Ljubo Jurčić (; born 20 March 1954) is a Croatian economist, current president of the Croatian Association of Economists since 2006 and former
Minister of Economy
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...
from 2002 to 2003.
Biography
Ljubo Jurčić is a
Herzegovinian Croat
The Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina (), often referred to as Bosnian Croats () or Herzegovinian Croats () are the third most populous ethnic group in the country after Bosniaks
The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ...
born in the village of
Ružići near
Grude,
SR Bosnia and Herzegovina,
SFR Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...
. Three of his uncles died in
World War II, including one Maksimilijan Jurčić, a Franciscan friar who was killed by
Yugoslav Partisans in 1945. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the
University of Zagreb and became a doctor of economic science.
From July 2002 to December 2003 he served as
Economy Minister in the
second cabinet of Prime Minister
Ivica Račan
Ivica Račan (; 24 February 1944 – 29 April 2007) was a Croatian politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from 2000 to 2003, heading two centre-left coalition governments.
Račan became the first prime minister of Croatia not to be a ...
.
Although he was not a member of the ruling
Social Democratic Party of Croatia
The Social Democratic Party of Croatia ( hr, Socijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske, SDP) is a social-democratic political party in Croatia. The SDP is anti-fascist, progressive, and strongly pro-European. The SDP was formed in 1990 as the succe ...
(SDP) party, he was closely aligned with them as a
non-partisan economic expert. As head of SDP's Council for Economy and Development, Jurčić formulated SDP's economic strategy that would be implemented should the party win the
2007 elections
The following elections occurred in the year 2007.
* Electoral calendar 2007
* Elections in 2007
* 2007 United Nations Security Council election
Africa
* 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress
* 2007 Algerian legislative elec ...
. The Social Democrats' Main Committee, following a proposal by party chairman
Zoran Milanović, named Jurčić as SDP's candidate for the office of Prime Minister.
On 30 November 2007, this decision was reverted, with the election still running, and he was substituted with Zoran Milanović.
Ljubo Jurčić remained in SDP ranks while still showing his definite non-partisan attitude by publicly defending singer
Marko Perković Thompson from accusations that arose after his successful May 2008 concert in
Ban Jelačić Square. At the same time, he had been published in and is a member of the editorial board of the left-wing magazine ''
Novi Plamen
''Novi Plamen'' ( en, New Flame) was a left-wing journal for political, social and cultural issues primarily aimed at intellectual audiences in the former Yugoslavia and the related diaspora. It was a leading publication of its kind in the region, ...
''.
On 12 July 2009, Jurčić contended a party primary to be nominated the SDP candidate for the
December 27 presidential elections, but was defeated by the Law professor and musician
Ivo Josipović.
In May 2011, Jurčić left SDP and became an independent representative in the Parliament. In September 2011, Jurčić announced that his new party Croatian Economic Initiative () would enter into a pre-election coalition with the Bloc Pensioners Together (). On 6 October 2011, he signed a formal pre-election coalition agreement with the representatives of the
Party of Pensioners and the
Alliance of Primorje-Gorski Kotar. By November, they named their coalition "Znati kako" and extended it to include another small party, the
Croatian Labour Party.
Their election lists failed to enter the parliament.
References
External links
Ljubo Jurčić - 5th assembly of the Croatian Parliament
Ljubo Jurčić - 6th assembly of the Croatian Parliament
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jurcic, Ljubo
1954 births
Living people
People from Grude
Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina
20th-century Croatian economists
Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament
Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb alumni
Academic staff of the University of Zagreb
Social Democratic Party of Croatia politicians
Economy ministers of Croatia
21st-century Croatian economists
Yugoslav economists