Branko Ružić ( sr-cyr, Бранко Ружић; born 14 December 1975) is a Serbian politician serving as minister of education since 2020. A member of the

Socialist Party of Serbia The Socialist Party of Serbia ( sr, Социјалистичка партија Србије, Socijalistička partija Srbije, SPS) is a political party in Serbia. It is led by Ivica Dačić. It was founded in 1990 as the direct successor to t ...

(SPS), he previously served as

minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

in charge of

European Integration European integration is the process of industrial, economic integration, economic, political, legal, social integration, social, and cultural Regional integration, integration of states wholly or partially in Europe or nearby. European integrat ...

from 2013 to 2014, as minister of public administration and local self-government from 2017 to 2020, and as first deputy prime minister of Serbia from 2020 to 2022.

Education and career

Ružić was born on 14 December 1975 in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Socialist Republic of Serbia , life_span = 1944–1992 , status = Constituent state of Yugoslavia , p1 = Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia , flag_p1 = Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg , p2 ...

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

. He spent his childhood in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, due to his father's status as a diplomat. He graduated from the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-b ...

and served dean student of the faculty from 1996 to 1999. During the time at the University, he joined the

(SPS). From April 2000 to December 2002, he was the president of the Youth of the party. He also served as the spokesperson of the party from March 2001 to December 2002. He was an MP in the

National Assembly of Serbia The National Assembly ( sr-cyr, Народна скупштина, Narodna skupština, ) is the unicameral legislature of Serbia. The assembly is composed of 250 deputies who are proportionally elected to four-year terms by secret ballot. The as ...

from January 2001 to December 2003. From 2004 to 2006 he was an MP in National Assembly of

Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

and several other European Boards. From 2008 to 2013 he served as the president of position parliamentary group of Socialist Party of Serbia in National Assembly, as well as a member of the permanent delegation of the National Assembly of Serbia to the Parliamentary Assembly of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

, where he was a member of the Political Committee and a member of the Human Rights Committee. In September 2013, after the reconstruction of the

cabinet of Ivica Dačić The Cabinet of Ivica Dačić was elected on 27 July 2012 by a majority vote in the National Assembly. The coalition government was composed of the ''Let's Get Serbia Moving'' alliance, the SPS- PUPS- JS, and United Regions of Serbia. The Cabinet ...

, he was named the

Minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

in charge of

European integration European integration is the process of industrial, economic integration, economic, political, legal, social integration, social, and cultural Regional integration, integration of states wholly or partially in Europe or nearby. European integrat ...

and stayed on that position until 27 April 2014. In February 2017, the

Prime Minister of Serbia The prime minister of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, премијерка Србије, premijerka Srbije; masculine: премијер/premijer), officially the president of the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, председница Влад� ...

Aleksandar Vučić Aleksandar Vučić ( sr-Cyrl, Александар Вучић, ; born 5 March 1970) is a Serbian politician serving as the president of Serbia since 2017, and as the president of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) since 2012. Vučić served ...

decided to run for the

2017 Serbian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Serbia on 2 April 2017. Incumbent president Tomislav Nikolić was eligible to run for a second five-year term, but opted not to do so. Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić was elected president in the first round ...

s. He won the elections in the first round and was sworn as the

President of Serbia The president of Serbia ( sr, Председник Србије, Predsednik Srbije), officially styled as the President of the Republic ( sr, Председник Републике, Predsednik Republike) is the head of state of Serbia. The curr ...

on 31 May 2017. Weeks later, he gave mandate to

Ana Brnabić Ana Brnabić ( sr-cyr, Ана Брнабић, ; born 28 September 1975) is a Serbian politician serving as the prime minister of Serbia since 2017. She is the first woman and first openly gay person to hold the office. She entered government a ...

to form the governmental cabinet. On 29 June 2017, the cabinet of Ana Brnabić was formed, with Ružić being named the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government. Ružić was named the Minister of Education and the First Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia when the new cabinet is formed on October 28 2020. After the 2022 elections, he stopped being the First Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, but still remained the Minister of Education.

Political positions

Earlier in his career, he was as a staunch defender of

Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević (, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of ...

Personal life

Ružić and his wife Ana have two children, son Milutin and daughter Elena.

References

External links

* 1975 births Living people People from Zemun Government ministers of Serbia Socialist Party of Serbia politicians FK Partizan non-playing staff Deputy Prime Ministers of Serbia Education ministers of Serbia {{Serbia-politician-stub