Marija Pejčinović Burić (; born 9 April 1963) is a Croatian politician of the centre-right

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 ...

party who served as Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and First Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia from 2017 to 2019. She was the third woman to hold the post of

foreign minister 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 relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

, following Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and Vesna Pusić. Pejčinović Burić previously served as a Member of Parliament during its Sixth Assembly (2008–2011), representing the 6th electoral district. On 26 June 2019, she was elected as the 14th

Secretary General of the Council of Europe The Secretary General of the Council of Europe () is elected by the Parliamentary Assembly from a shortlist proposed by the Committee of Ministers for a term of five years. The secretary general is entrusted with the responsibility of meetin ...

, defeating Belgium's foreign minister

Didier Reynders Didier Reynders (; born 6 August 1958) is a Belgian politician and a member of the Reformist Movement, Mouvement Réformateur (MR) that served as List of European Commissioners for Justice and Equality, European Commissioner for Justice until 30 ...

by 159 votes to 105. Pejčinović Burić's term began on 18 September 2019 and concluded on 18 September 2024, when she was succeeded by former Swiss President and Interior Minister,

Alain Berset Alain Berset (; born 9 April 1972) is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2012 to 2023. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS), he headed the Federal Department of Home Affairs from when he too ...

Education and early career

Pejčinović Burić graduated in Economics from 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 ...

in 1985. After graduating, Pejčinović Burić worked as a trade expert associate for '' Končar Inženjering'' in Zagreb between 1988 and 1991. In 1991, she was appointed Secretary General of the Europe House Zagreb by her boyfriend Ljubomir Čučić (at a time secretary general of the EuropeanMovement Croatia), and later Deputy Secretary General of the European Movement Croatia. In 1994, she obtained a Master of Science in European Studies from the

College of Europe The College of Europe (; ; ) is a post-graduate institute of European studies with three campuses in Bruges, Belgium; Warsaw, Poland; and Tirana, Albania. The College of Europe in Bruges was founded in 1949 as a result of the 1948 Congress of ...

(campus Natolin), after which she went back to work for '' Končar Inženjering''. In 1997, she was appointed director of corporate communications for the Zagreb-based pharma company Pliva.

Political career

Career in the public sector

In 2000, Pejčinović Burić was appointed Assistant Minister at Croatia's Ministry of European Integration. In 2001 she was included in the negotiating team for the EU-Croatia

Stabilisation and Association Agreement In talks with countries that have expressed a wish to join the European Union, the EU typically concludes European Union Association Agreement, Association Agreements in exchange for commitments to political, economic, trade, or human rights ref ...

. From 2003 onwards she worked as lecturer on European integration at the seminars of the Croatian Diplomatic Academy. In 2004, Pejčinović Burić was appointed State Secretary at the Ministry of European Integration and the following year as State Secretary for European Integration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, both under the leadership of minister

Miomir Žužul Miomir Žužul (born 19 June 1955) is a Croatian people, Croatian diplomat and politician. He is currently a senior international policy advisor at the firm of Arnold & Porter, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP in Washington, DC. Education Žuž ...

in the government of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Ivo Sanader Ivo Sanader (; born 8 June 1953) is a Croatian former politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from 2003 to 2009. He is currently serving a 18-year prison sentence for corruption in Lipovica penitentiary. Sanader is to date the second ...

. She served as National Coordinator for Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession (ISPA) programs (2004-2006), National Coordinator for Assistance Programmes and Co-operation with the EU as well as member of the working group on the

free movement of capital The European single market, also known as the European internal market or the European common market, is the single market comprising mainly the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU). With certain excep ...

of Croatia's EU accession negotiations (2005-2006). From 2006 Pejčinović Burić was member of Croatia's EU accession negotiations team, and negotiator for the acquis chapters on External Relations, Foreign, Security and Defence Policy, Institutions and Other Issues, as well as chairperson for Croatia in the EU-Croatia Stabilisation and Association Committee and chairperson of the Croatia -

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

Mixed Commission (2006-2008).

Member of Parliament, 2008–2011

In 2008, Pejčinović Burić was elected to the

Parliament of Croatia In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. T ...

for the centre-right

(HDZ) party, representing the 6th electoral district. She held the parliamentary seat until the 2011 elections. During her time in parliament, she served on the Committee on European Integration and the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In addition to her committee assignments, she was a member of the Croatian delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...

and chaired the Croatian – USA Parliamentary Friendship Group. From 2012 until 2013, Pejčinović Burić lectured on the

Lisbon Treaty The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two Treaty, treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all Member stat ...

at the seminars of Croatia's State School for Public Administration. From 2013, she worked for a few years as private consultant on EU, the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

(UNDP) and bilaterally funded projects in the candidate and potential candidate countries, as well as in European Neighbourhood countries. She also provided consultancies on European integration for the Government of

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. On 17 November 2016, Pejčinović Burić came back into service as State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, under the leadership of minister Davor Ivo Stier in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

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 ...

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, 2017–2019

In June 2017 Pejčinović Burić was appointed by Prime Minister

as new Foreign Affairs Minister of Croatia, replacing Davor Ivo Stier after his resignation. In this capacity, she served as chairwoman of the Committee of Ministers of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

for a six-month term in 2018. From 2017 until 2019, she also co-chaired the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

(EPP) trade ministers meetings alongside Jyrki Katainen, vice-president of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

. In 2019, Pejčinović Burić announced her candidacy to succeed Thorbjørn Jagland as

Secretary General of the Council of Europe

On 26 June 2019, the Parliamentary Assembly of the

voted to select the organization's 14th Secretary General, with the candidates being foreign minister Pejčinović Burić and her Belgian counterpart

. Pejčinović Burić went on to defeat Reynders by 159 votes to 105. She was formally sworn in on 18 September 2019. Burić was present together with the

President of Moldova The president of the Republic of Moldova () is the head of state of Moldova. The current president is Maia Sandu, who assumed office on 24 December 2020. Duties and functions The president "represents the State" and is "…the guarantor of n ...

Maia Sandu Maia Sandu (; born 24 May 1972) is a Moldovan politician who is serving as the sixth president of Moldova since 2020. She is the founder and former leader of the Party of Action and Solidarity and was Prime Minister of Moldova, prime minister o ...

during the signing of the Council of Europe Action Plan for the Republic of Moldova 2021–2024 on 19 April 2021 at

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, France. She discussed with Sandu issues on

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

and the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in the country, with Burić expressing her support for Sandu's

anti-corruption Anti-corruption (or anticorruption) comprises activities that oppose or inhibit corruption. Just as corruption takes many forms, anti-corruption efforts vary in scope and in strategy. A general distinction between preventive and reactive measur ...

efforts.

Other activities

* Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Member of the Board of Directors (since 2016)

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pejčinović Burić, Marija 1963 births Living people College of Europe alumni Croat politicians from Bosnia and Herzegovina Council of Europe Secretaries-General Croatian women diplomats Deputy prime ministers of Croatia Female foreign ministers Foreign ministers of Croatia Politicians from Mostar Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament Women government ministers of Croatia 21st-century Croatian women politicians 21st-century Croatian politicians