Ivan Jakovčić (born 15 November 1957) is a Croatian politician who served as

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

Istria County Istria County (; hr, Istarska županija; it, Regione istriana, "Istrian Region") is the westernmost county of Croatia which includes the biggest part of the Istrian peninsula ( out of , or 89%). Administrative centers in the county are Paz ...

from 2001 to 2013.

Political career

After finishing primary and secondary education in Poreč, Jakovčić graduated from the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...

Faculty of Foreign Trade in 1980. In the 1980s Jakovčić worked in exports and marketing divisions of the Istrian company Pazinka and after that became an entrepreneur and took part in investments in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and Croatia. In 1991 he entered politics and was elected chairman of the

Istrian Democratic Assembly The Istrian Democratic Assembly ( hr, Istarski demokratski sabor, it, Dieta democratica istriana or IDS-DDI) is a centre to centre-left, regionalist, liberal political party in Croatia primarily operating in Istria County. IDS was founded on ...

(IDS), an Istrian regional party. He was elected to the

Croatian Parliament 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 Sab ...

five times, in the 1992,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

and 2000 Croatian parliamentary election, 2000 elections. After the opposition won the 2000 elections IDS formed a coalition with the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) and several other parties, and Jakovčić was appointed minister of the newly established Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (Croatia), Ministry of European Integration. However, when IDS decided to leave the ruling coalition in 2001 he resigned and ran in the local elections held the same year. After IDS won the local elections, Jakovčić became the head of the

, position he held until 2013 after being re-elected in 2005 and 2009. Jakovčić is also the longest serving party chairman in modern Croatia, having been leader of IDS continuously since 1991. His sixth consecutive term as head of IDS was confirmed by acclamation at the party convention held on 14 February 2010. From 2014 until 2019, Jakovčić was a Member of the European Parliament.

Controversy

On October 23, 2014, the European Parliament received a request to remove Jakovčić's immunity. He ultimately had his immunity lifted, paving the way for a defamation lawsuit against him to proceed. At the time, he was being pursued by Austrian businessman Georg List who had been attempting to build a polo facility and blamed Dalmatian local authorities for placing obstacles in his way. When asked to comment in July 2014, Jakovčić is alleged to have said “I do not comment on idiots”, prompting the lawsuit.James Panichi (March 26, 2015)
Committee recommends lifting of MEPs’ immunity
''European Voice''.

Personal life

Jakovčić is married with three children. He is fluent in Italian language, Italian, German language, German, French language, French and English language, English. He is a self-proclaimed wine connoisseur and enjoys playing golf.

References

External links

Ivan Jakovčić
at the

website
Ivan Jakovčić
at the

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Jakovcic, Ivan 1957 births Living people People from Poreč Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb alumni Istrian Democratic Assembly politicians Government ministers of Croatia MEPs for Croatia 2014–2019