Marija Pejčinović Burić

Marija Pejčinović Burić
Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 June 2017
Prime Minister	Andrej Plenković
Preceded by	Davor Ivo Stier
14th Minister of Foreign and European Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 June 2017
Prime Minister	Andrej Plenković
Preceded by	Davor Ivo Stier
President of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 May 2018
Preceded by	Anders Samuelsen
Personal details
Born	(1963-04-09) 9 April 1963 Mostar, Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Political party	Croatian Democratic Union
Alma mater	University of Zagreb

Marija Pejčinović Burić (pronounced [mǎrija pejt͡ʃǐːnoʋit͜ɕ bûrit͜ɕ]; born 9 April 1963 in Mostar, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia)^[1] is a Croatian politician who has been the 14th Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia and Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia (alongside Martina Dalić, Damir Krstičević and Predrag Štromar) since 19 June 2017. She is the third woman to hold the post of foreign minister, 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. She is a member of the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union party.

Pejčinović Burić graduated in Economics from the University of Zagreb in 1985. She then 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 and Deputy Secretary General of the European Movement Croatia. In 1994 she obtained a Master of Science in European Studies from the College of Europe (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.

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. 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. She served as National Coordinator for ISPA Programme (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 capitals of Croatia's EU accession negotiations (2005-2006). Since 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 Mixed Commission (2006- 2008).

In 2008 Pejčinović Burić was elected at the Parliament of Croatia for the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, representing the 6th electoral district. She held the parliamentary seat till 2011. In 2012-2013 she lectured on the Lisbon Treaty at the seminars of Croatia's State School for Public Administration.

In 2013, she left politics and administration and worked for few years as private consultant on EU, 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.

On 17 November 2016 she came back into service as State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. In June 2017 she was appointed by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic as new Foreign Affairs Minister of Croatia, replacing Davor Ivo Stier after his resignation.

See also

• List of foreign ministers in 2017
• List of current foreign ministers
• List of female foreign ministers

References