Nikola Kljusev (; October 2, 1927 – January 16, 2008) was a Macedonian politician and professor of economics who served as the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) from March 20, 1991, to September 4, 1992, following the country's independence from

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

in 1991.

Early life and education

Nikola Kljusev was born in

Štip Štip ( ) is the largest urban agglomeration in the eastern part of North Macedonia, serving as the economic, industrial, entertainment and educational focal point for the surrounding municipalities. As of the 2021 census, the city of Štip had ...

, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (now

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

), on October 2, 1927. Kljusev was imprisoned in Goli Otok. He graduated from the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

's Faculty of Economics in 1953, before obtaining his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in economics at the same university in 1964. He was the best man of Jordan Mijalkov, the first interior minister of Macedonia.

Economics

After graduating, Kljusev began his career as an assistant at the Institute for Industrial Scientific Research. In 1961, he switched to the Economics Institute in Skopje and later served as its director. Kljusev became an associate professor of the University of Skopje's Faculty of Economics in 1968 before becoming a regular professor in 1972. He became the dean of the faculty in 1985, serving until 1987. Kljusev was elected as a member of the Macedonian Academy of Arts and Sciences (MANU) in 1988, presiding over the Council of Demographic Research. He authored the books ''Koristenje na proizvodnite kapaciteti vo industrijata na SR Makedonija'' (The utilization of SR Macedonian industrial capacity; 1967) and ''Efektivnost na investicite vo industrijata na SR Makedonija'' (The productivity of industrial investments in SR Macedonia; 1969), and co-authored ''Ekonomske funkcije federacije'' (Economic functions of the federation; 1970), ''Antiteza'' (Anti-thesis; 1994), and ''Pogledi i promeni'' (Views and changes; 1995).

Politics

Kljusev became the first Prime Minister of Macedonia on March 20, 1991. He contributed to the peaceful establishment of Macedonian statehood during the

breakup of Yugoslavia After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, the constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia split apart in the early 1990s. Unresolved issues from the breakup caused a series of inter-ethnic Yugoslav ...

and the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

. Kljusev was a

non-partisan Nonpartisanship, also known as nonpartisanism, is a lack of affiliation with a political party and a lack of political bias. While an ''Oxford English Dictionary'' definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., ...

prime minister, and, thus, was not a member of any

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

while in office. The government under his leadership introduced the denar as Macedonia's new national

currency A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a ''system of money'' in common use within a specific envi ...

, established an anti-inflation programme which fixed the currency to the

German mark The Deutsche Mark (; "German mark"), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later of unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was typically c ...

, created the Macedonian army, established an independent National Bank, introduced restrictive fiscal and monetary policies, imposed a wage freeze and a limited price freeze. In July 1992, the deputies of the Macedonian Assembly voted for no-confidence in his government. Branko Crvenkovski succeeded him as prime minister on September 4. He was elected President of the Council of

VMRO-DPMNE The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (), abbreviated as VMRO-DPMNE (), is a conservative and the main centre-right to right-wing political party in North Macedonia. It was establ ...

in 1997. Kljusev returned to public office as the Defence Minister, from 1998 to 2000, in the government led by Prime Minister

Ljubčo Georgievski Ljubčo Georgievski (, ; ; born 17 January 1966) is a Macedonian politician and writer who served as the only Vice President of Macedonia from January to October 1991 and as the Prime Minister of Macedonia from 1998 to 2002. He advocated for th ...

. He advocated for Macedonia's accession into NATO, the deployment of NATO troops in Macedonia, and military cooperation with Albania.

Death and legacy

Nikola Kljusev died in his home in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

, Macedonia, on January 16, 2008, at the age of 80. His death was announced by MANU. Macedonia's Assembly and MANU commemorated him. Kljusev was buried in the Alley of the Great at the Butel cemetery in Skopje, following a funeral officiated by the head of the

Macedonian Orthodox Church The Macedonian Orthodox Church – Archdiocese of Ohrid (MOC-AO; ), or simply the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC) or the Archdiocese of Ohrid (AO), is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in North Macedonia. The Macedonian Orthodox Church ...

, Archbishop Stephen of Ohrid. The government of Macedonia declared January 18, 2008, as a national day of mourning. His daughter and granddaughter established the foundation "Memorial Center Nikola Kljusev". He was honoured posthumously with the Order 8-September by the Macedonian president Gjorge Ivanov in March 2011 for his contribution to the development of the independent Macedonian state. The Municipality of Štip posthumously honoured him with the Order "Saint Nicholas" (St. Nikola) in December 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kljusev, Nikola 1927 births 2008 deaths People from Štip Ministers of defence of North Macedonia Prime ministers of North Macedonia Eastern Orthodox Christians from North Macedonia Members of the Macedonian Orthodox Church Macedonian economists University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics alumni VMRO-DPMNE politicians Members of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts