Željka Cvijanović
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Željka Cvijanović (; sr-cyr, Жељка Цвијановић, ; born 4 March 1967) is a Bosnian Serb politician serving as the
8th Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight. Eighth may refer to: * One eighth, , a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole * Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet) * Octave, an interval b ...
and current Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2022. She has also been serving as its
chairwoman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...
since November 2024. She previously served as the 9th president of Republika Srpska from 2018 to 2022. A member of the
Alliance of Independent Social Democrats The Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (; abbr. СНСД or SNSD) is a Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serb Serbian nationalism, nationalist political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Founded in 1996, it is the governing party in Republika ...
, Cvijanović was the 11th prime minister of Republika Srpska from 2013 to 2018. In the 2018 general election, she was elected president of Republika Srpska, assuming office on 19 November 2018. In the 2022 general election, Cvijanović was elected as the Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, becoming the first female member of the Presidency since the end of the
Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...
. She was sworn in as Presidency member on 16 November 2022.


Early life and education

Cvijanović was born Željka Grabovac in Teslić, present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina on 4 March 1967. Before going into full-time politics, she was an English teacher. Cvijanović studied at the Faculty of Humanities of the
University of Sarajevo The University of Sarajevo (Bosnian language, Bosnian, Croatian language, Croatian and Serbian language, Serbian: ''Univerzitet u Sarajevu'' / Sveučilište u Sarajevu / Универзитет у Сарајеву) is a List of universities in Bo ...
, the Faculty of Philosophy in
Banja Luka Banja Luka ( sr-Cyrl, Бања Лука, ) or Banjaluka ( sr-Cyrl, Бањалука, ) is the List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city in Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is the tr ...
and the Faculty of Law in Banja Luka. She is a professor of English language and literature and also holds a master's degree in diplomatic and consular law from the Banja Luka Law School on "The International and legal status of the EU".


Career

Cvijanović worked as a teacher of English and as a senior interpreter and assistant for the European Union Monitoring Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Then she was an advisor for European Integration and cooperation with international organizations to the prime minister of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik; as Chief of Cabinet Affairs of the prime minister; and managed the Unit for coordination and European integration. In the 2010–2014 parliamentary term, Cvijanović was an expert-external member of the Committee for European Integration and Regional Cooperation of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska. On 29 December 2010, she was appointed to the position of minister of economic affairs and regional Cooperation in the Government of Republika Srpska led by prime minister Aleksandar Džombić. On 12 March 2013, Cvijanović was appointed prime minister of Republika Srpska, succeeding Džombić. As the new prime minister, she became the first woman to serve in that office. In the 2014 general election, Cvijanović stood as a candidate of the incumbent coalition SNSD- DNS- SP for the Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She lost against the opposition candidate Mladen Ivanić (
PDP PDP may refer to: Computing and technology * Packet Data Protocol in wireless GPRS/HSDPA networks * Parallel distributed processing in Connectionism#Parallel distributed processing, connectionism * Plasma display panel * Policy Decision Point in t ...
) by a narrow margin, and was later reappointed as prime minister of Republika Srpska in the entity's 15th cabinet. In the 2018 general election, Cvijanović was elected president of Republika Srpska, assuming office on 19 November 2018. On 15 November 2022, Cvijanović was succeeded by Dodik as president of Republika Srpska. On 11 April 2022, Cvijanović and Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of the Bosnian Presidency, were sanctioned by the United Kingdom for attempting to undermine the legitimacy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with British foreign secretary
Liz Truss Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth da ...
stating that Dodik and Cvijanović "are deliberately undermining the hard-won peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Encouraged by Putin ladimir Putin their reckless behavior threatens stability and security across the Western Balkans."


Presidency (2022–present)


2022 general election

On 1 July 2022, Cvijanović announced her candidacy in the Bosnian general election, running again for Bosnia and Herzegovina's three-person
Presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...
member, representing the Serbs. In the general election, held on 2 October 2022, she was elected to the Presidency, having obtained 51.65% of the vote and thus becoming the first female member of the Presidency as established after the
Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...
. The Serb Democratic Party candidate Mirko Šarović, was second with 35.45%.


Tenure

Cvijanović was sworn in as Presidency member on 16 November 2022, alongside newly elected member Denis Bećirović and re-elected member
Željko Komšić Željko Komšić (; born 20 January 1964) is a Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian Croat politician serving as the List of Croat members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 6th and current Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia a ...
. Following the 2022 general election, a coalition led by the
Alliance of Independent Social Democrats The Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (; abbr. СНСД or SNSD) is a Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serb Serbian nationalism, nationalist political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Founded in 1996, it is the governing party in Republika ...
, the Croatian Democratic Union and the liberal alliance Troika reached an agreement on the formation of a new
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
, designating
Borjana Krišto Borjana Krišto (; born 13 August 1961) is a Bosnian Croat politician serving as Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina since January 2023. She previously served as the 8th president of the Federation of Bosnia and He ...
as the new Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers. The Presidency officially nominated her as chairwoman-designate on 22 December; Cvijanović and Bećirović voted for, while Komšić voted against. On 31 July 2023, the United States
Office of Foreign Assets Control The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, United States Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade economic sanctions, ...
imposed sanctions on Cvijanović under Executive Order 14033 for threatening regional security, peace, cooperation, and undermining the
Dayton Agreement The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement or the Dayton Accords ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Dejtonski mirovni sporazum, Дејтонски мировни споразум), and colloquially kn ...
related to the Western Balkans.


Foreign policy

On 9 November 2023, Cvijanović met with French President
Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
during an official visit to France. They discussed bilateral relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and France, as well as implementing economic reforms. In January 2024, Cvijanović attended the 19th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in
Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...
, Uganda, during which she said that "the policy of non-alignment has obviously withstood the test of time, and its principles and values are still very much needed by the world today, just like sixty years ago."


=European Union

= On 15 December 2022, Bosnia and Herzegovina was recognised by the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
as a candidate country for accession following the decision of the
European Council The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body (directorial system) and a symbolic collective head of state, that defines the overall political direction and general priorities of the European Union (EU). It is composed of the he ...
, which Cvijanović supported. On 8 February 2024, the Presidency unanimously adopted the decision to start negotiations with Frontex, one of the country’s key conditions for opening negotiations with the EU. On 21 March 2024, at a summit in
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, all 27 EU leaders, representing the European Council, unanimously agreed to open EU accession talks with Bosnia and Herzegovina after the
Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...
adopted two more European laws. Talks are set to begin following the impeding of more reforms.


Personal life

Željka is married to Aleksandar Cvijanović, and together they have two sons. She is of paternal Bosnian Serb and maternal Bosnian Croat descent. On 2 April 2021, Cvijanović received her first dose of the
COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Knowledge about the structure and fun ...
, amid its pandemic in Bosnia and Herzegovina.


Orders


References


External links


Željka Cvijanović
at imovinapoliticara.cin.ba {{DEFAULTSORT:Cvijanovic, Zeljka 1967 births Living people People from Teslić Serb politicians from Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina people of Croatian descent Bosnia and Herzegovina people of Serbian descent Bosnia and Herzegovina women in politics University of Sarajevo alumni University of Banja Luka alumni Prime ministers of Republika Srpska Alliance of Independent Social Democrats politicians Women prime ministers in Europe Women presidents in Europe Members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Chairmen of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina 21st-century women presidents