded by Josip Manolić |
| Preceded by Sejdo Bajramović Acting |
President of Yugoslavia 1991 |
Succeeded by Branko Kostić Acting |
| Preceded by Zlatko Tomčić Acting |
President of Croatia 2000–present |
Incumbent |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by Sejdo Bajramović |
Secretary General of Non-Aligned Movement 1991 |
Succeeded by Branko Kostić |
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