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 from 2002 to 2003.

Biography

Ljubo Jurčić is a Herzegovinian Croat born in the village of Ružići near

Grude Grude () is a town and a municipality located in West Herzegovina Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Geography Grude is located 49 kilometers from Mostar, 19 kilometers from Imotski, and 1 ...

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Социјалистичка Pепублика Босна и Херцеговина), commonly referred to as Socia ...

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 ...

. Three of his uncles died in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, including one Maksimilijan Jurčić, a Franciscan friar who was killed by

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

in 1945. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

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 (, SDP) is a Social democracy, social democratic political party in Croatia. The SDP is Anti-fascism, anti-fascist, Progressivism, progressive, and strongly Pro-Europeanism, pro-European. The SDP was forme ...

(SDP) party, he was closely aligned with them as a

non-partisan Nonpartisanship, also known as nonpartisanism, is a lack of affiliation with a political party and a lack of political bias. While an ''Oxford English Dictionary'' definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., ...

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 Social Democrats' Main Committee, following a proposal by party chairman

Zoran Milanović Zoran Milanović (; born 30 October 1966) is a Croatia, Croatian politician and the incumbent president of Croatia. First elected in 2020, he was re-elected in 2025 with 74% voter support. Prior to assuming the presidency, he was the prime min ...

, 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 Ban Jelačić Square (; ) is the central square of the city of Zagreb, Croatia, named after ban Josip Jelačić. Its official name is and is colloquially called . The square is located below Zagreb's old city cores Gradec and Kaptol, just di ...

. At the same time, he had been published in and is a member of the editorial board of the left-wing magazine '' Novi Plamen''. 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 Ivo Josipović (; born 28 August 1957) is a Croatia, Croatian Academic staff, academic, jurist, composer, and politician who served as the president of Croatia from 2010 to 2015. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communist ...

. 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

Ljubo Jurčić - Personal Portfolio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jurcic, Ljubo 1954 births Living people Politicians from Grude 20th-century Croatian economists Croat politicians from Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriates in Croatia 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