Mirko Marjanović ( sr-cyrl, Мирко Марјановић, ; 27 July 1937 – 21 February 2006) was a Serbian politician who served as the
prime minister of Serbia
The prime minister of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, премијер Србије, premijer Srbije; feminine gender, feminine: премијерка/premijerka), officially the president of the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, председн ...
from 1994 to 2000.
Biography
Marjanović was born on 27 July 1937 in
Knin
Knin () is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka (Croatia), Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagreb and Split, Croatia, Split. ...
into a large working-class family with 7 children, where he finished
gymnasium.
He had four brothers and 2 sisters and his father Dušan worked in a local factory, while his mother Marija was a
homemaker
Homemaking is mainly an American English, American and Canadian English, Canadian term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping, housewifery or household management. It is the act of overseeing the organizational ...
.
During the season of 1955/56 he played as a
winger for the football club
HNK Dinara that is based in Knin. Marjanović later then moved to
Zagreb
Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
where he attended musical academy which he ended up not finishing because he moved to live in
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
. In 1960, he graduated at
University of Belgrade
The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia.
Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...
's
Faculty of Economics, more specifically at the department for
microeconomics
Microeconomics is a branch of economics that studies the behavior of individuals and Theory of the firm, firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of scarcity, scarce resources and the interactions among these individuals and firms. M ...
. Upon graduation, Marjanović came back to Knin since he found employment there as the supervisor in the Tvik factory. From there, he advanced to the position of financial director, and eventually moving on to a metallurgical factory in
Zenica
Zenica ( ; ) is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and an administrative and economic center of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Zenica-Doboj Canton. It is located in the Bosna (river), Bosna river valley, about north of Sarajevo. The ...
. In 1973, he transferred to the
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
outpost of Progres. By 1976, he quickly advanced up the ranks to become one of the directors at Progres. He handled the company's steel division in Russia quite successfully while developing an impressive network of influential friends and business partners such as
Viktor Chernomyrdin
Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin (, ; 9 April 19383 November 2010) was a Soviet and Russian politician and businessman. He was the Minister of Gas Industry of the Soviet Union (13 February 1985 – 17 July 1989), after which he became first chairm ...
(later to become
Prime Minister of Russia
The prime minister of the Russian Federation, also domestically stylized as the chairman of the government of the Russian Federation and widely recognized as the prime minister, is the head of government of Russia and the second highest ranking ...
), and
Yuri Brezhnev
Yuri Leonidovich Brezhnev (; 31 March 1933 – 3 August 2013) was a Soviet politician and the son of Soviet politician and longtime Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and Viktoria Denisova.
Life and career
Before his retirement, Brezhnev was a ...
, son of
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 190610 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, his death in 1982 as w ...
. Later in 1979, he was named as Progres' general director, a role he would hold until his death. From 1989 until 1994, he was the president of
FK Partizan
Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; ), often referred to in English as Partizan Belgrade, is a Serbian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Belgrade. It forms ...
's executive board. One of his more notable moves while at the post was bringing
Predrag Mijatović
Predrag Mijatović ( sr-cyrl, Предраг Мијатовић; born 19 January 1969) is a Montenegrin Association football, football administrator and former player who played as a Striker (association football), striker.
At club level, Mijato ...
to the club in December 1989. Mijatović, at the time a young promising player from
Titograd
Podgorica ( cnr-Cyrl, Подгорица; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city is just north of Lake Skadar and close to coastal destinations on the Adriatic Sea. Histor ...
's
FK Budućnost, was very close to signing with
Hajduk Split
Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...
when Marjanović stepped in and convinced him to come to
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
. Upon leaving the club, Marjanović was named Partizan's honorary president.
Political career
Marjanović was previously a member of the
ruling party
The ruling party or governing party in a democratic parliamentary or presidential system is the political party or coalition holding a majority of elected positions in a parliament, in the case of parliamentary systems, or holding the executive ...
of
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 ...
until its dissolution in 1990 and shortly after that he became a member of the
Socialist Party of Serbia
The Socialist Party of Serbia (, abbr. SPS) is a populist political party in Serbia. Ivica Dačić has led SPS as its president since 2006.
SPS was founded in 1990 as a merger of the League of Communists of Serbia and Socialist Alliance ...
. He quickly rose up through the ranks and after the
1993 parliamentary election he was chosen by Milošević as his prime minister. Some of the laws that were passed during his tenure allowed for the repression of
professors
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...
,
students
A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject.
In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school ...
and
journalists
A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism.
Roles
Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
who did not support Milošević's regime.
Marjanović continued to be seen as a mere extension of Slobodan Milošević who at this time held the post of President of Yugoslavia. Sources from the top levels of Milošević's Socialist Party of Serbia described Marjanović's government modus operandi in the ''Evropljanin'' magazine: "Prime Minister Marjanović suggests something – ministers do not vote – and then Marjanović simply concludes the matter as agreed on. Of course Marjanović neither suggests nor concludes anything without first consulting Milošević". Deputy Prime Minister
Vojislav Šešelj
Vojislav Šešelj ( sr-Cyrl, Војислав Шешељ, ; born 11 October 1954) is a Serbian politician and convicted war criminal. He is the founder and president of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS). Between 1998 and 2000, he was a D ...
indirectly confirmed this operating procedure when he said the government meetings are always well prepared, never lasting longer than 15–20 minutes. This two-year period is widely seen as the most brutal whilst Serbia was led by Milošević. Marjanović's government (with Šešelj as its deputy PM), passed two of what critics consider to be the most draconian pieces of legislation in Serbian political history: the University Law that stripped the
University of Belgrade
The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia.
Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...
of its autonomy, opening the way for the government to install professors, deans and rectors, as well as the Information Law, which aimed to restrict the activities of media financed by political enemies; despite this, the media played a prominent role in the 5 October 2000 coup d'état. Similarly to his first term in office, Marjanović again took a back seat, leaving the limelight to more aggressive members of his cabinet like deputy PM Šešelj and Minister of Information
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 ...
.
Following the
Bulldozer Revolution
A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large tractor equipped with a metal blade at the front for pushing material (soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock) during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous tracks, though s ...
, he resigned on 21 October 2000 and was replaced by the transitional government led by
Democratic Opposition of Serbia
The Democratic Opposition of Serbia ( sr-cyrl, Демократска oпозиција Cрбије, Demokratska opozicija Srbije, abbr. DOS) was a wide electoral alliance of political parties in Serbia, intent on ousting the ruling Socialist Par ...
(DOS), the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), and the
Serbian Renewal Movement
The Serbian Renewal Movement (, abbr. SPO) is a liberal and monarchist political party in Serbia. It was founded in 1990 by writer Vuk Drašković, who served as the party's president until 2024. Aleksandar Cvetković is the incumbent leader. ...
(SPO). The transitional government existed until early January 2001, when a new government was elected after the
2000 parliamentary election.
Death
He died on 21 February 2006, in Belgrade, aged 68, from undisclosed causes.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marjanovic, Mirko
1937 births
2006 deaths
People from Knin
Serbs of Croatia
Socialist Party of Serbia politicians
Serbian economists
University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics alumni
Interior ministers of Serbia
Prime ministers of Serbia
20th-century Serbian politicians
21st-century Serbian politicians