Miomir Žužul

Miomir Žužul
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 23 December 2003 – 17 February 2005
Prime Minister	Ivo Sanader
Preceded by	Tonino Picula
Succeeded by	Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović
Personal details
Born	19 June 1955 (1955-06-19) (age 56) Split, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality	Croatian
Political party	Croatian Democratic Union
Alma mater	University of Zagreb Harvard Kennedy School

Miomir Žužul (born 19 June 1955 in Split^[1][2]) is a Croatian diplomat and politician.

Education

Žužul obtained a doctorate in psychology at the University of Zagreb in 1987^[2] as well as a doctorate in conflict management at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 1990 he became a full professor at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb.^[2]

He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy. ^[3]

Politics

Žužul started his political career as a member of Communist party of the Socialist Republic of Croatia. He left the party in 1987^[4] and, with the fall of communism, entered the new dominant right wing party of Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). Žužul was previously the foreign minister of Croatia (2003–2005), Croatian ambassador to the United States (1996–2000),^[2] Croatian deputy foreign minister (1992–1993)^[2] and Croatian ambassador to the United Nations (1993–1996).^[2] Žužul was involved in Washington Agreement (1994) and Dayton Agreement (1995) as a member of the Croatian negotiating team.^[2]

During his early diplomatic career, Žužul befriended many important people in American political and business circles. He has often been perceived as one of the more pro-American politicians in Croatia. In early 2000s, he was one of the most trusted allies of Ivo Sanader in his struggle for the leadership of HDZ.

He was named the new foreign minister in the Ivo Sanader government in December 2003. In 2004 various Croatian media began to publish details of alleged corruption scandals involving Žužul. Although Žužul denied those charges, even some of Sanader's allies in Sabor expressed desire to have him removed. Sanader resisted this pressure and had Žužul keep his post. The Croatian Parliament cleared Žužul of the charges brought against him, and the majority of the media outlets that initially reported corruption allegations against Žužul have retracted their stories. Court cases against the rest are pending.

However, in January 2005, Žužul announced his resignation because he did not want to pose a burden for the government, and formally left his post in February. Sanader's candidate Jadranka Kosor during presidential elections commented that she expected the resignation to come.

On 17 August 2007, OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, appointed Žužul, "to be his personal representative in a mission to Georgia on (a) missile incident that took place on 6 August," alleged to be a Russian missile strike on Georgian territory.^[5]

References

1. ^ "Miomir Žužul" (in Croatian). sabor.hr. Parliament of Croatia. http://www.sabor.hr/Default.aspx?sec=248. Retrieved 7 January 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Latinović, Andrea (10 December 2003). "Manja vlada s 12 ili 14 ministarstava" (in Croatian). Vjesnik. http://www.vjesnik.hr/pdf/2003%5C12%5C10%5C03A3.PDF. Retrieved 7 January 2011. 
3. ^ http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/index.php?en_advisoryboard
4. ^ "Miomir Žužul: Moj otac je iz rudnika vodio pokret otpora protiv Hitlera" (in Croatian). Jutarnji list. 17 January 2010. http://www.jutarnji.hr/miomir-zuzul--moj-otac-je-iz-rudnika-vodio-pokret-otpora-protiv-hitlera/493592/. Retrieved 7 January 2011. 
5. ^ "OSCE Chairman appoints personal representative for mission to Georgia on missile incident" (Press release). OSCE. http://www.osce.org/cio/item/48865. Retrieved 7 January 2011. 

Persondata
Name	Zuzul, Miomir
Alternative names
Short description	Croatian diplomat and politcian
Date of birth	19 June 1955
Place of birth	Split, SFR Yugoslavia
Date of death
Place of death