Ivo Josipović

Ivo Josipović

3rd President of Croatia
Incumbent
Assumed office 
19 February 2010
Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor
Preceded by Stjepan Mesić
Member of Parliament
In office
22 December 2003 – 19 February 2010
Born 28 August 1957 (1957-08-28) (age 53)
Zagreb, PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia (now Croatia)
Political party None - Croatian president cannot be a member of political party[1]
Other political
affiliations		 League of Communists (1980–1990)
Social Democratic Party (1990–1994, 2008–2010)
Spouse(s) Tatjana Josipović
Alma mater University of Zagreb
Profession Professor
Lawyer
Musician
Politician
Religion None (Agnostic)[2][3][4]
Website predsjednik.hr

Ivo Josipović (Croatian pronounciation [Croatian pronunciation: [ˈiːʋɔ jɔˈsiːpɔʋitɕ]] (born 28 August 1957 in Zagreb, PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia) is the current President of Croatia.[5][6][7] Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia (SKH), and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) that replaced the SKH-SKJ. He left politics in 1994, but returned in 2003 as an independent Member of Parliament. In addition to politics, Josipović has also worked as a university professor, legal expert, musician and composer.

Josipović entered the Croatian presidential election, 2009-2010 as the official candidate of the SDP, which he had rejoined in 2008. In the first round he topped eleven rivals with 32.4% of the vote, and entered the second round with the independent candidate Milan Bandić who had secured 14.8%. He went from being almost unknown to the general public in Croatia to winning 60.26% in the final election. He campaigned for Nova Pravednost (New Justice), calling for a new social and legal framework to address the deep social injustices, corruption and organised crime. This includes the protection of individual rights and the promotion of such fundamental values as equality, human rights, LGBT rights, justice, diligence, social empathy and creativity.[8]

Josipović was inaugurated as the 3rd Croatian President on February 18, 2010, at St. Mark's Square, Zagreb.

Contents

Life, education and professional career

Josipović with his family.

Ivo Josipović's parents are originally from Baška Voda in Dalmatia. Josipović, however, was born in Zagreb, where he attended both primary school and a secondary music school. As a teenager he was a promising football player.[9]

He is married to Tatjana, civil law professor and legal expert.[10] They have one daughter, Lana (born c. 1991).[10][11]

Law

Ivo Josipović attended the Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb, from which he graduated passing his bar examination in 1980. He completed his M.A. in criminal law in 1985 and his Ph.D. in criminal sciences in 1994. He began as a lecturer at the same law faculty in 1984, and has since become a Professor for criminal procedure law, international crime law and misdemeanour law.[11]

Josipović has been a visiting researcher at a number of prestigious institutes including the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg in Breisgau, Germany, the Institute for Criminal Law of the University of Graz, Austria, as well as the HEUNI Institute (European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control) in Helsinki, Finland. He has also spent time as a private researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and Private International Law in Hamburg, Germany as well the Yale University in the USA. As member of several domestic and international legal and artists' associations he published over 85 academic and professional papers in domestic and international journals.[11] In year 1994, he co-founded the independent Hrvatski pravni centar (Croatian Law Center).[11] Josipović helped to save 180 Croatian prisoners of war from Serbian concentration camps and has represented Croatia before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).[12] He participated in several international projects and acted as a Council of Europe expert in evaluation of prisons in Ukraine, Mongolia and Azerbaijan.[11]

Music

After attending a secondary music school, he continued his music education in the Composition Department of the Zagreb Music Academy under the tutelage of renowned scholar Stanko Horvat. He graduated in 1983, majoring in composition.[10] From 1987 to 2004 he was a lecturer at the same Music Academy.[13]

He has written some 50 compositions for different instruments, chamber orchestras and the symphony orchestra. In 1985, he received a first prize from the European Broadcasting Union for his composition "Samba da Camera". In 1999, he was awarded the Porin award for the same composition,[14] followed by the Porin award in 2000 for "Tisuću lotosa" (A Thousand Lotuses).[15] His most successful pieces also include "Igra staklenih perli" (Glass Bead Play) and "Tuba Ludens".[11] These pieces are performed by numerous musicians in Croatia and abroad.[11] Since 1991, Josipović has been the director of the Music Biennale Zagreb (MBZ).[10]

Politics

In 1980 Ivo Josipović became a member of the League of Communists of Croatia. He played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP). In 1994, he left politics, the SDP and dedicated himself to law and music. Upon the invitation of Ivica Račan, acting Prime Minister at the time, he returned to politics in 2003, and became an independent MP with the SDP and Vice-President of the SDP Representatives' Group in the Croatian Parliament. During his mandate in 2005, he was also a representative in the Assembly of the City of Zagreb. In 2007, he was re-elected to the Croatian Parliament. He formally renewed his SDP membership in 2008. On July 12, 2009 he was elected the party's official presidential candidate.[11] As MP he has been on various parliamentary committees dealing with legislative, judiciary and constitutional questions, as well as for defining parliamentary rules of procedure and the political system.[11]

