Božidar Matić (; 8 September 1937 – 12 May 2016) was a Bosnian politician who served as

Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina The chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Bosnian/ Croatian: ''Predsjedavajući Vijeća ministara Bosne i Hercegovine'', ) is the head of the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The chairman of the Council of Ministe ...

from February to July 2001. Additionally, he was Minister of Finance and Treasury during that period as well. A member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

until his death, Matić was also president of the

Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

from 1999 to 2014.

Career

Matić was born in

Bogatić Bogatić ( sr-cyr, Богатић, ) is a town and municipality located in the Mačva District of western Serbia. As of 2011 census, it has 28,843 residents. Geography Bogatić is located in the western part of Serbia. The nearest large settl ...

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

, present-day Serbia on 8 September 1937. Until 1990, he was a member of the

League of Communists of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...

, during which he was an official in the Federal Executive Council. Following the

breakup of Yugoslavia The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

, Matić became a member of the

Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Bosnian: ''Socijaldemokratska partija Bosne i Hercegovine'' (SDP BiH) / Социјалдемократска партија Босне и Херцеговине), also simply known as the S ...

(SDP BiH) in 1992. At the 2000 parliamentary election, the SDP BiH formed a coalition with the

Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina The Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina ( bs, Stranka za Bosnu i Hercegovinu) is a Bosniak nationalist political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The party fervently opposed the continued power in hands of ethnic entities such as the Federation of B ...

to gain the majority and force the nationalist parties out of power. They gathered a coalition of many other small parties to create the "Alliance for Change". Matić became

Chairman of the Council of Ministers The President of the Council of Ministers (sometimes titled Chairman of the Council of Ministers) is the most senior member of the cabinet in the executive branch of government in some countries. Some Presidents of the Council of Ministers are t ...

and Minister of Finance and Treasury on 22 February 2001. The SDP BiH-led government facilitated the passage of the Election Law, which was not only an important step towards democracy, but also a prerequisite to Bosnia's accession to 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. ...

. He served in both offices until July 2001.http://www.vijeceministara.gov.ba/pdf_doc/sazivi%20hrv%2018-5-2020.pdf Matić was president of the

from 1999 until June 2014 as well.

Death

Matić died on 12 May 2016 in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

, Bosnia and Herzegovina at the age of 78. He was buried in Sarajevo at the Bare Cemetery on 14 May, two days after his death.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Matic, Bozidar 1937 births 2016 deaths People from Bogatić Finance ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb alumni University of Belgrade School of Electrical Engineering alumni Members of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina Academic staff of the University of Sarajevo