Goran Rakić (, ; born 1971) is a Serbian politician serving as a member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

since 6 February 2024. A Kosovo Serb, he previously served as the minister for communities and returns in the

Government of Kosovo The Government of Kosovo (, ) exercises executive authority in the Republic of Kosovo. It is composed of government ministers, and is led by the prime minister. The prime minister is elected by the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo. Ministe ...

from 22 March 2021 until his resignation on 5 November 2022. Prior to this, he served as the

deputy prime minister of Kosovo Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain, ...

and as the minister of administration and local government. He is a former mayor of

North Mitrovica North Mitrovica; or ''Mitrovicë Veriore'' or North Kosovska Mitrovica, is a town and municipality located in Mitrovica District in Kosovo. As of 2015, it has a population of 29,460 inhabitants. It covers an area of . North Mitrovica is a par ...

and the former president of the Serb List, an ethnic Serb minority political party.

Early life

Goran Rakić was born in 1971 in

Kosovska Mitrovica Mitrovica (Albanian language, Albanian Definiteness, indefinite Albanian morphology#Nouns (declension), form: ''Mitrovicë''; sr-Cyrl, Митровица, Mitrovica), also referred to as Kosovska Mitrovica ( sr-Cyrl, Косовска Митр� ...

, which was then a part of the

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

, to an ethnic

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

family. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics, University of Priština. For a period of time, he worked as a firefighter and was the director of JKP "Standard" Kosovska Mitrovica, a utility company.

Political career

Serb List and Kosovo politics

He has been performing the function of the mayor of the municipality of

after swearing an oath to the

Republic of Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

in 2014. He won his second four-year term in

2017 Kosovan local elections Local elections were held in Kosovo on 22 October 2017. Only 19 municipalities elected a mayor in the first round, and 19 voted again on 19 November 2017. Electoral system The Mayor and the members of the Assembly were elected by open list prop ...

. Since 2017, Rakic has been the president of the Serb List, which has power in all ten Serb-majority municipalities, as well as all ten guaranteed seats in the

Assembly of Kosovo The Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Скупштина Републике Косово, Skupština Republike Kosovo) or the Kuvendi, is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Kosovo that is directly elected by the peo ...

for the

community. He is also the president of the municipality board of the

Serbian Progressive Party The Serbian Progressive Party (, SNS) is a major populist, catch-all party, catch-all List of political parties in Serbia, political party in Serbia. It has been the Ruling party, ruling party since 2012. Miloš Vučević, the former prime mi ...

(SNS) in North Mitrovica. In the summer of 2017, Rakić and Milan Radoičić, a vice president of the Serb List met with

Behgjet Pacolli Behgjet Isa Pacolli (; (born 30 August 1951) is an Albanian-Kosovan Swiss politician and businessman who served as the first deputy prime minister of Kosovo and minister of foreign affairs from 2017 to 2019 under the Ramush Haradinaj government. ...

, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo in

Budva Budva (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Будва, or ) is a town in the Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region of Montenegro. It had 27,445 inhabitants as of 2023, and is the centre of Budva Municipality. The coastal area around Budva, called the Budv ...

to discuss the possibility of the Serb List joining the government of Kosovo and supporting

Ramush Haradinaj Ramush Haradinaj (; born 3 July 1968) is a Kosovo Albanian politician, leader of the AAK party, and the third prime minister of Kosovo. He is a former officer and leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), and previously served as Prime Minist ...

as the prime minister. In January 2019, he said that Serbs will never allow the reunification of North and South Mitrovica as that would be a cover for ethnic cleansing against the Kosovo Serbs. On 3 June 2020, he took the office of one of the

Deputy Prime Ministers Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain, ...

and the Minister of Administration and Local Government in the Hoti cabinet. In July 2020, Serb List caused a controversy in Kosovo by announcing that they will support Serbia's

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

curfew measures and have vowed to locally implement them in Kosovo. They also vowed to support

Aleksandar Vučić Aleksandar Vučić, (born 5 March 1970) is a Serbian politician serving as President of Serbia since 2017. A founding member of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), he previously served as President of the SNS from 2012 to 2023, Deputy Prim ...

in the “fight” for Kosovo during the dialogue. Shortly after, a parliamentary resolution initiated by

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 Speaker of the Parliament, condemning a statement by the Serb List failed to pass. On 27 July 2020, Serbian Anti-Corruption Agency started an investigation against Rakić and other high ranking Serb officials in Kosovo due to the suspicion that they violated the law because they did not report their property and income to the Anti-Corruption Agency. On 22 March 2021, Rakić took office of the Minister for Communities and Returns 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 ...

. He announced his resignation from this position on 5 November 2022. On 24 October 2023, following the

Banjska attack The Banjska attack (; ) was an armed assault carried out by Serbs, Serb militants against the Kosovo Police which took place in the village of Banjska (village), Banjska located in North Kosovo on 24 September 2023. Between 23 and 24 September ...

, Rakić was succeeded as SL president by Zlatan Elek.

Member of the National Assembly of Serbia

He appeared on the Serbian Progressive Party's electoral list in the 2023 parliamentary election and was elected to the

National Assembly of Serbia The National Assembly ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Народна скупштина, Narodna skupština, ), fully the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia (), is the unicameral legislature of Serbia. The assembly is composed of 250 deputies who are ...

. He was sworn in as MP on 6 February 2024.

Personal life

He is married and has two children.

References

External links

Српска листа - Косово и Метохија - Званични сајт
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rakic, Goran 1971 births Living people Politicians from Mitrovica, Kosovo Deputy prime ministers of Kosovo Kosovo Serbs Serbian politicians Serbian Progressive Party politicians Government ministers of Kosovo Mayors of places in Serbia Mayors of places in Kosovo Members of the National Assembly (Serbia)