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Martin Raguž

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Martin Raguž
Raguž in 2025
Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina
In office
18 October 2000 – 22 February 2001
PresidentHalid Genjac
Ante Jelavić
Živko Radišić
Preceded bySpasoje Tuševljak
Succeeded byBožidar Matić
Ministerial offices
Minister of Human Rights and Refugees
In office
22 June 2000 – 22 February 2001
Prime MinisterSpasoje Tuševljak
Himself
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byKrešimir Zubak
Federal Minister without portfolio
In office
15 December 1995 – 18 December 1996
Prime MinisterHaris Silajdžić
Izudin Kapetanović
Minister of Labour and Social Politicy
In office
3 March 1992 – 25 October 1993
Prime MinisterJure Pelivan
Mile Akmadžić
Parliamentary offices
Member of the House of Peoples
In office
9 June 2011 – 28 February 2019
Member of the House of Representatives
In office
9 December 2002 – 30 November 2010
Additional positions
President of the Croatian Democratic Union 1990
In office
6 July 2013 – 23 December 2015
Preceded byBožo Ljubić
Succeeded byIlija Cvitanović
Personal details
Born (1958-03-02) 2 March 1958 (age 68)
Stolac, PR Bosnia and Herzegovina, FPR Yugoslavia
PartyCroatian Democratic Union 1990 (2006–present)
Other political
affiliations
Croatian Democratic Union (1993–2006)
SSOJ (1992–1993)
SKJ (1981–1992)
SpouseMarina Raguž
Children5
EducationUniversity of Zagreb (BA)

Martin Raguž (born 2 March 1958) is a Bosnian Croat politician who served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2000 to 2001. He was a member of the national House of Peoples from 2011 to 2019, while previously he served in the House of Representatives from 2002 to 2010.

Raguž also served as the first minister of human rights and refugees from 2000 until 2001, and as the federal minister without portfolio from 1995 to 1996. He was also the minister of labour and social politicy from 1992 to 1993, during the Bosnian War. A member of the Croatian Democratic Union since 1993, Raguž left it to join its splinter party, the Croatian Democratic Union 1990. He later served as the party's president between 2013 and 2015.

Early political career

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Raguž became politically active at the time of 1990 general election, the first in the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, then a part of Yugoslavia. He was one of the founders of the liberal-oriented BiH Union of Socialist Youth.[1] He ran for the Croat member of the Presidency of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a candidate of the SSO-H party.[2][3] Of the seven Croatian candidates, Raguž finished last with a haul of 130,428 (6.13%) votes.[4]

At the beginning of the Bosnian War in 1992, Raguž was appointed Minister of Labour and Social Policy for the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, working in besieged Sarajevo. At the beginning of Croat–Bosniak War, he joined the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ BiH) and accepted an invitation by the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia to help mitigate the humanitarian crisis.[5]

Raguž worked as the deputy head of the Office for Displaced Persons, Refugees and Displaced Persons until 1993, when he was appointed head of that office, replacing Darinka Tadić.[6] He served until 1994, when it became the Ministry for Refugees and Social Affairs,[1] where he worked as deputy minister until the end of the war in 1995.[7]

Post-war political career

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After the war, Raguž was appointed federal minister without portfolio, where he remained until 1996, and was in charge of coordinating activities for the implementation of the Dayton Agreement.[7] Between 1997 and 1998, he worked for the Croat member of the presidency, Krešimir Zubak.[8] From 2000 until 2001, he served as minister of Human Rights and Refugees.[7]

Following the 2000 parliamentary election, Raguž was appointed chairman of the Council of Ministers on 18 October 2000. He served in this capacity until 22 August 2001, when he was succeeded by Božidar Matić, a member of the Social Democratic Party.[7][9] Raguž was then appointed Chairman of the Coordination Council.[10]

After the High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch removed Ante Jelavić as the Croat member of the presidency, talks began about possible successors to Jelavić as president of the HDZ BiH. The international community, as a condition of returning to political home-rule, required the removal of all politicians who participated in the creation of the self-government. Although Raguž was also part of its establishment, the international community considered him to be acceptable as the new leader of the HDZ BiH.[10] Ultimately, Bariša Čolak took over as party leader in May 2002.

April package

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After the schism within the HDZ BiH, Raguž was one of the founders of the Croatian Democratic Union 1990 (HDZ 1990) led by Božo Ljubić. The schism occurred at the time of promoting constitutional changes under the April Package, to which Ljubić objected, arguing that the package reduced the status of the Croat people in the nation to the level of a national minority. During this period, Raguž was a member of the Constitutional-Legal Committee of the national House of Representatives.[citation needed]

Of the nine members of the committee, four supported the package, which was insufficient to forward the debate to the House of Representatives. Two board members were strongly opposed to the April Package, and the U.S. Embassy, the High Representative and other representatives of the international community attempted to influence Raguž and two other board members, Beriz Belkić and Filip Andrić, towards supporting the package.[citation needed] The committee decided to adopt the draft package for a hearing before the House of Representatives on 18 April 2006. Some opponents tried but failed to insert amendments to their parties' platforms, but Raguž, under pressure from the U.S. Embassy, did not support amendments from the HDZ 1990 in the debate.[citation needed]

