Vesna Pusic

Vesna Pusić has been actively involved in Croatian and international politics for more than two decades; co-founder and long standing leader of the Croatian People’s Party -– Liberal Democrats -- she held the office of First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, served as Deputy Speaker of Parliament and chaired the Parliamentary Committee on monitoring Croatia’s accession to the EU. She was also elected Vice- President of the European Liberals (ALDE Party) in three terms. At the moment she is serving as Deputy Speaker of Croatian Parliament in her second term.

As a social activist Vesna Pusić was a co-founder of the first feminist group in the former Yugoslavia which, in 1979, was a very controversial concept, both politically and socially. The group was the seminal women’s and feminist organization in Yugoslavia and Croatia for years to come. In 1992 Ms. Pusić co-founded and became director of the Erasmus Guild, a nongovernment, non-partisan think-tank for the culture of democracy. All of the activities of the Erasmus Guild focused on advocating dialogue and finding peaceful solutions for the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, fighting extreme nationalism and providing critical analysis of authoritarian regimes in the region.