Marija Pejčinović Burić (; born 9 April 1963) 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 = , capi ...

n politician of the centre-right

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 Cr ...

party who served as Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and First Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia from 2017 to 2019. She was the third woman to hold the post of

foreign minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

, following Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and

Vesna Pusić Vesna Pusić (; born 25 March 1953) is a Croatian sociologist and politician who served as First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the centre-left cabinet of Zoran Milanović. She was Croatia's second female ...

. Pejčinović Burić previously served as a Member of Parliament during its Sixth Assembly (2008–2011), representing the 6th electoral district. On 26 June 2019, she was elected as the 14th

Secretary General of the Council of Europe The Secretary General of the Council of Europe (french: Secrétaire général du Conseil de l'Europe, links=no) is appointed by the Parliamentary Assembly on the recommendation of the Committee of Ministers for a period of five years. The secreta ...

, defeating Belgium's foreign minister Didier Reynders by 159 votes to 105. Pejčinović Burić's term began on 18 September 2019.

Education and early career

Pejčinović Burić graduated in Economics 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 ...

in 1985. After graduating, Pejčinović Burić worked as a trade expert associate for '' Končar Inženjering'' in Zagreb between 1988 and 1991. In 1991, she was appointed Secretary General of the Europe House Zagreb by her boyfriend Ljubomir Čučić (at a time secretary general of the EuropeanMovement Croatia), and later Deputy Secretary General of the European Movement Croatia. In 1994, she obtained a Master of Science in European Studies from the

College of Europe The College of Europe (french: Collège d'Europe) is a post-graduate institute of European studies with its main campus in Bruges, Belgium and a second campus in Warsaw, Poland. The College of Europe in Bruges was founded in 1949 by leading ...

(campus Natolin), after which she went back to work for '' Končar Inženjering''. In 1997, she was appointed director of corporate communications for the Zagreb-based pharma company

Pliva Pliva d.o.o. is a pharmaceutical company based in Zagreb, Croatia that primarily manufactures and sells generic drugs. It is a subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceuticals. Pliva is one of the world's largest producers of generic Adderall. History T ...

Political career

Career in the public sector

In 2000, Pejčinović Burić was appointed Assistant Minister at Croatia's Ministry of European Integration. In 2001 she was included in the negotiating team for the EU-Croatia

Stabilisation and Association Agreement In talks with countries that have expressed a wish to join the European Union, the EU typically concludes Association Agreements in exchange for commitments to political, economic, trade, or human rights reform in that country. In exchange, th ...

. From 2003 onwards she worked as lecturer on European integration at the seminars of the Croatian Diplomatic Academy. In 2004, Pejčinović Burić was appointed State Secretary at the Ministry of European Integration and the following year as State Secretary for European Integration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, both under the leadership of minister Miomir Žužul in the government of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Ivo Sanader. She served as National Coordinator for Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession (ISPA) programs (2004-2006), National Coordinator for Assistance Programmes and Co-operation with the EU as well as member of the working group on the free movement of capital of Croatia's EU accession negotiations (2005-2006). From 2006 Pejčinović Burić was member of Croatia's EU accession negotiations team, and negotiator for the acquis chapters on External Relations, Foreign, Security and Defence Policy, Institutions and Other Issues, as well as chairperson for Croatia in the EU-Croatia Stabilisation and Association Committee and chairperson of the Croatia -

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

Mixed Commission (2006-2008).

Member of Parliament, 2008–2011

In 2008, Pejčinović Burić was elected to the Parliament of Croatia for the centre-right

(HDZ) party, representing the 6th electoral district. She held the parliamentary seat until the 2011 elections. During her time in parliament, she served on the Committee on European Integration and the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In addition to her committee assignments, she was a member of the Croatian delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up ...

and chaired the Croatian – USA Parliamentary Friendship Group. From 2012 until 2013, Pejčinović Burić lectured on the

Lisbon Treaty The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by the EU member sta ...

at the seminars of Croatia's State School for Public Administration. From 2013, she worked for a few years as private consultant on EU, the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

(UNDP) and bilaterally funded projects in the candidate and potential candidate countries, as well as in European Neighbourhood countries. She also provided consultancies on European integration for the Government of

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

. On 17 November 2016, Pejčinović Burić came back into service as State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, under the leadership of minister

Davor Ivo Stier Davor Ivo Stier (; born 6 January 1972) is a Croatian-Argentine politician and diplomat. He was a member of the Croatian Parliament in 2011–2013, a member of the European Parliament in 2013–2016, as well as the 13th Minister of Foreign and ...

in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

Andrej Plenković.

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, 2017–2019

In June 2017 Pejčinović Burić was appointed by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković as new

Foreign Affairs Minister In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

of Croatia, replacing

after his resignation. In this capacity, she served as chairwoman of the

Committee of Ministers The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe ( French: ''Comité des ministres du Conseil de l'Europe'') or Committee of Ministers ( French: ''Comité des ministres'') is the Council of Europe's decision-making body. It comprises the Forei ...

of 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 human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it has 46 member states, with a p ...

for a six-month term in 2018. From 2017 until 2019, she also co-chaired the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily ...

(EPP) trade ministers meetings alongside

Jyrki Katainen Jyrki Tapani Katainen (born 14 October 1971) is a Finnish politician who served as the European Commission's Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness from 2014 until 2019. Katainen was previously Prime Minister of Finland f ...

, vice-president of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

. In 2019, Pejčinović Burić announced her candidacy to succeed

Thorbjørn Jagland Thorbjørn Jagland (born Thorbjørn Johansen; , 5 November 1950) is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. He served as the secretary general of the Council of Europe from 2009 to 2019. He served as the 32nd prime minister of Norway from ...

Secretary General of the Council of Europe

On 26 June 2019, the Parliamentary Assembly of the

voted to select the organization's 14th Secretary General, with the candidates being foreign minister Pejčinović Burić and her Belgian counterpart Didier Reynders. Pejčinović Burić went on to defeat Reynders by 159 votes to 105. She was formally sworn in on 18 September 2019. Burić was present together with the

President of Moldova The President of the Republic of Moldova () is the head of state of Moldova. The current president is Maia Sandu, who assumed office on 24 December 2020. Duties and functions The office of the presidency in Moldova is largely ceremonial, ...

Maia Sandu Maia Sandu (; born 24 May 1972) is a Moldovan politician who has been the President of Moldova since 24 December 2020. She is the former leader of the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) and former Prime Minister of Moldova from 8 June 2019 ...

during the signing of the Council of Europe Action Plan for the Republic of Moldova 2021–2024 on 19 April 2021 at

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...

, France. She discussed with Sandu issues on

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

in the country, with Burić expressing her support for Sandu's

anti-corruption Anti-corruption (or anticorruption) comprises activities that oppose or inhibit corruption. Just as corruption takes many forms, anti-corruption efforts vary in scope and in strategy. A general distinction between preventive and reactive meas ...

efforts.

Other activities

* Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Member of the Board of Directors (since 2016)

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pejčinović Burić, Marija 1963 births Living people People from Mostar Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina Council of Europe Secretaries-General Croatian women diplomats Female foreign ministers Foreign ministers of Croatia Politicians from Mostar Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament Women government ministers of Croatia 21st-century Croatian women politicians 21st-century Croatian politicians