Vesna Pusić (; born 25 March 1953) is a Croatian sociologist and politician who served as First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the centre-left cabinet of Zoran Milanović. She was Croatia's second female Foreign Minister taking the office after Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. She is known as an outspoken liberal and an advocate of European integration, anti-fascism, gender equality and LGBT rights.
After becoming involved in politics in the early 1990s, Pusić served five consecutive terms as MP, having been elected to the Croatian Parliament in the 2000, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2016 parliamentary elections. She also ran in the 2009–10 presidential election, coming in fifth out of twelve candidates. During her 2008–2011 parliament term she chaired the parliamentary committee for tracking the progress of Croatia's accession negotiations with the European Union. She also held the post of Vice-President of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR).
Early life and education
Vesna Pusić was born on 25 March 1953 in Zagreb to jurist and university professor Eugen Pusić and Višnja (née Anđelinović) Pusić, a professor of English language. She graduated from II Gymnasium in 1971, after which she enrolled in Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences from which she graduated with a degree in sociology and philosophy in 1976. In 1984, she obtained a doctorate in sociology at the same faculty (PhD Thesis: "The Role of Collective Decision-making in the Realization of Workers' Interests").
Professional career
After graduation, Pusić worked from 1975 to 1979 as a member of the International Research Group doing research on industrial democracy in twelve European countries. From 1976 to 1978 she was a researcher at the Institute of Sociology at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. Since 1978 she has been working at the Sociology Department of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and teaching courses in the Theory of Industrial Democracy and the Sociology of Politics. In 1978, Pusić was one of seven women who initiated the first feminist organization in SFR Yugoslavia Žena i društvo (Woman and society) and was widely criticized by the authorities at the time. From 1992 to 1994, she served as Head of the Department of Sociology of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Since 2010 she is still formally affiliated with the University of Zagreb, but not teaching due to her active involvement in the politics.
Pusić lectured at the University of Chicago, Cornell University, American University, The New School, International Forum for Democratic Studies, Foreign Service Institute, Georgetown University, Wilson Center, and MIT Sloan School of Management.
Political career
Vesna Pusić was one of the 28 founding members of the liberal Croatian People's Party (HNS-LD) in 1990, after participating in the Coalition of People's Accord. She left party politics in 1992, but rejoined the same party in 1997 and was later its president between 2000 and 2008, and again since 2013. She first entered the Croatian Parliament in the 2000 parliamentary election, and has been reelected in 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015.
In 1992 Pusić was the co-founder and director of the Erasmus Guild, a nongovernmental, nonpartisan think-tank for the culture of democracy, and the publisher and editor of the journal Erasmus, focusing specifically on different issues of transition in Croatia, countries of former Yugoslavia and Eastern Europe. Erasmus Guild ceased operations in 1998.
In 2005 and 2008, she was made Chairwoman of the National Committee for EU negotiations, the body that oversees accession negotiations and is composed of members of parliament as well as representatives of the President, the academic community, employers, and union representatives. In 2006 and 2008 she was elected vice-president of ELDR.
In the Croatian presidential election, 2009–2010, Pusić was the HNS-LD candidate. She won 7.25% in the first round, placing fifth out of twelve candidates, and was thus eliminated from the second round.
After Kukuriku coalition won the 2011 parliamentary elections, Pusić served as Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the center-left Cabinet of Zoran Milanović. After Radimir Čačić was expelled from the Croatian People's Party on 23 March 2013 because of his attempts to destabilize the party, Pusić become party president once again.
Pusić was reelected to the Parliament on 2015 parliamentary elections and served as a Deputy Speaker of the Croatian Parliament between 3 February 2016 and 14 October 2016.