Nikola Selaković ( sr-cyr, Никола Селаковић, ; born 30 April 1983) is a Serbian politician serving as
minister of culture
A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organiza ...
since 2024. A member 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), he previously served as
minister of justice from 2012 to 2016,
minister of foreign affairs
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 foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...
from 2020 to 2022 and as
minister of labour, employment, veteran and social policy from 2022 to 2024.
Early life and education
He was born in 1983 in
Titovo Užice. Graduated from Belgrade's Sixth Gymnasium and the
University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, where he is currently a research assistant in
comparative legal tradition.
While he was an assistant at the Faculty of Law, Selaković took a bottle of water from a
Croatian manufacturer from the student at the lecture and threw it in the garbage can, saying that he was doing it because it was not domestic water. Selaković said that he only wanted to point out to the students the necessity of buying domestic products.
During his studies, he won the oratory competition at the Faculty of Law three times. He was a member of the team at the international competition in the field of international public law "Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition", and in 2007 he received the first prize of the Alan Watson Foundation for the project "
Dušan's Code and Legal Transcripts".
Selaković is the founder, and in the period from 2011 to 2012, he was also the president of the Serbian Cultural Circle "
Despot Stefan Lazarević". Since 2010, he has been the president of the "Oratoria" Institute - Center for Rhetoric. He has been a member since 2003, and since 2005 he has been the secretary of the Club of Lovers of Ancient and Roman Law at the Faculty of Law "Forum Romanum".
Political career
According to some sources, Selaković joined the
Serbian Radical Party in 2001 out of revolt against the ruling
DOS coalition after his father, a member of the
Socialist Party of Serbia was fired from his job, because he was a member of that party.
He has been a member of the Serbian Progressive Party since 2008, a member of the party's Executive Board and president of the party's Legal Council.
He served as
Minister of Justice and State Administration in the
Government of Serbia and the
cabinet of
Ivica Dačić in the period from 2012 to 2014, and then as
Minister of Justice in the period from 2014 to 2016 in the
first cabinet of
Aleksandar Vučić.
While he was the Minister of Justice, together with the then Minister of Defense
Bratislav Gašić, Selaković organized the transfer of
Vladimir Lazarević, a convicted war criminal by plane from
The Hague
The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
and the ceremonial reception of the retired general who was released after serving two thirds of his sentence. He was Serbia's first Minister of Justice who visited Serbian detainees awaiting final
ICTY verdicts. Selaković visited
Ratko Mladić,
Radovan Kadadžić,
Dragoljub Ojdanić,
Zdravko Tolimir,
Vinko Pandurević,
Vlastimir Đorđević,
Nikola Šainović,
Sreten Lukić,
Nebojša Pavković, Vladimir Lazarević and
Momčilo Perišić.
By the decision of
President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić of 31 May 2017, he was appointed to the position of Secretary General of the President of the Republic, which he held until 27 October 2020.
Since 28 October 2020, he has been serving as the
Minister of Foreign Affairs
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 foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...
in the
second cabinet of
Ana Brnabić.
On 13 November 2020, Selaković warned that
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...
are still
discriminated against in
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
.
Personal life
He has a brother Velimir Selaković.
''Ministry of Justice web site'' Official biography of Minister. He is married to Milica and is the father of Lazar, Vasilije and Ljubica.
Notes
References
External links
Nikola Selaković, teaching assistant
Nikola Selaković
official Facebook account
{{DEFAULTSORT:Selakovic, Nikola
1983 births
Foreign ministers of Serbia
Government ministers of Serbia
Culture ministers of Serbia
Justice ministers of Serbia
Living people
Politicians from Užice
Serbian nationalists
Serbian Progressive Party politicians
Serbian Radical Party politicians
University of Belgrade Faculty of Law alumni