Goran Rakić (, ; born 1971) is a

Kosovo Serb Kosovo Serbs are one of the ethnic groups of Kosovo. There are around 100,000 Kosovo Serbs as of 2014 and about half of them live in North Kosovo. Other Serb communities live in southern Kosovo. After Albanians, they form the largest ethnic com ...

politician who was serving as Minister for Communities and Returns in the

Government of Kosovo sr, Влада Косова / Vlada Kosova , border = , image = , caption = , date = , polity = Kosovo , address = Government Building, Pristina , leader_title = Prime Min ...

from 22 March 2021 until his resignation on 5 November 2022. Prior to this, he served as the

Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo The prime minister of the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Kryeministri i Republikës së Kosovës, sr, Премијер Републике Косова, Premijer Republike Kosova) is the head of government of Kosovo. The prime minister and the Gove ...

and as the Minister of Administration and Local Government. He is a former mayor of

North Mitrovica North Mitrovica, sr-Cyrl, Ceвepнa Митровица; sq, Mitrovica e Veriut or ''Mitrovicë Veriore'' or North Kosovska Mitrovica,, sr-Cyrl, Северна Косовска Митровица is a town and municipality located in Mitrovica ...

and the current president of the Serb List, an ethnic Serb minority political party.

Early life

Goran Rakić was born in 1971 in

Titova Mitrovica Mitrovica ( sq-definite, Mitrovicë; sr-cyrl, Митровица) or Kosovska Mitrovica ( sr-cyrl, Косовска Митровица) is a city and municipality located in Kosovo. Settled on the banks of Ibar and Sitnica rivers, the city is t ...

(Kosovska Mitrovica / Mitrovica), which was then a part of the

SFR 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 ...

, to an ethnic

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

family. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics, University of Priština. He was employed as the director of JKP "Standard" Kosovska Mitrovica, and before that in the Fire Station Kosovska Mitrovica.

Political career

He has been performing the function of the mayor of the municipality of

after swearing an oath to the

Republic of Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a international recognition of Kosovo, partiall ...

in 2014. He won his second four-year term in 2017 Kosovan local elections. Since 2017, Rakic has been the president of the Serb List, which has power in all ten Serb-majority municipalities, as well as all ten guaranteed seats in the

Assembly of Kosovo The Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Kuvendi i Republikës së Kosovës; sr, Скупштина Републике Косово, Skupština Republike Kosovo) is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Kosovo that is directly electe ...

for the

community. He is also the president of the municipality board of the

Serbian Progressive Party The Serbian Progressive Party ( sr-cyrl, Српска напредна странка, Srpska napredna stranka, SNS) has been the ruling political party of Serbia since 2012. Founded by Tomislav Nikolić and Aleksandar Vučić in 2008 as a s ...

in North Mitrovica. In the summer of 2017, Rakić and Milan Radoičić, a vice president of the Serb List met with

Behgjet Pacolli Behgjet Isa Pacolli ; sh, Behđet Isa Pacoli. (born 30 August 1951) is a Kosovar Albanian politician and businessman who served as the first deputy prime minister of Kosovo and minister of foreign affairs from 2017 to 2019 under the Ramush Harad ...

, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo in

Budva Budva ( cnr, Будва, or ) is a Montenegrin town on the Adriatic Sea. It has 19,218 inhabitants, and it is the centre of Budva Municipality. The coastal area around Budva, called the Budva riviera, is the center of Montenegrin tourism, kno ...

to discuss the possibility of the Serb List joining the government of Kosovo and supporting

Ramush Haradinaj Ramush Haradinaj (; born 3 July 1968) is a Kosovo Albanian politician, leader of the AAK party, and the third prime minister of Kosovo. He is a former officer and leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), and previously served as Prime Minister ...

as the prime minister. In January 2019, he said that Serbs will never allow the reunification of North and South Mitrovica as that would be a cover for ethnic cleansing against the Kosovo Serbs. On 3 June 2020, he took the office of one of the

Deputy Prime Ministers A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...

and the Minister of Administration and Local Government in the Hoti cabinet. In July 2020, Serb List caused a controversy in Kosovo by announcing that they will support Serbia's

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

curfew measures and have vowed to locally implement them in Kosovo. They also vowed to support

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 ...

in the “fight” for Kosovo during the dialogue. Shortly after, a parliamentary resolution initiated by

Vjosa Osmani Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu (born 17 May 1982) is a Kosovar Albanian jurist and politician serving as the 5th and current President of Kosovo since 4 April 2021. Born in former Yugoslavia and raised in the city then known as Titova Mitrovica, today the ...

, the Speaker of the Parliament, condemning a statement by the Serb List failed to pass. On 27 July 2020, Serbian Anti-Corruption Agency started an investigation against Rakić and other high ranking Serb officials in Kosovo due to the suspicion that they violated the law because they did not report their property and income to the Anti-Corruption Agency. On 22 March 2021, Rakić took office of the Minister for Communities and Returns in the

second Kurti cabinet The Second Kurti cabinet was formed in Kosovo on 22 March 2021 following a deal between the political parties Vetëvendosje, Guxo, Progressive Democratic Party, New Democratic Initiative of Kosovo, Turkish Democratic Party of Kosovo and New Dem ...

. He announced his resignation from this position on 5 November 2022.

Personal life

He is married and has two children.

References

External links

Српска листа - Косово и Метохија - Званични сајт
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rakic, Goran 1971 births Living people Politicians from Mitrovica, Kosovo Deputy Prime Ministers of Kosovo Kosovo Serbs Kosovan politicians Serbian politicians Serbian Progressive Party politicians Government ministers of Kosovo Mayors of places in Serbia Mayors of places in Kosovo