Ivan Jakovčić (born 15 November 1957) is a Croatian politician who served as

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...

Istria County Istria County (; ; , "Istrian Region") is the westernmost Counties of Croatia, county of Croatia which includes the majority of the Istrian peninsula. Administrative centers in the county are Pazin, Pula and Poreč. Istria County has the larg ...

from 2001 to 2013.

Political career

After finishing primary and secondary education in Poreč, Jakovčić graduated from the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

Faculty of Foreign Trade in 1980. In the 1980s Jakovčić worked in exports and marketing divisions of the Istrian company Pazinka and after that became an entrepreneur and took part in investments in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and Croatia. In 1991 he entered politics and was elected chairman of the

Istrian Democratic Assembly The Istrian Democratic Assembly (, or IDS-DDI) is a centre to centre-left, regionalist, liberal political party in Croatia primarily operating in Istria County. IDS was founded on the 14 February 1990 by the writer Ivan Pauletta. IDS embra ...

(IDS), an Istrian regional party. He was elected to the

Croatian Parliament The Croatian Parliament () or the Sabor is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Croatia. Under the terms of the Constitution of Croatia, Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the nation, people and is vested with legislative power. ...

five times, in the

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

and

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

elections. After the opposition won the 2000 elections IDS formed a coalition with the

Social Democratic Party of Croatia The Social Democratic Party of Croatia (, SDP) is a Social democracy, social democratic political party in Croatia. The SDP is Anti-fascism, anti-fascist, Progressivism, progressive, and strongly Pro-Europeanism, pro-European. The SDP was forme ...

(SDP) and several other parties, and Jakovčić was appointed minister of the newly established Ministry of European Integration. However, when IDS decided to leave the ruling coalition in 2001 he resigned and ran in the local elections held the same year. After IDS won the local elections, Jakovčić became the head of the

, position he held until 2013 after being re-elected in 2005 and 2009. Jakovčić is also the longest serving party chairman in modern Croatia, having been leader of IDS continuously since 1991. His sixth consecutive term as head of IDS was confirmed by

acclamation An acclamation is a form of election that does not use a ballot. It derives from the ancient Roman word ''acclamatio'', a kind of ritual greeting and expression of approval towards imperial officials in certain social contexts. Voting Voice vot ...

at the party convention held on 14 February 2010. From 2014 until 2019, Jakovčić was a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

Controversy

On October 23, 2014, the European Parliament received a request to remove Jakovčić's immunity. He ultimately had his immunity lifted, paving the way for a defamation lawsuit against him to proceed. At the time, he was being pursued by Austrian businessman Georg List who had been attempting to build a polo facility and blamed Dalmatian local authorities for placing obstacles in his way. When asked to comment in July 2014, Jakovčić is alleged to have said “I do not comment on idiots”, prompting the lawsuit.James Panichi (March 26, 2015)
Committee recommends lifting of MEPs’ immunity
''

European Voice ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the American news organization ''Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices in ...

''.

References

External links

Ivan Jakovčić
at the

website
Ivan Jakovčić
at the

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Jakovcic, Ivan 1957 births Living people People from Poreč Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb alumni Istrian Democratic Assembly politicians European integration ministers of Croatia MEPs for Croatia 2014–2019 Prefects of counties in Croatia