Presidential election

Trivia

[19]

References

  1. ↑ Constitution of Croatia, article 95 (Croatian)
  2. ↑ Cvrtila, Marijana (14 September 2009). "Teolozi o izjavi biskupa Štambuka: Predsjednik ne treba biti katolik, nego moralna osoba" (in Croatian). Slobodna Dalmacija. http://www.slobodnadalmacija.hr/Hrvatska/tabid/66/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/70100/Default.aspx. Retrieved 2009-12-27. 
  3. ↑ Pavičić, Darko (29 December 2009). "Crkva: Kaptolu nisu po mjeri ni Bandić ni Josipović" (in Croatian). Večernji list. http://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/kaptolu-nisu-mjeri-ni-bandic-ni-josipovic-clanak-72919. Retrieved 2010-01-11. 
  4. ↑ "Za Hrvatsku u kojoj korupciji izmiče tlo pod nogama" (in Croatian). josipovic.net (Official website of the presidential candidate). 8 January 2010. http://josipovic.net/ostalo/za-hrvatsku-u-kojoj-korupciji-izmice-tlo-pod-nogama/. Retrieved 2010-01-12. 
  5. ↑ "Josipović: Hvala na čestitkama! Strpimo se još malo" (in Croatian), Jutarnji list, 11 January 2010, http://www.jutarnji.hr/josipovic--hvala-na-cestitkama--strpimo-se-jos-malo/476768/ 
  6. ↑ "Ivo Josipović treći hrvatski predsjednik" (in Croatian), hrt.hr (Croatian Radiotelevision), 11 January 2010, http://www.hrt.hr/index.php?id=275&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=59082&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=274&cHash=ed56f6f29c 
  7. ↑ Social Democrat Ivo Josipovic elected Croatia president, BBC News, 11 January 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8450380.stm, retrieved 2010-02-18 .
  8. ↑ "New Justice" (PDF). Ivo Josipović Main campaign page. http://www.josipovic.net/wp-content/uploads/Ivo-Josipovic-new-justice.pdf. 
  9. ↑ Šetka, Diana (20 August 2009). "IVO I TATJANA JOSIPOVIĆ: Naših dvadeset godina ljubavi" (in Croatian). Gloria (763). http://www.gloria.com.hr/vijesti/showpage.php?id=8761. Retrieved 2009-12-31. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Ožegović, Nina (14 April 2009). "Ivo Josipovic – presidential ambitions of an avant-garde composer". Nacional (700). http://www.nacional.hr/en/clanak/50316/ivo-josipovic-presidential-ambitions-of-an-avant-garde-composer. Retrieved 2009-12-31. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 11.8 Ivo Josipović. "Resume". Main campaign page. http://www.josipovic.net/wp-content/uploads/Ivo-Josipovic-resume.pdf. 
  12. ↑ "Josipović: Sudjelovao sam u spašavanju 180 branitelja i obranio Hrvatsku od Haaga" (in Croatian). Nacional. 7 December 2009. http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/73027/josipovic-sudjelovao-sam-u-spasavanju-180-branitelja-i-obranio-hrvatsku-od-haaga. Retrieved 2009-12-31. 
  13. ↑ (Croatian) Ivo Josipović personal home page
  14. ↑ "Dobitnici Porina 1999." (in Croatian). Institute of Croatian Music Industry. 21 January 2007. http://www.porin.info/old/dobitnici-nagrade/1999-godina. Retrieved 2009-12-30. 
  15. ↑ "Dobitnici Porina 2000." (in Croatian). Institute of Croatian Music Industry. 21 January 2007. http://www.porin.info/old/dobitnici-nagrade/2000-godina. Retrieved 2009-12-30. 
  16. ↑ "12. srpnja: Jurčić ili Josipović?". sdp.hr. Social Democratic Party of Croatia. 20 June 2009. http://www.sdp.hr/vijesti/aktualno/12-srpnja-jurcic-ili-josipovic. Retrieved 2009-12-28. 
  17. ↑ http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9914/1/Ivo-Josipovic-Croatia8217s-new-president-to-write-an-opera-on-John-Lennon.html
  18. ↑ http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60B40E20100112
  19. ↑ http://www.croatiantimes.com/news/General_News/2010-03-08/9432/Croatian_President_Josipovic_comments_on_Facebook_about_farmers%B4_protest_

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Stjepan Mesić		 President of Croatia
2010–present		 Incumbent