Ljerka Mintas-Hodak

Ljerka Mintas-Hodak (born 26 January 1952) is a Croatian politician and jurist who served as a Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia, and first Minister of European Integration. Mintas-Hodak co-founded the Zagreb School of Economics and Management and after she retired from government service, she became manager of the Law Department. She also manages the Ivana Hodak Foundation that was created in honor of here late daughter.

Ljerka Mintas-Hodak
Born (1952-01-26) 26 January 1952
Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia)
NationalityCroatian
OccupationLawyer, politician, professor
Years active1979–
Spouse(s)Zvonimir Hodak

Biography

Ljerka Mintas was born on 26 January 1952 in Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia). In 1975, she graduated with a law degree from the University of Zagreb[1] and began practicing law. In 1980, she began a research post at the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences[2] and earned a Master of Science degree.[1] In 1981, she married attorney Zvonimir Hodak and they subsequently had one child.[3] While continuing her work as a research assistant, Mintas-Hodak earned her doctorate in Maritime Law in 1989 from the University of Zagreb.[1] In 1991 she became one of the inaugural members of the Croatian Maritime Law Association, serving as its first vice president.[4]

That same year, Mintas-Hodak joined the Croatian Social Liberal Party (Croatian: Hrvatska socijalno liberalna stranka) (HSLS) and became an advisor on maritime law to the office of President Franjo Tuđman. Within four months, she was appointed to head the European Community Monitoring Mission of Croatia. In 1993, she changed parties, joining the Croatian Democratic Union (Croatian: Hrvatska demokratska zajednica (HDZ) and was made assistant minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Communications.[3] In 1995, she joined the government of Prime Minister Zlatko Mateša as Deputy Prime Minister for Internal and Social Affairs.[3][5] When the government created a Ministry for European Integration in 1998, Mintas-Hodak was appointed the first Minister of European Integration and within a year, her ministry had developed a plan to facilitate membership in the European Union.[6] Among her concerns were human rights violations within Croatia,[7] but the plan also encompassed requirements from the EU on voting rights and transparency, treatment of refugees[8] and minorities, economic reforms, legal reforms, and cooperation with the tribunal on-going at the Hague for the former-Yugoslavia.[9] The final document, Plan of Integration Activities was edited by Mintas-Hodak. From 2000 to 2003 she served as a Member of Parliament.[3] In the 2017 Zagreb local elections Mintas-Hodak was elected member of the Zagreb City Assembly as a candidate of Milan Bandić's party list.[10]

During her time in government, Mintas-Hodak published numerous papers on maritime law prior to 1996[11] and with a government reshuffle in 2002, she planned her retirement.[3] That year, she helped found the Zagreb School of Economics and Management (Croatian: Zagrebačka škola ekonomije i managementa (ZŠEM).[12] She left government service in 2003 and became a lecturer at ZŠEM.[3] She also returned to writing and published two textbooks.[11]

In 2008, Mintas-Hodak's only child, Ivana, was murdered.[13][14] Mintas-Hodak established the humanitarian Ivana Hodak Foundation, in her daughter's memory to provide educational scholarships in law or economics for young people. In addition, she has assisted African orphans in Burundi, Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.[3]

References
  1. "Ljerka Mintas Hodak, PhD". Zagreb, Croatia: Zagreb School of Economics and Management. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  2. "Activities of the Government of the Republic of Croatia in the Process of European Integration" (PDF). Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Archive of European Integration. 1999. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  3. "Ljerka Mintas Hodak" (in Croatian). Zagreb, Croatia: Večernji list. 14 June 2014. Archived from the original on 14 June 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  4. Comite Maritime International (1992). "Yearbook 1992 Annuaire" (PDF). Belgium: Comite Maritime International. p. 33. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  5. Hunter, Brian (1998). Hunter, Brian (ed.). The Statesman's Year-Book 1997-98. p. 396. doi:10.1057/9780230271265. ISBN 9780230271265.
  6. Bartlett 2004, p. 74.
  7. "Contact Group agrees to Kosovo resolution". CNN. Reuters. 17 March 1998. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  8. Cvijetic, Sasa (1 November 1999). "News Review for Croatia". Central Europe Review. 1 (19). Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  9. Bartlett 2004, p. 76.
  10. "U ZG skupštinu ulaze poznata glazbenica, bivše ministrice, proslavljeni filmski producent..." dnevnik.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  11. Jerbic, Ivan (29 February 2012). "Head of the law department - dr. Ljerka MIntas - Hodak". Live From Campus. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  12. Orešić, Boris (23 July 2014). "Ispovijest Ljerke Mintas Hodak 'Bol nikada ne prestaje, ali nikada nisam bila na rubu'" (in Croatian). Zagreb, Croatia: Jutarnji list. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  13. Thorpe, Nick (8 October 2008). "Croatia murder prompts crackdown". London, UK: BBC. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  14. "Ubijena Ivana Hodak" (in Croatian). Zagreb, Croatia: Jutarnji list. 6 October 2008. Retrieved 5 October 2015.

Sources
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