Božo Petrov

Božo Petrov (Croatian pronunciation: [ˌbǒːʒo ˈpětroʋ]; born 16 October 1979[1]) is a Croatian politician and psychiatrist who served as the 11th Speaker of the Croatian Parliament since independence and the 21st Speaker overall, from 2016 to 2017. He previously served as mayor of Metković[2][3] from 2013 to 2016, and Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet of Tihomir Orešković from January until his election as the Speaker in October 2016. Since 2012 he has been leader of the Bridge of Independent Lists party. Petrov resigned his position as the Speaker on 4 May 2017, amidst a government and parliamentary crisis. Having held the office for a little over six months, Petrov is to date the shortest serving Speaker of the Parliament since 1991.

Božo Petrov
Vice Speaker of the Croatian Parliament
In office 30 June 2017 – 22 July 2020
Preceded by	Ivan Vrdoljak
Succeeded by	Miroslav Škoro
Speaker of the Croatian Parliament
In office 14 October 2016 – 5 May 2017
Preceded by	Željko Reiner
Succeeded by	Gordan Jandroković
Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia
In office 22 January 2016 – 14 October 2016
Prime Minister	Tihomir Orešković
Preceded by	Branko Grčić Ranko Ostojić Milanka Opačić
Mayor of Metković
In office 2 June 2013 – 22 January 2016
Preceded by	Stipo Gabrić
Succeeded by	Katarina Ujdur
President of the Bridge of Independent Lists
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 November 2012
Deputy	Miroslav Šimić Robert Podolnjak
Preceded by	Position established
Personal details
Born	(1979-10-16) 16 October 1979 Metković, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia
Political party	Bridge of Independent Lists (2012–present)
Spouse(s)	Maša Petrov
Children	Jakov Dominik Andrija
Alma mater	University of Mostar

Early life and family

Petrov was born in Metković to locksmith Jakov, and Marija Petrov, a bookkeeper. He has an elder sister, Nikolina, and two younger brothers, Branimir and Ivan.[4] Petrov attended elementary school in his hometown and high school (classical (Christian) gymnasium) in Sinj. At the age of 14 he decided to join the Franciscan order, but eventually changed his mind.[5]

Petrov graduated from the Medical Faculty of the University of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and specialized psychiatry in the Psychiatric Hospital Vrapče in Zagreb, after which he worked as a psychiatrist at the University Clinical Hospital in Mostar.[3][6]

He is married to Maša Petrov, a primary school teacher with whom he has three sons: Jakov, Dominik and Andrija.

Political career

Petrov began his political career as an independent candidate in the 2011 parliamentary election on the list of the conservative Croatian Growth (Hrast) party. He eventually ended his collaboration with Hrast because "they betrayed its members and sided with the HDZ", which he did not approve.[7]

On 17 November 2012, Petrov and other local politicians and activists life founded the Bridge of Independent Lists (Most) as a regionalist political platform and was chosen as its first president.[8]

In 2013, the Bridge of Independent Lists participated in the local elections in the town of Metković. The party won 46.25% of votes and 9 out of 17 seats in the City Council.[9] Petrov won 45.78% of the votes and entered the second round of election for the mayor against Stipe Gabrić Jambo, incumbent mayor since 1997. In the second round Petrov won with 67.94% of the votes and became the mayor of his hometown. At the same election, Bridge of Independent Lists won 9.97% of the votes in county elections and entered the County Assembly of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County.[10]

As mayor, Petrov cut his and the city councillors' wage to the minimum. Finding a city debt of HRK 17.6 million, he managed to bring it down by 6.4 million, or 36%. His deputies work as volunteers, while the councillors' fees amount to a symbolic 1 HRK. Petrov abolished also the compensation to the members of supervisory boards and management councils, and representation expenses decreased by 10 times and travel costs by 8 times. He also terminated several expensive public contracts, and introduced transparency in public spending. His work to sanitize the city's budget got him to be declared the best mayor in the region.[3] After having halved the city debt, he increased the salaries of the city administration, but they remained 30% lower than they were at the time he took office as mayor.[11]

2015 parliamentary election

Main article: 2015 Croatian parliamentary election

For the 2015 parliamentary election, Petrov's Most party went national and was joined by independent local politicians from other parts of the country. Led by Petrov, the party campaigned for fiscal responsibility, reduction of government spending and public debt, tax cuts, reforms in the public sector and the reduction of administrative divisions in Croatia.[12][13]

