Tonino Picula

Tonino Picula
Tonino Picula; MEP
Member of the European Parliament; for Croatia
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 1 July 2013
Observer of the European Parliament for Croatia
	In office; 1 April 2012 – 1 July 2013
Mayor of Velika Gorica
	In office; 17 June 2005 – 17 June 2009
Preceded by	Ivan Šuker
Succeeded by	Dražen Barišić
Minister of Foreign Affairs
	In office; 27 January 2000 – 22 December 2003
Prime Minister	Ivica Račan
Preceded by	Mate Granić
Succeeded by	Miomir Žužul
Personal details
Born	31 August 1961; Mali Lošinj, PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia
Political party	Social Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Mirjana Mikić
Children	1
Alma mater	University of Zagreb; (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences)
Website	www.toninopicula.com/en

Tonino Picula (born 31 August 1961) is a Croatian politician currently serving his second term as a Member of the European Parliament for Croatia, had previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2000 to 2003 in the two cabinets of Ivica Račan, and as Mayor of Velika Gorica from 2005 to 2009.

After becoming involved in politics in the early 1990s, Picula served four consecutive terms as Member of the Croatian Parliament, having been elected in the 2000, 2003, 2007, and 2011 parliamentary elections.

In the 2014 European Parliament election, Picula received 125,603 preferential votes, which is more than all the other candidates who participated in this election.

Picula is a member of the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SDP). After Zoran Milanović announced on 12 September 2016 that he would not run for another term as SDP president, Picula expressed his intentions of running for the position.[1]

Biography

Early life

Picula was born in Mali Lošinj and completed both primary and secondary education at Šibenik. He graduated sociology at Zagreb's University. He is a long-time member of the SDP and was the party's Secretary of international relations from 1993 to 2000. He also led the SDP branch in Velika Gorica from 1997 to 2000. He has been member of the Croatian Parliament for several mandates.

Minister of Foreign Affairs

After the year 2000 elections in which SDP, under Ivica Račan, won in a broad coalition, he was appointed to be Foreign Minister until the end of the governments mandate in 2003. During his term in office, Croatia had several important foreign-relation successes, including becoming a candidate for NATO and the European Union and joining World Trade Organization. He signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement, as the representative of Croatia, and submitted the country's application for membership in the EU.

Later biography

During local elections in 2005, he was elected mayor of Velika Gorica. After Ivica Račan died in mid-2007, Picula ran to succeed him as president, but lost during the first round of election to Zoran Milanović and Željka Antunović.

Member of the European Parliament, 2013–present

Picula in Maidan Square, Kiev, in 2014

On 1 April 2012, Picula was appointed by the Sabor to be an (euro-)observer in the European Parliament. As a SDP member, he joined the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D). He was elected as full Member of the European Parliament in the European election of 14 April 2013, listed first on the SDP coalition list. On 1 July 2013, after Croatia joined the European Union, Picula took office as a full Member of the European Parliament (MEP). He was re-elected as MEP in the European election of 25 May 2014, listed third on the Kukuriku coalition list.

In Parliament, Picula has been serving on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the delegations for relations with Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2013. From 2014 until 2017, he was also a member of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence.

In addition to his committee assignments, Picula is one of the vice chairs of the European Parliament Intergroup on Seas, Rivers, Islands and Coastal Areas[2] and a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.[3]

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References

https://www.total-croatia-news.com/item/14021-zoran-milanovic-will-not-run-for-another-term-as-sdp-president
Chair & Board European Parliament Intergroup on Seas, Rivers, Islands and Coastal Areas.
Members European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.

Javno.com biography

External links

Media related to Tonino Picula at Wikimedia Commons

Political offices
Preceded by Mate Granić	0000Minister of Foreign Affairs0000 2000–2003	Succeeded by Miomir Žužul
Preceded by Franjo Sever	0Mayor of Velika Gorica0 2005–2009	Succeeded by Dražen Barišić

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[1] ttps://www.total-croatia-news.com/item/14021-zoran-milanovic-will-not-run-for-another-term-as-sdp-president

[2] Chair & Board European Parliament Intergroup on Seas, Rivers, Islands and Coastal Areas.

[3] Members European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.