Gabrijela Žalac (born 4 February 1979) is a Croatian politician. She served as Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds from 2016 to 2019.

Early life and education

Žalac was born on 4 February 1979 in

Vinkovci Vinkovci () is a city in Slavonia, in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. The city settlement's population was 28,111 in the 2021 census, while the total population was 30,842, making it the largest town of the county. It is a local tr ...

. She graduated in economics at the

University of Osijek The Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek (, ), commonly known as the University of Osijek (UNIOS), is a public university based in Osijek, Croatia. Established in 1975, it is the flagship institution of higher education in Slavonia, and ...

where she also completed postgraduate studies in management.

Career

For more than ten years, Žalac worked on the development and implementation of projects, including using European funds. She served as director of the department of foreign and European affairs of the

Vukovar-Srijem County Vukovar-Srijem County (), Vukovar-Sirmium County or Vukovar-Syrmia County, named after the eponymous town of Vukovar and the region of Syrmia, is the easternmost Croatian county. It includes the eastern parts of the region of Slavonia and the wes ...

administration and president of the regional development agency "Hrast". In October 2016, on the recommendation of the

Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union (, , HDZ) is a major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. Since 2016, it has been the ruling political party in Croatia under the incumbent Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. It is one of the ...

, she was appointed Minister of Regional Development and Management of European Funds in the government of

Andrej Plenković Andrej Plenković ( ; born 8 April 1970) is a Croatian politician serving as the Prime Minister of Croatia, prime minister of Croatia since October 2016. He was previously one of eleven List of members of the European Parliament for Croatia, 201 ...

. She held this position until July 2019.

Controversies

In 2019, Žalac hit a nine-year-old child in Vinkovci while driving with an invalid license. She was fined 500 Croatian kuna. The child was seriously injured. In 2021, Žalac was arrested by the European Attorney General's Office for corruption and embezzling funds and was investigated in 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zalac, Gabrijela 1979 births Living people People from Vinkovci University of Osijek alumni 21st-century Croatian women politicians Women government ministers of Croatia Croatian Democratic Union politicians Regional development and EU funds ministers of Croatia