Petrov's party turned out the surprise of the election, with 13.17% of the votes and 19 seats in the Croatian Parliament. The party had a crucial role in forming the new government and started negotiations with the ruling centre-left Croatia is Growing coalition, centred around the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and the opposition centre-right Patriotic Coalition, centred around the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).[14] Members of the party said that they won’t join any of the two coalitions in forming the new government unless their reform agenda is adopted.[15] After more than 40 days of negotiations and numerous twists, Most decided to give its support to a government led by the HDZ, giving them a slim majority of 78 seats. They nominated the Croatian Canadian businessman Tihomir Orešković to be the next Prime Minister.[16][17]

Deputy Prime Minister (2016)

The new government was approved by the Sabor on 22 January 2016. Petrov was named Deputy Prime Minister.[18][19] Along with Petrov, six ministers in the government were nominated by Most.[20]

In February, the Most party prepared amendments for reducing benefits of members of the parliament, but the bill was stopped and did not reach voting in the Sabor. The party accused HDZ and SDP for blocking the bill.[21]

In March, Petrov and his party announced amendments to the law regulating the rights of former presidents of Croatia that would rescind the Office of the Former President. This move revoked the entitlements of former president Stjepan Mesić, who criticised the move, and saved around 600,000 HRK to the government budget.[22] In the same month, Petrov started negotiations with labour union representatives over a 6 percent wage increase for public sector workers, as GDP grew over 2% for two consecutive quarters. The wage rise was signed in 2009 by the Government of Ivo Sanader with labour unions. The government had not planned funds for the wage increase in the 2016 budget and wanted to negotiate new terms of the contract, as there was no money for its implementation.[23]

Relations between Most and the Patriotic Coalition have long been strained and continued to deteriorate in May. Members of HDZ started talking about reshuffling the government.[24] After it was revealed that the wife of Tomislav Karamarko had business with the consultant of Hungarian oil company MOL, Petrov and his party called for Karamarko to resign due to political responsibility. A vote of no confidence was started by SDP in the Sabor, which was backed by ministers and MPs from the Most party.[25][26] After Karamarko refused to step down, Petrov said that he and ministers from his party are ready to resign if Karamarko remained in the government, adding that "an individual should never be above the state".[27] On 3 June, in an attempt at a compromise solution, Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković called on Petrov and Karamarko to resign for the sake of stability of the country. Orešković said that their relations have become a burden for the government. Petrov responded that he is ready to step down if it will help stabilise the situation in the country,[28] while Karamarko refused to resign and stressed out that Orešković no longer has the support of HDZ.[29] A vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister was initiated by HDZ. Petrov's party continued to support Orešković and asked for the resignation of Karamarko.[30][31] On 16 June the confidence vote took place in the Parliament that resulted in the fall of Orešković's government by a vote of 125 MPs in favour, 15 against and 2 abstentions. Both HDZ and most of the opposition voted in favour, while the Bridge of Independent Lists voted against.[32]

Speaker of Parliament (2016–2017)

Petrov was elected as the 11th Speaker of the Croatian Parliament on 14 October 2016 with 132 members of Parliament voting in favor, 1 against and 12 abstaining. Having taken office two days before his 37th birthday, Petrov became the youngest person ever to hold the position of the speaker. As per a post-election agreement between Petrov's Bridge of Independent Lists party and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, Petrov was due to serve as Speaker for a 2-year period and would thereafter have been replaced by Speaker from the HDZ, presumably the party's general secretary and former Foreign Minister Gordan Jandroković.[33] Petrov resigned from office on 4 May 2017 amidst a government crisis which began on 27 April 2017 when Prime Minister Andrej Plenković removed three government ministers supported by Petrov's Most party and escalated further to a point where Plenković's Croatian Democratic Union began to gather signatures for Petrov's removal from office via no confidence vote. Croatian Parliament formally dismissed him from his position as Speaker on 5 May 2017. Petrov remains a member of the Parliament. He was succeeded as Speaker by the former Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Gordan Jandroković on 5 May 2017.

