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Valentino Vasilik
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Personal details
Born	(1968-04-29) 29 April 1968 Sisak, Hrvatska}
Political party	Independent

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović (pronounced [kȏlǐndǎ gr̩abâr̩ kitǎːr̩oʋit͡ɕ]; born 29 April 1968) is a Croatian politician serving as the 4th President of Croatia since 19 February 2015. She is the first woman to be elected as the President of the Republic, as well as the youngest, aged 46.

Before taking office of the President, Grabar Kitarović served as the first female Minister of European Affairs from 2003 to 2005 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2008 in the I and II Cabinet of Ivo Sanader, Croatian ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2011, and as first woman Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy at NATO under secretaries Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Jens Stoltenberg from 2011-2014.

Grabar-Kitarović was a member of the conservative Croatian Democratic Union party from 1993 to 2015 and one of three Croatian members of the Trilateral Commission. She had to resign both positions due to taking office of President of Croatia.

Early life and education

Kolinda Grabar was born on 29 April 1968 in Rijeka to Dubravka and Branko Grabar. She was raised mainly in her parents' village of Lopača, just north of Rijeka, where the family owned a butcher shop and a ranch.

As a high school student, she entered a student exchange program and at 17 moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico, subsequently graduating from Los Alamos High School in 1986.

Upon her return to Yugoslavia, she enrolled at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, graduating in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Spanish languages and literature. From 1995 to 1996, she attended the Diploma Course at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. In 2000 she obtained a master's degree in international relations from the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Zagreb.

In 2002–03 she attended George Washington University as a Fulbright scholar. She also received a Luksic Fellowship for the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and was a visiting scholar at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Career

In 1992, Grabar-Kitarović became an advisor to the international cooperation department of the Ministry of Science and Technology. In 1993 she joined the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). In the same year she moved to the foreign ministry, becoming an advisor. She became the head of the North American department of the foreign ministry in 1995 and held that post until 1997. That year she began to work at the Croatian embassy in Canada as a diplomatic councilor until October 1998, and then as a minister-councilor.

When Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) came to power after 2000 elections Tonino Picula become Minister of Foreign Affairs. After taking office he immediately started to remove politically appointed staff that were appointed by Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) to the high positions in diplomacy. Grabar-Kitarović was ordered to return to Croatia from Canada within next six weeks, what she at first refused to do because she was pregnant and had already made plans to give birth in Canada, but she eventually decided to return after strong pressure from the Ministry. During her stay in hospital she applied for Fulbright scholarship for studying international relations and security policy. She eventually got, moved to the United States, and become enrolled at the George Washington University. After graduating, she returned to Croatia and continued to live in Rijeka.

Two years later, she was elected to the Croatian Parliament from the seventh electoral district as a member of the Croatian Democratic Union in the 2003 parliamentary elections. With the formation of the new government led by Ivo Sanader, she became Minister of European integration which entailed the starting of negotiations for Croatia's ascension to the European Union.

After Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of European Integration were merged in 2005 Grabar-Kitarović was nominated to become the Minister of Foreign Affairs. She was confirmed by the Parliament and sworn in on 17 February 2005. Her main task as foreign minister was to guide Croatia into the European Union and NATO. On 18 January 2005 she became Head of the State Delegation for Negotiations on the Croatian accession to the European Union.

Following HDZ victory on 2007 parliamentary election and formation of Second Ivo Sanader Cabinet she was again appointed to the position of Foreign Minister, but was suddenly removed from the position on 12 January 2008. The exact reason for her removal is not known, but it is believed that she often conflicted with extremely authoritative Ivo Sander. Gordan Jandroković succeeded her.

On 8 March 2008, with President Stjepan Mesić's help, she become Croatian Ambassador to the United States where she replaced Neven Mimica. She served as Ambassador until 4 July 2011. In 2010 a scandal occurred at the Croatian US Embassy when it was discovered that Jakov Kitarović, Grabar-Kitarović's husband, was using an official embassy car for private purposes. Member of the Embassy security was following and filming Mr. Kitarović for days. Footages were posted on YouTube but were later removed. Minister Jandroković launched an internal investigation because of Jakov Kitarović's unauthorized usage of the official car and also because of unauthorized filming members of the diplomatic staff and their families. Investigation showed that Grabar-Kitarović was, despite having official embassy car Cadillac DTS with a driver available for her 24 hours a day, using another Embassy car, Toyota Sienna, for private matters. Grabar-Kitarović justified that her duties last for 24 hours and that she cannot separate business from private life. She later paid for all costs that occurred due to her husband's unauthorized using of the car, while the member of Embassy security that was filming her family was fired.