HDZ 1990

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Raguž speaking at a HDZ 1990 Central Committee meeting in Čitluk, 1 February 2014

Croatian prime minister Ivo Sanader visited Mostar in March 2009, announcing the "inevitability" of unification of the HDZ BiH and the HDZ 1990. Subsequently, Raguž became a leading promoter of the unification of the two parties. However, his political ambitions distanced him from his party colleagues. In April, the HDZ 1990 presidency adopted a platform for unification with the HDZ BiH providing equal representation in government. However, HDZ BiH president Dragan Čović rejected the possibility of unification in early May 2009, compounded by HDZ 1990 officials being at risk of losing their positions in the event of reunification.[citation needed]

In July 2013, Raguž succeeded Božo Ljubić as president of the HDZ 1990.[11] In March 2014, he called for the federalization of Bosnia and Herzegovina. His call was welcomed by former High Representative Christian Schwarz-Schilling.[12] In a meeting with the director of the Department of South and Central Europe of the U.S. State Department, Raguž advocated for greater impact of the United States on Bosnia and Hercegovinu.[13]

2014 presidential campaign

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On 5 July 2014, Raguž accepted the nomination of the HDZ 1990 for the Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the October general election. His nomination marked a deepening of the conflict within the Croatian National Assembly. The cornerstone of Raguž's policy was cooperation with the European Union.[14] Raguž's campaign received support from the First Bosnian party, whose president Šeherzada Delić announced official support for Raguž in the election.[15]

Raguž failed to get elected, obtaining 38.60% of the vote, while HDZ BiH leader Dragan Čović won with 52.20%.[16]

Resignation

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In December 2015, the West Herzegovina Canton HDZ 1990 board requested that Raguž resign because of "the general inactivity and inaction of the party and the party's deteriorating situation on the ground." He consequently resigned on 23 December, citing health problems, including spinal issues.[17]

References

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  1. 1 2 Time for Croatians to take responsibility for this country. Archived 7 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine Europa, August 2010. Retrieved 1 April 2014. (in Bosnian)
  2. ↑ Tomo Šimić: "Dokumenti Predsjedništva Bosne i Hercegovine 1991. - 1994.", National Security and the Future, br. 1-2, Udruga svetog Jurja, Zagreb, 2006, p. 31.
  3. ↑ Dragan Čović; Slavica Karačić; Niko Lozančić; Borjana Krišto; Zdenko Ćosić; Davor Čordaš; Mario Grgić; Rade Bošnjak; Marinko Čavara: Dvadeset godina Hrvatske demokratske zajednice Bosne i Hercegovine 1990. - 2010. Hrvatska demokratska zajednica Bosne i Hercegovine, Mostar, 2010, p. 358.
  4. ↑ Mirjana Kasapović: "Bosnia and Herzegovina", Elections in Europe: A data handbook, Nomos, Baden-Baden, 2010, p. 330.
  5. ↑ Interview during Croat–Bosniak War. Ashgate Publishing, 2012, p. 130.
  6. ↑ Narodni list Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna Archived 2014-04-07 at the Wayback Machine, 3 January 1994. (in Croatian)
  7. 1 2 3 4 Biography of Martin Raguž Deprecated link archived 2014-04-01 at archive.today. Center for Investigative Journalism. Accessed 1 April 2014. (in Bosnian)
  8. ↑ Martin Raguž - Biography. European Parliament. Accessed 1 April 2014.
  9. ↑ Records of persons who have behaved leading party and government functions at various levels in the last thirty years. National Security and the Future , no. 1-2, Association of St. George, Zagreb, 2006. (in Croatian)
  10. 1 2 Jelavić retires as president of the HDZ BiH? HIC, no. 337, 7 May 2001. Accessed 1 November 2014. (in Croatian)
  11. ↑ "Martin Raguž je novi predsjednik HDZ-a 1990" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. 6 July 2013. Retrieved 28 July 2026.
  12. ↑ Schwarz-Schilling welcomed President of HDZ 1990 Raguž federalization of BiH. Hercegovina.info, 8 March 2014. Accessed 22 September 2014 (in Croatian).
  13. ↑ Raguž: A Europeanization of Dayton and the federalization of BiH Archived 15 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Look, 30 March 2014. Accessed 22 September 2014. (in Bosnian)
  14. ↑ Martin Raguž HDZ candidate in 1990 for the Croatian member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. HRsvijeta, 5 July 2014. Accessed 22 September 2014.(in Croatian)
  15. ↑ Šeherzada Delic: 21 800 votes from Krajina for Martin Raguž Archived 2014-09-23 at the Wayback Machine. Republic, 19 September 2014. Accessed 22 September 2014. (in Croatian)
  16. ↑ "Bosnia inaugurates new presidency after elections - Yahoo News". news.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 22 November 2014.
  17. ↑ Martin Raguž is no longer president of HDZ 1990 Archived 24 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Dnevnik.ba, 23 December 2015. Accessed 24 December 2015. (in Croatian)
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