References

1. Ivan Klarić (20 May 2013). "Božo Petrov - psihijatar koji je nanio prvi poraz Stipi Gabriću Jambi nakon 16 godina". Politika Plus. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
2. "Jambo pao: Novi gradonačelnik Metkovića psihijatar dr. Božo Petrov". Jutarnji.hr. 2013-06-02. Retrieved 2015-11-29.
3. Milan Šutalo (14 February 2014). "Božo Petrov – hrvatski političar za kakvim vape u BiH" [Božo Petrov - a Croatian politician which BiH needs]. Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
4. "U NOVOJ GLORIJI Božo Petrov - privatni život zvijezde izbora". Gloria.hr. 2015-12-18. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
5. "Božo Petrov za Telegram o abortusu, homoseksualcima, Crkvi, želji za vlasti, Zoranu Milanoviću i Dragi Prgometu". Telegram.hr. 2015-12-01. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
6. "Božo Petrov: S 14 godina sam čvrsto odlučio biti franjevac - 24sata". 24sata.hr. Retrieved 2015-11-29.
7. "Božo Petrov o bivšoj stranci: HRAST je izdao svoje članove!". Tportal.hr. 2015-11-05. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
8. "Božo Petrov nakon 14 mjeseci vođenja grada: Spasili smo Metković!". Jutarnji.hr. 2014-08-11. Retrieved 2015-11-29.
9. "KONAČAN PAD JAMBA: Mostarski liječnik u drugom krugu postaje novi gradonačelnik Metkovića?". poskok.info. 20 May 2013.
10. "Privremeni Neslužbeni Rezultati Izbora Za Županijsku Skupštinu". Izbori.hr. 2013-05-20. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-11-29.
11. Hrvoje Prnjak: Petrov stvara koaliciju nezavisnih: Mogu biti premijer, ali ću predložiti drugoga. Slobodna Dalmacija, 2. veljače 2015. Pristupljeno 2. veljače 2015.
12. "Newcomer Set For Key Role After Croatian Election". balkaninsight.com. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
13. "NU2: Ovako Božo Petrov misli riješiti probleme u Hrvatskoj". hrt.hr. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
14. "Local Mayor Becomes Croatia's New Political Star". balkaninsight.com. 11 November 2015.
15. "Croatia Independent Alliance Sets Coalition Terms". balkaninsight.com. 10 November 2015.
16. "Tihomir Orešković to Be Named as Croatian Prime Minister-Designate". Total Croatia News. 23 December 2015.
17. "Kanadski državljanin s prebivalištem u Nizozemskoj: Tko je Tihomir Tim Orešković? - Vijesti". Index.hr (in Croatian). 2015-12-19. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
18. "Croatian parliament approves new centre-right cabinet, focus on economy". Reuters. 22 January 2016.
19. "Prime Minister Orešković and His Croatian Government Take Power". Total Croatia News. 23 January 2016.
20. "Croatian parliament approves new government". China Xinhua News. 23 January 2016.
21. "Bridge says HDZ, SDP stop amendment of MP benefits' law". eblnews. 19 February 2016.
22. "Deputy PM Petrov announces cuts for former president's office". eblnews. 16 March 2016.
23. "Petrov hopes win-win situation can be brokered with unions". eblnews. 21 March 2016.
24. "Is Further Cooperation between HDZ and MOST Possible?". Total Croatia News. 8 May 2016.
25. "Croatian government rejects no-confidence vote against deputy PM". Reuters. 27 May 2016.
26. "Petrov to Karamarko: Resign by Friday, or MOST Will Vote against You". Total Croatia News. 26 May 2016.
27. "Petrov prepared to stand down as Deputy PM". eblnews. 30 May 2016.
28. "Petrov ready to resign if that will help stabilise country". eblnews. 3 June 2016.
29. "Karamarko: I'm not resigning, Oreskovic no longer enjoys HDZ's trust". eblnews. 3 June 2016.
30. "MOST: We Support Prime Minister Orešković, HDZ Should Show Us Its "Majority"". Total Croatia News. 9 June 2016.
31. "Prime Minister Orešković: I Will Not Resign, I Will Defend Myself in Parliament". Total Croatia News. 10 June 2016.
32. "Croatia government falls as PM loses no-confidence vote". Al Jazeera. 16 June 2016.
33. http://www.grude-online.info/petrov-predsjednik-sabora-dvije-godine-nakon-njega-dolazi-jandrokovic/

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by Position created	Leader of the Bridge of Independent Lists 2012–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Branko Grčić Milanka Opačić Ranko Ostojić	Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia 2016	Succeeded by Ivan Kovačić