Deputy Ivo Sanader Role Croatian Politician Preceded by Zdenko Skrabalo Party Croatian Democratic Union | Nationality Croatian Succeeded by Tonino Picula Name Mate Granic | |
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Prime Minister Nikica Valentic (1993–1995)
Zlatko Matesa (1995–2000) Born 19 September 1947 (age 76)
Baska Voda, FPR Yugoslavia ( 1947-09-19 ) Political party Croatian Democratic Union Alma mater University of Zagreb
(School of Medicine) Education School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, University of Zagreb Similar People Vesna Skare‑Ozbolt, Hrvoje Sarinic, Franjo Tudman, Slobodan Lang, Radovan Fuchs | ||
CROATIA: CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER MATE GRANIC PRESS CONFERENCE
Mate Granić (born 19 September 1947) is a Croatian diplomat and politician who was part of the Croatian Government in much of the 1990s.
Granić was born in Baška Voda in Dalmatia (then PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia). He graduated from a gymnasium in Split and the medical faculty of the University of Zagreb to become a doctor by profession.
Mate Granić served as the foreign minister of Croatia from 1993 until 2000. He was a member of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and a close associate of Franjo Tuđman. As foreign minister, Granić helped negotiate a peace treaty between Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia and he visited Serbia in 1996.
Granić was considered to be a leader of HDZ moderates. His objective as foreign minister was to justify Croatian policies towards Bosnia and Krajina and protecting Croatia from UN sanctions. He did that successfully, which combined with his mild nature made him one of the most popular HDZ politicians.
His general popularity made him a natural choice for party's presidential candidate after the Tuđman's death. In January 2000, Granić entered the presidential election, but was eliminated in the first round, coming in third place with 22.5% of the vote. He was not a great campaigner nor a natural populist, which probably led to his crushing defeat.
When a new cabinet took office later that month, now with the HDZ without the presidency or control of the Parliament, Granić lost his post as foreign minister. Afterwards, Granić's led a splinter faction of HDZ to form the Democratic Centre (Demokratski Centar). Granić believed that HDZ will be completely overtaken by radicals led by Ivić Pašalić, former Tuđman's interior politics consultant, and that's why he founded a new party.
However, not all moderates followed Granić, and in 2002 they finally won a bitter inner-party struggle with far right. Granić's former protégé Ivo Sanader became party's leader, and all that made DC politically indistinct from HDZ. As a result, the party barely survived 2003 elections, securing only one parliamentary seat, for Vesna Škare-Ožbolt who later became the Minister of Justice in Sanader's government.
Granić left DC and seemingly retired from public life after the election. In 2004 he founded a consulting company called MAGRA Ltd. in Zagreb. In 2005, he became a special advisor to the presidency of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP).
In the 2007 parliamentary election he headed the HSP election list in the 3rd election unit. The list failed to attain a seat in the Parliament.
Granić is married with three children. His brother Goran Granić is a prominent Croatian politician, but unlike Mate, Goran is a liberal.