Dubravka Filipovski

Dubravka Filipovski (Serbian Cyrillic: Дубравка Филиповски; born January 27, 1967), née Čekanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Чекановић)[1] is a politician in Serbia. She has served in the National Assembly of Serbia since 2012. Previously a member of New Serbia, Filipovski has been a member of the Serbian Progressive Party since November 2017.

Early life and career

Filipovski was born in Novi Pazar, in the Sandžak region of what was then the Socialist Republic of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. She is a graduate of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy, and from 1992 to 1994 she was an assistant in the university's department of adult education. She worked in the private sector from 1994 to 2004.[2]

New Serbia official

Filipovski joined New Serbia in 2004 and was appointed as a party spokesperson later in the same year.[3] She appeared on the party's electoral list for the City Assembly of Belgrade in the 2004 Serbian local elections.[4] The list did not cross the electoral threshold to win any mandates.[5] In November 2005, she was chosen as a party vice-chair.[6]

New Serbia contested both the 2007 and 2008 parliamentary elections in an alliance with the Democratic Party of Serbia; Filipovski received the eighth position on the coalition's electoral list in each instance,[7] although she did not take a seat in parliament on either occasion. She also received the eighth position on the coalition's list for the Belgrade city assembly in the 2008 local elections.[8] The list won twelve mandates,[9] though she did not take a seat in the city assembly either. (From 2000 to 2011, mandates in Serbian elections were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for mandates to be awarded out of numerical order.)[10]

In July 2007, Serbian president Boris Tadić offered an apology to Croatian people and to the citizens of Croatia for crimes that had been committed by Serbian people in the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s. This statement prompted a mixed response in Serbia. Filipovski, speaking for New Serbia, called for a political representative from Croatia to reciprocate the gesture. She was quoted as saying, "Crimes have not been committed just by Serbs. Crimes must be cleared up so that the real story would be put together in the Balkans."[11]

A media report in 2007 described Filipovski as one of two New Serbia members best positioned to succeed party leader Velimir Ilić if he were to resign his position. Filipovski acknowledged Ilić's importance to the party in this period, saying, "We could not even imagine our party without Velimir Ilić and we are proud of that."[12]

In 2008, Filipovski accused the incoming government of Serbian prime minister Mirko Cvetković of trying to carry out a "media purge" via its appointments to the news agency Tanjug and the journal Politika.[13] She later criticized a police raid on the offices of the tabloid Kurir, claiming that the action was a "prelude to dictatorship."[14]

She spoke against the proposed departure of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) from Kosovo and Metohija in 2009, arguing that the organization had an obligation to stay in the disputed region and not to cede its position to the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo.[15] Filipovski was also critical of Islamic Community in Serbia leader Muamer Zukorlić during this time, accusing him of favouring the secession of the Sandžak and of sowing discord between Bosniaks and Serbs.[16]

In February 2010, Filipovski announced that New Serbia would join with the recently formed Serbian Progressive Party in demanding new parliamentary elections.[17] Later in the year, Filipovski and Progressive Party vice-chair Aleksandar Vučić called on Serbian citizens to join a major anti-government rally planned for June 28.[18]

Filipovski also served as assistant to the president of the Voždovac municipality in Belgrade, following the establishment of a municipal governing alliance that included New Serbia. She left the position after being elected to the National Assembly in 2012.[19]

Parliamentarian

Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that parliamentary mandates were awarded in numerical order to candidates on successful lists. New Serbia joined the Progressive Party's Let's Get Serbia Moving coalition for the 2012 parliamentary election. Filipovski was given the eighteenth position on the alliance's electoral list and was duly elected when the list won seventy-three mandates.[20] After the election, New Serbia joined a coalition government led by the Progressive Party, and Filipovski served as part of the government's parliamentary majority. She received high positions on the Progressive-led lists for the 2014 and 2016 elections and was easily returned when the Progressive coalition won landslide victories on both occasions.[21]

Filipovski resigned from New Serbia in January 2017, saying that she had lost confidence in both Ilić and the party's direction. This occurred after Ilić withdrew support from prime minister Aleksandar Vučić and publicly criticized his administration.[22] A report in Tanjug from this period described Filipovski as having for many years been the only publicly recognizable personality in New Serbia other than Ilić.[23] Two other New Serbia parliamentarians, Mladen Grujić and Dragan Jovanović, also left the party in this period due to disagreements with Ilić. All three initially served as independents and continued to support Vučić's administration. Filipovski joined the Progressive Party on 17 November 2017.[24]

During the 2016–20 parliament, Filipovski served as deputy chair of the foreign affairs committee and was a member of the parliamentary defence and internal affairs committee and the committee on the rights of the child; a deputy member of the European integration committee; the leader of Serbia's parliamentary friendship groups with Egypt and Georgia; and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Albania, Bahrain, Bhutan, Canada, China, Chile, Djibouti, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Germany, Guyana, Kuwait, Latvia, Lesotho, Malawi, Micronesia, Moldova, Nepal, Oman, the Philippines, Russia, Sierra Leone, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Uganda, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.[25] She was also nominated as a substitute member of Serbia's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), where in September 2017 she became a founding member of a political grouping called the Free Democrats Group. Filipovski served as the deputy chair of this group from June 2018 to March 2019. She subsequently left the Free Democrats and, in April 2019, joined the grouping of the European People's Party. She was a member of the committee on the honouring of obligations and commitments by member states of the Council of Europe in 2019, and she currently serves as an alternate member on the committee on equality and non-discrimination, the committee on legal affairs and human rights, and the committee on social affairs, health, and sustainable development.[26]

