Tomislav Tolušić (born 12 February 1979) is a Croatian politician who last worked as the 14th

Minister of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

since 19 October 2016 and

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

for the Economy. He had previously served as Prefect of the

Virovitica-Podravina County Virovitica-Podravina County (; ; ) is a northern Slavonian county in Croatia. Its county seat is in Virovitica and it includes the area around the Drava river, Podravina being the Drava's drainage basin. Other notable towns are Slatina and ...

between 2008 and 2016 and 4th Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds during 2016.

Early life and education

Tomislav Tolušić was born on 12 February 1979 in

Virovitica Virovitica () is a Croatian city near the Hungary, Hungarian border. It is situated near the Drava river and belongs to the historic region of Slavonia. Virovitica has a population of 14,688, with 21,291 people in the municipality (census 2011). I ...

. After finishing elementary and high school in his hometown, he enrolled in Zagreb Faculty of Law from which he graduated in 2003. In 2010, he enrolled in the postgraduate specialist study "Local Democracy and Development" at the Zagreb Faculty of Political Science.

Career

Tomislav Tolušić gained his first working experience as a trainee in property and legal affairs services of the State Administration Office of

where he worked between 2003 and 2004. Between 2004 and 2006 he worked as an associate for public relations and protocol in the office of the mayor of

, and between 2006 and 2008 as an expert associate for property and legal and administrative affairs in the Administrative Department for Economy and Development of the City of Virovitica. On 19 March 2008, Tolušić was elected prefect of the Virovitica-Podravina County at the extraordinary session of the county assembly following the sudden resignation of prefect Stjepan Feketić. He was elected prefect at both

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

local elections. Between 2013 and 2015, he served as the president of the Croatian County Association. Following 2015 parliamentary elections, Tolušić was appointed Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds in the

Cabinet of Tihomir Orešković The Thirteenth Government of the Republic of Croatia () was the Croatian Government cabinet led by Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković. It was the government cabinet of Croatia between 22 January until 19 October 2016. It was formed following the ...

, and after 2016 extraordinary parliamentary elections,

in the

Cabinet of Andrej Plenković Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

. Tolušić has been the member of the center-right

Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union (, , HDZ) is a major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. Since 2016, it has been the ruling political party in Croatia under the incumbent Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. It is one of the ...

party since 1997.

Controversy

In 2011, court-appointed expert Boro Milivojević sued Tolušić for insult and defamation. The court ruled that there wasn't defamation, but that there was insulting, and ordered Tolušić to pay Milivojević compensation. Milivojević stated that he would have given up the lawsuit had he received an apology and later donated the money he received to the charity. The cause of the lawsuit was that Tolušić, using a nickname "Roks", wrote on Virovitica.net news portal a comment in which he called Milivojević "ordinary thief" who "allegedly takes the bribe", alluding that Milivojević intentionally wrongly assessed the value of three apartments owned by the Virovitica General Hospital used by physicians that were intended for sale and took a bribe for that. He also called Milivojević "member of the red gang" alluding to his membership in the center-left

Social Democratic Party of Croatia The Social Democratic Party of Croatia (, SDP) is a Social democracy, social democratic political party in Croatia. The SDP is Anti-fascism, anti-fascist, Progressivism, progressive, and strongly Pro-Europeanism, pro-European. The SDP was forme ...

. Tolušić also commented on the work of his own party as well as himself, using comments such as "Well done prefect!"

Personal life

Tolušić was married twice. He has two daughters, Tena (b. 2009) and Jana (b. 2011) from the first marriage, and a son Roko (b. 2017) from the second.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tolusic, Tomislav 1979 births Living people People from Virovitica University of Zagreb alumni Agriculture ministers of Croatia Deputy prime ministers of Croatia Prefects of counties in Croatia