Radmila Šekerinska Jankovska ( ; born 10 June 1972) is a Macedonian politician who has been serving as the Deputy Secretary General of NATO since December 2024. Previously she served as the

defense minister A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

and a former leader of the

Social Democratic Union of Macedonia The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia ( – СДСМ, ''Socijaldemokratski sojuz na Makedonija'' – SDSM, – LSDM) is a social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in North Macedonia, political party, and the main Centre-l ...

(SDSM). Šekerinska was previously Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration and National Coordinator for Foreign Assistance of North Macedonia and also was the acting

Prime Minister of North Macedonia The prime minister of North Macedonia (, ), officially the President of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia (, ), is the head of government of North Macedonia. The prime minister is the head of the Government of North Macedonia, ca ...

from 12 May 2004 until 12 June 2004 and from 3 November 2004 until 15 December 2004. She was elected 5 November 2006 the SDUM leader. She is the first female (acting) prime minister of North Macedonia. Šekerinska was elected President of the

at the party Congress following a no-confidence motion against the former leader

Vlado Bučkovski Vlado Bučkovski (; born 2 December 1962) is a Macedonian politician who served as Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Prime Minister of Macedonia from 2004 to 2006. He previously served as Minister of Defense (North Macedonia), Minister of Defence ...

. She left the position after the September 2008 party congress.

Zoran Zaev Zoran Zaev (, ; born 8 October 1974) is a Macedonian economist and politician who served as prime minister of North Macedonia from May 2017 to January 2020, and again from August 2020 to January 2022. Prior to entering politics, he ran a privat ...

was appointed as her successor until May 2009, when president

Branko Crvenkovski Branko Crvenkovski (, pronounced ; born 12 October 1962) is a Macedonian politician who served as the President of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) from 2004 to 2009. He previously served as Prime Minister of Macedonia from 1992 to 1998 and from ...

's term ended. During her term as a deputy Prime Minister responsible for European Affairs, the

European Council The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body (directorial system) and a symbolic collective head of state, that defines the overall political direction and general priorities of the European Union (EU). It is composed of the he ...

, in December 2005, granted

a status of candidate country for accession to the European Union.

Early life and education

Šekerinska holds a

Master's Degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

from

The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is the graduate school of international affairs of Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts. Fletcher is one of America's oldest graduate schools of international relations. As of 2017, the student b ...

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

, which she obtained in 2007. She graduated in 1995 from Skopje's Faculty of Electrical Engineering with a degree in Power Engineering.

Political career

Šekerinska became involved in the

Open Society Institute Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is an American grantmaking network founded by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with the s ...

George Soros George Soros (born György Schwartz; August 12, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist. , he has a net worth of US$7.2 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundat ...

and in 1996 won a seat on Skopje City Council, which she held until she was elected to the Macedonian parliament in 1998. She subsequently became the deputy chairwoman of the

(SDSM). She is a member of the presidency of the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all the European Economic Area, European economic area states (EEA) plus the Unit ...

with which the SDSM is associated. From 1997 to 2002, Šekerinska worked as an assistant at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Skopje, while in 1998 she was elected as a member of the

Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia The Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia is the unicameral legislature of North Macedonia. According to the Constitution, the Sobranie represents the people and is vested with legislative power. It can have between 120 and 140 MPs (current ...

. She was elected for a deputy coordinator of the parliamentary group of the Social-Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDUM) and was a member of several parliamentary committees. Šekerinska received a second mandate as an MP at the parliamentary elections in 2002, when she was immediately assigned Vice Premier of the Republic of Macedonia responsible for European integration. Šekerinska served as spokeswoman in Crvenkovski's successful campaign for the Macedonian presidency during March–April 2004. She then served as acting prime minister for three weeks after Crvenkovski resigned to become president. Šekerinska was reappointed deputy prime minister in the government of Crvenkovski's successor as prime minister, Hari Kostov, on 3 June 2004. Šekerinska is an author of a number of scientific and expert works. On 1 May 2018, Šekerinska and U.S. Defence Secretary

James Mattis James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is an American military officer who served as the 26th United States secretary of defense from 2017 to 2019. A retired Marine Corps four-star general, he commanded forces in the Persian Gulf War, th ...

met at the

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

to discuss the defense relationship between Macedonia and the United States. Additionally, the two discussed the naming dispute between Macedonia and Greece preventing the former's accession into the EU and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, as well as Macedonia's commitment to achieving 2% spending of GDP on defense. On October 15, 2022, she was elected as one of the vice-presidents of the

. On 19 November 2024, Secretary General of

Mark Rutte Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as the 14th Secretary General of NATO, secretary general of NATO since October 2024. He previously served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, prime minister of the Neth ...

appointed Šekerinska as Deputy Secretary General of

. Šekerinska assumed office as Deputy Secretary General of

on 2 December 2024.

Other activities

European Council on Foreign Relations The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank with offices in seven European capitals. Launched in October 2007, it conducts research on European foreign and security policy and provides a meeting space for decis ...

(ECFR), Member

Recognition

Šekerinska is a winner of "Global Leaders of Tomorrow" Prize, awarded under auspices of the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

Notes

External links

Šekerinska's profile on the government's official website

"Sekerinska elected leader of Macedonia's main opposition party" 6 November 2006 on setimes.com

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sekerinska, Radmila 1972 births Living people Female defence ministers Ministers of defence of North Macedonia Deputy prime ministers of North Macedonia Members of the Assembly of North Macedonia People from Skopje Politicians from Skopje Prime ministers of North Macedonia Social Democratic Union of Macedonia politicians Women government ministers of North Macedonia Women prime ministers in Europe 21st-century Macedonian women politicians 21st-century Macedonian politicians