Karić received the twenty-eighth position on the Progressive Party's Aleksandar Vučić — For Our Children electoral list for the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election[27] and was returned for a fourth term when the list won a landslide victory with 188 mandates. She is now a member of the foreign affairs committee, the European integration committee, and the committee on the rights of the child, and a deputy member of the European Union–Serbia association and stabilization committee. She was also promoted to a full member of Serbia's delegation to the PACE, continues to lead the parliamentary friendship groups with Egypt and Georgia, and serves on the friendship groups with Albania, China, Cyprus, Russia, Switzerland, and the United States of America.[28]

References
  1. Text in Serbian at the portal "Poreklo" ("Ancetry")
  2. Dubravka Filipovski, istinomer.rs, accessed 16 April 2017.
  3. See for instance "Serbia: New Serbia party launches new gazette Glasnik," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service, 22 September 2005 (Source: New Serbia party launches new gazette Glasnik).
  4. Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 48 Number 24 (8 September 2004), p. 9. She received the thirteen list position.
  5. Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 48 Number 27 (20 September 2004), p. 1.
  6. "Serbian minister re-elected party chairman," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 26 November 2005 (Source: Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1339 gmt 26 Nov 05).
  7. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Демократска странка Србије - Нова Србија - др Војислав Коштуница) Archived 2018-04-30 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 April 2017; Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Демократска Странка Србије - Нова Србија - Војислав Коштуница) Archived 2018-04-30 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 April 2017. The Democratic Party of Serbia–New Serbia list won forty-seven seats in 2007 and thirty seats in 2008.
  8. Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 52 Number 12 (30 April 2008), p. 3.
  9. Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 52 Number 18 (22 May 2008), p. 1.
  10. Serbia's Law on the Election of Representatives (2000) stipulated that parliamentary mandates would be awarded to electoral lists (Article 80) that crossed the electoral threshold (Article 81), that mandates would be given to candidates appearing on the relevant lists (Article 83), and that the submitters of the lists were responsible for selecting their parliamentary delegations within ten days of the final results being published (Article 84). See Law on the Election of Representatives, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 35/2000, made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 28 February 2017.
  11. "Serbian president's apologies to Croats cause conflicting reactions at home," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 5 July 2007 (Source: Glas javnosti, Belgrade, in Serbian 25 Jun 07).
  12. "Serbian daily accuses parties of being leader-dominated, undemocratic," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 22 September 2007 (Source: Vecernje novosti, Belgrade, in Serbian 15 Sep 07 p4).
  13. "Serbian party sees government's media appointments as "media purge"," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 13 June 2008 (Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1228gmt 13 Jun 08).
  14. "Serbian political parties slam police raid on Kurir tabloid's offices," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 18 September 2009 (Source: Glas javnosti, Belgrade, in Serbian 16 Sep 09).
  15. "Serbian, Kosovo Serb leaders oppose UNMIK leaving Kosovo, handing over to EULEX," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 20 June 1999 (Source: Glas javnosti, Belgrade, in Serbian 19 Jun 09, p2).
  16. "Sandzak Mufti opens campaign against Serbian school celebration of patron saint," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 28 January 2011 (Source: Vecernje novosti website, Belgrade, in Serbian 26 Jan 11).
  17. "Serbian Progressives start petition for new parliamentary election," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 2 February 2010 (Source: Radio Belgrade in Serbian 1400 gmt 2 Feb 10).
  18. "Serbian opposition schedules anti-government rally for 28 Jun," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 25 June 2010 (Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1226 gmt 25 Jun 10).
  19. "Ex-Serbian PM's party, Progressives to discuss forming municipalities' majority," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 23 June 2009 (Source: Radio Belgrade in Serbian 1300 gmt 23 Jun 09).
  20. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (POKRENIMO SRBIJU - TOMISLAV NIKOLIĆ) Archived 2017-09-11 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 January 2017.
  21. Filipovski received the fifteenth position in 2014 (when the alliance won 158 seats) and the thirty-third in 2016 (when the alliance won 131 seats). See Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ALEKSANDAR VUČIĆ - BUDUĆNOST U KOJU VERUJEMO) Archived 2018-05-06 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 January 2017; Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (АЛЕКСАНДАР ВУЧИЋ - СРБИЈА ПОБЕЂУЈЕ) Archived 2018-04-27 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
  22. "Filipovski napustila Novu Srbiju zbog neslaganja sa Ilićem, stranka joj traži mandat", Blic (source: Tanjug), 19 January 2017, accessed 26 April 2017.
  23. Ilić "ljut" na Vučića, Filipovski napustila NS, B92 (Source: Tanjug), 19 January 2017, accessed 26 April 2017. See also M.R. Milenković, "Zašto Ilić nije pominjao slike dok je sa Lončarem bio u vladi?", Danas, 31 January 2017, accessed 26 April 2017.
  24. "Dubravka Filipovski od danas poslanica SNS", Blic (source: Tanjug), 17 November 2017, accessed 23 March 2018.
  25. DUBRAVKA FILIPOVSKI, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 July 2020.
  26. Dubravka FILIPOVSKI, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, accessed 7 July 2020.
  27. "Ko je sve na listi SNS za republičke poslanike?", Danas, 6 March 2020, accessed 30 June 2020.
  28. DUBRAVKA FILIPOVSKI, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 10 December 2020.
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