In 2011 Grabar-Kitarović submitted her resignation as ambassador and on 4 June 2011 became Assistant Secretary General of NATO for Public Diplomacy. She was criticized because of the way she left. Grabar-Kitarović did not inform Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor in advance that she planned to resign so Kosor was not prepared to appoint a new ambassador on time. The position of Croatian Ambassador to the United States was vacant for almost nine months. Grabar-Kitarović said that she did inform newly elected President Ivo Josipović who confirmed that in December 2014, stating that he gave his contribution to her appointment to NATO by writing written opinion that she needed from someone reputable. Grabar-Kitarović said that she offered on two occasions to Jadranka Kosor to return to Croatia and to make herself available to HDZ for the 2011 parliamentary elections but Kosor just ignored her so she decided not to communicate with her any further. Grabar-Kitarović saw an ad for job in NATO in The Economist. She thought that this job was great for her but did not apply. When NATO has not chosen a candidate in two rounds she finally applied in the third round and succeeded. During her mandate in NATO she often visited Afghanistan and Croatian soldiers that are deployed there on peacekeeping missions. Her job was to take care of "communication strategy and bringing NATO closer to the common people". Colleagues from NATO were calling her SWAMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed). Grabar-Kitarović is the first woman ever to be appointed to the position. She served as Assistant Secretary General in NATO until 2 October 2014.

She was invited to join the Trilateral Commission and became an official member in April 2013.

Presidential candidacy

Main article: Croatian presidential election, 2014–15

Croatian daily newspaper Jutarnji List published an article in September 2012 stating that Grabar-Kitarović was being considered as a possible candidate for the 2014–15 Croatian presidential election by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). It was confirmed in mid-2014 that she was to become the party's official candidate, going up against incumbent Ivo Josipović and newcomers Ivan Vilibor Sinčić and Milan Kujundžić. In the first round of election in December 2014 Grabar-Kitarovic won 37.2% of the vote, second to Josipović who received 38.5%, while Sinčić and Kujundžić won 16.4% and 6.3% of the vote respectively. Since no candidate received more than 50% of the vote, a run-off election was scheduled between the top two candidates, Josipović and Grabar-Kitarović, in two weeks time.

The run-off took place on 11 January 2015, with Grabar-Kitarović winning 50.7% of the vote. She became Croatia's first female president-elect. She was ceremonially sworn into office on 15 February, and assumed office officially on 19 February 2015.

Presidency (2015–present)

Less than nine months into Grabar-Kitarović's term the european migrant crisis began to escalate with large numbers of migrants entering Greece and Macedonia and crossing Serbia into Hungary, with the latter beginning the construction of a fence on its southern border. In September 2015, after Hungary constructed a fence and closed its border with Serbia, the flow of migrants was redirected towards Croatia, causing over 21,000 migrants to enter the country by 19 September, with the number rising to 39,000 immigrants, while 32,000 having exited Croatia, leaving through Slovenia and Hungary. She appointed Andrija Hebrang her commissioner for the refugee crisis. With the parliament expected to dissolve by 25 September, Grabar-Kitarović called parliamentary elections for 8 November 2015. They proved inconclusive and negotiations lasted for 76 days. Grabar-Kitarović had announced on 22 December 2015 that if there were no agreement about a possible Prime Minister-designate, in the next 24 hours, that she will call for an early elections, putting under intense pressure the political parties involved in the negotiations about the new government. It ended on 23 December 2015 when Grabar-Kitarović finally gave Tihomir Orešković the mandate to form a new government.

Personal life

Grabar-Kitarović has been married to her husband Jakov Kitarović since 1996 and they have two children: Katarina (born c. 2001) and Luka (born c. 2003). She speaks Croatian, English, Spanish and Portuguese fluently and has basic understanding of German, French, and Italian.