Vesna Škare-Ožbolt (; born 20 June 1961)Official Biography
/ref> is a

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n politician. She was the 10th Minister of Justice of Croatia from 2003 until 2006. She was the second female holder of that office, as well as the second consecutive woman after Ingrid Antičević-Marinović.

Career

Before the first democratic elections in 1990, she worked in Croatian judiciary. In the 1990s she joined the

Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union ( hr, Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, lit=Croatian Democratic Community, HDZ) is the major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Croa ...

(HDZ) and became one of the advisors to President Franjo Tuđman. In the late 1990s she handled negotiations leading to the peaceful integration of

Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia may refer to: * SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia (1991–1992) * Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia (1995–98) See also * United Nations Transitional Administration for Easte ...

into Croatia. After the defeat of the HDZ party in the 2000 parliamentary elections, Škare-Ožbolt, widely perceived as a moderate, left that party and followed Mate Granić to newly formed Democratic Centre (DC). Three years later, she won a seat in Parliament (

Sabor The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sabo ...

), which turned out to be the only one for the DC Party. After Granić resigned she took the leadership of DC and joined the government of

Ivo Sanader Ivo Sanader (born 8 June 1953) is a former Croatian politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from 2003 to 2009. He is to date the second longest-serving prime minister since independence, holding the office for over five and a half ye ...

as the

minister of justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

. She was the only non-HDZ minister in Sanader's cabinet. The Croatian judiciary has generally been perceived as one of the most corrupt and most inefficient branches of government. Škare-Ožbolt launched a highly publicised drive for reform, most notably by trying to digitalise the land registries, which have been notoriously inaccessible. On 10 February 2006, Sanader dismissed Škare-Ožbolt and replaced her with Ana Lovrin, an HDZ member. Škare-Ožbolt's party failed to get any seats at the November 2007 parliamentary elections. In summer of 2009 she announced her candidacy in the

2009–10 Croatian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Croatia on 27 December 2009 and 10 January 2010. Twelve candidates participated in the first round, prior to a run-off between first-round winner Ivo Josipović and runner-up Milan Bandić. In the run-off, Josi ...

. She won 1.89% of the vote in the first round and was eliminated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skare-Ozbolt, Vesna 1961 births Living people Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb alumni Democratic Centre (Croatia) politicians Croatian Democratic Union politicians Justice ministers of Croatia People from Osijek Candidates for President of Croatia Women government ministers of Croatia Female justice ministers