Dubravka Šuica

Dubravka Šuica
Šuica in 2017
Vice-President of the European Commission
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 December 2019
President	Ursula von der Leyen
European Commissioner for Democracy and Demography
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 December 2019
Member of the European Parliament
In office 1 July 2013 – 30 November 2019
Succeeded by	Sunčana Glavak
Constituency	Croatia
Mayor of Dubrovnik
In office October 2001 – June 2009
Preceded by	Vido Bogdanović
Succeeded by	Andro Vlahušić
Member of the Sabor
In office 2 February 2000 – 22 December 2011
Constituency	X electoral district
Personal details
Born	Dubravka Luetić (1957-05-20) 20 May 1957 (age 66) Dubrovnik, Croatia
Political party	Croatian Croatian Democratic Union  EU European People's Party
Spouse	Stijepo Šuica
Children	1
Alma mater	University of Zagreb

Dubravka Šuica (née Luetić) (born 20 May 1957) is a Croatian politician of the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) who has been Vice-President of the European Commission for Democracy and Demography since 2019. She previously served as a member of the European Parliament from 2013 to 2019.^[1]

She served two consecutive terms as mayor of Dubrovnik between 2001 and 2009. She was the first female mayor of Dubrovnik and one of the first female mayors of major

Dubravka Šuica was born in Dubrovnik, Croatia. She graduated from the Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in 1981, majoring in English and literature and German language.

Before her political career, Dubravka Šuica worked for 20 years as a high school teacher, university professor and principal in Dubrovnik. She became active in politics in 1990, joining Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) before the first democratic elections in Croatia. Since 1998, she served as head of HDZ Dubrovnik branch up until 2014.

In 2001, Šuica was elected as first ever female mayor of Dubrovnik. She was re-elected in 2005 and served as the mayor till 2009.

She was elected as the member of Croatian Parliament three times, in the 2000, 2003 and 2007 parliamentary elections. She held several positions in Croatian Parliament Committees. She was Chairwoman of the committee, Family, Youth and Sports (2000 – 2003) and also vice-chairwoman of the Committee on European Affairs during the Croatia's accession period (2007–2011).

In 2004, Dubravka Šuica was elected one of the vice-presidents of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. She was reelected to that position in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012.

In May 2012, Dubravka Šuica was elected vice-president of the HDZ at the national level. She was also the president of the Foreign and European Affairs Committee of HDZ.

In October 2012, she was elected vice-president of EPP Women and she still holds this position.^[2]

In the

Dubravka Šuica was re-elected MEP at the 2019 election, for the third consecutive time.

In June 2019, she was elected as first vice-president of the European People's Party (EPP) in European Parliament. As of 2013 to 2019, she was also head of the Croatian EPP delegation in the Parliament.

In August 2019, Dubravka Šuica was nominated as a candidate for European Commissioner from Croatia, and on 10 July 2019 President-elect Ursula von der Leyen assigned her the role of Vice-President designate for Democracy and Demography. As of 1 December 2019, she is Vice President of the European Commission for Democracy and Demography.

References

External links

• European Parliament MEP profile
• World Mayor profile
• Profile at the Croatian Parliament website (in Croatian)
• * Personal webpage