Donika Gërvalla-Schwarz (born 16 October 1971) is a Kosovan politician. A member of the Guxo political list of the

Vetëvendosje Vetëvendosje (, , LVV or VV) is a Left-wing politics, left-leaning Democratic socialism, democratic socialist List of political parties in Kosovo, political party in Kosovo. It is a member of the Progressive Alliance, and an observer in the Par ...

political party, she has served as

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

and Second Deputy Prime Minister in the

Second Kurti cabinet The Second Kurti cabinet was formed in Kosovo on 22 March 2021 following a deal between the political parties Vetëvendosje, Guxo, Progressive Democratic Party, New Democratic Initiative of Kosovo, Turkish Democratic Party of Kosovo and New D ...

since 2021. Gërvalla-Schwarz is the daughter of assassinated Albanian activist Jusuf Gërvalla. She is the president of the centre-right political party Guxo!.

Early life and education

Gërvalla-Schwarz was born in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

– present-day

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

– to a

Kosovo Albanian The Albanians of Kosovo (, ), also commonly called Kosovo Albanians, Kosovan Albanians or Kosovars (), constitute the largest ethnic group in Kosovo. Kosovo Albanians belong to the ethnic Albanian sub-group of Ghegs, who inhabit the north of ...

family. Her father was activist Jusuf Gërvalla, who advocated for

Albanian nationalism Albanian nationalism is a general grouping of nationalism, nationalist ideas and concepts generated by ethnic Albanians that were first formed in the 19th century during the Albanian National Awakening (). Albanian nationalism is also associated w ...

and

Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism () is a communist ideology that became the largest faction of the History of communism, communist movement in the world in the years following the October Revolution. It was the predominant ideology of most communist gov ...

. Gërvalla-Schwarz was raised in

Pristina Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and District of Pristina, district. In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdo ...

, but fled with her family to

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

in 1980, due to political persecution faced by her father at the hands of the Yugoslav secret police. In 1982, her father was assassinated in

Untergruppenbach Untergruppenbach () is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality near Heilbronn, a city in the northern half of the Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg. There are a total of 7,600 inhabitants living in six villages that form the municip ...

, and the family subsequently fled to

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

shortly afterwards. Gërvalla-Schwarz spent the remainder of her upbringing in Tirana, where she participated in student-led protests against the communist regime in Albania. Gërvalla-Schwarz studied music in Tirana until returning to Germany in 1992, in order to finish her education. She later received a law degree from the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...

Political career

Gërvalla-Schwarz became an honorary member of the

Democratic League of Kosovo The Democratic League of Kosovo (, LDK) is the oldest and one of the largest list of political parties in Kosovo, political parties in Kosovo. History During the late 1980s, nationalism was on the rise throughout the Socialist Federal Republi ...

in 1991. She later served as deputy chairperson of the party from 1993 until 1997, and then served as speaker of the party's German branch until 1999. As speaker of the party in Germany, Gërvalla-Schwarz made frequent appearances in German media and politics on behalf of Kosovo during the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...

. In 2015, Gërvalla-Schwarz returned to politics and was elected chairperson of the party's German branch again. Working closely with Kosovan politician

Vjosa Osmani Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu (born 17 May 1982) is a Kosovan jurist and politician serving as the sixth president of Kosovo since April 2021, having previously served as acting president from November 2020 to March 2021. She also served as Speaker of the ...

, the two attempted to enact reforms within the party. In 2018, Gërvalla-Schwarz resigned all of her leadership positions within the party, and later resigned her party membership in 2020. In 2021, Gërvalla-Schwarz joined the newly-formed Guxo political list, and was selected to stand as a candidate in the

2021 Kosovan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Kosovo on 14 February 2021. The results were a landslide victory for Vetëvendosje led by Albin Kurti and its coalition partner, Vjosa Osmani, former speaker of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, parlia ...

. She was ultimately elected to the Assembly, but resigned her seat after being nominated by

Albin Kurti Albin Kurti (; born 24March 1975) is a Kosovo Albanians, Kosovo Albanian politician who has been serving as Prime Minister of Kosovo since 2021, having previously held the office from February to June 2020. He came to prominence in 1997 as the vi ...

to serve as second deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister in his second cabinet. Following the inauguration of Osmani as

president of Kosovo The President of Kosovo (; ), officially the President of the Republic of Kosovo (; ), is the head of state of Kosovo. The president is elected indirectly by the parliament through a secret ballot, requiring a two-thirds majority of deputies in ...

in April 2021, Gërvalla-Schwarz became the leader of Guxo!, as the

Constitution of Kosovo The Constitution of Kosovo (, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Устав Косовa, Ustav Kosova) is the supreme law (article 16) of the Republic of Kosovo, a political status of Kosovo, territory of unresolved political status. Article four of the const ...

forbids the president from acting as a representative of a political party. Gërvalla-Schwarz criticized the politicization in the Foreign Ministry of Kosovo, how diplomats were appointed due to their connections rather than their competence, leading Kosovo's diplomats "not

o be O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), ...

taken seriously by countries throughout the world". She said that one of her priorities is depoliticizing the ministry, but that "We cannot solve all these problems within a day".

Personal life

Gërvalla-Schwarz is married to German politician

Stefan Schwarz Hans-Jürgen Stefan Schwarz (; ; born 18 April 1969) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Schwarz started off his career with Malmö FF in 1987 before moving on to represent Benfica, Arsenal, Fiorentina and Va ...

, and together they have five children. Schwarz is a former member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

from 1990 until 1994, representing the Christian Democratic Union. The family resided in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

, although Gërvalla-Schwarz returned to Kosovo in 2021, ahead of the

Notes and references

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gervalla-Schwarz, Donika 1971 births Democratic League of Kosovo politicians Female foreign ministers Kosovan expatriates in Albania Kosovan expatriates in Germany Kosovan women in politics Living people Politicians from Pristina University of Hamburg alumni Deputy prime ministers of Kosovo Foreign ministers of Kosovo 21st-century women politicians