Dragan Čović

Dragan Čović (pronounced [drǎgan t͡ʃǒːʋit͡ɕ]; born 20 August 1956) is a Bosnian Croat politician and President of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH) party since 2005. He is a current member of the national House of Peoples.

Dragan Čović
Member of the House of Peoples
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 February 2019
In office 9 June 2011 – 17 November 2014
7th Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
In office 17 July 2017 – 17 March 2018
Preceded by	Mladen Ivanić
Succeeded by	Bakir Izetbegović
In office 17 July 2015 – 17 March 2016
Preceded by	Mladen Ivanić
Succeeded by	Bakir Izetbegović
In office 27 June 2003 – 28 February 2004
Preceded by	Borislav Paravac
Succeeded by	Sulejman Tihić
In office 2 April 2003 – 10 April 2003
Preceded by	Mirko Šarović
Succeeded by	Borislav Paravac
4th Croat Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
In office 17 November 2014 – 20 November 2018
Prime Minister	Vjekoslav Bevanda Denis Zvizdić
Preceded by	Željko Komšić
Succeeded by	Željko Komšić
In office 5 October 2002 – 9 May 2005
Prime Minister	Adnan Terzić
Preceded by	Jozo Križanović
Succeeded by	Ivo Miro Jović
President of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 June 2005
Preceded by	Bariša Čolak
Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Acting
In office 10 January 2001 – 12 March 2001
President	Ivo Andrić-Lužanski Karlo Filipović
Preceded by	Edhem Bičakčić
Succeeded by	Alija Behmen
Federal Minister of Finance
In office 12 December 1998 – 10 January 2001
Prime Minister	Edhem Bičakčić
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Nikola Grabovac
Personal details
Born	20 August 1956 Mostar, PR Bosnia and Herzegovina, FPR Yugoslavia
Political party	Croatian Democratic Union (1994–present)
Other political affiliations	League of Communists (before 1992)
Spouse(s)	Bernardica Prskalo
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Mostar University of Sarajevo
Awards	Order of the Croatian Trefoil (1997)

Čović was the Croat Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina on two occasions.

Education and managerial career

Čović attended elementary school and technical high school of mechanical engineering in Mostar till 1975. He graduated as mechanical engineer from the Faculty of Engineering at University Džemal Bijedić of Mostar in 1979.[1]

In 1980, he joined the aircraft manufacturer SOKO in Mostar, where he worked in technology and control sections.[1] From 1986 to 1992 he was a manager at SOKO, including as director of business unit, director of production and vice president for industrialization. From 1992 till 1998, he took over as director-general of SOKO.[1]

Čović gained a master's degree in 1989 at the Faculty of Engineering in Mostar, and, from 1989–91, he attended studies of management at the Faculty of Economy at the University of Sarajevo. He obtained a PhD from the University of Mostar in 1996.[1]

From 1994–96 he taught Economics and Organization of Production as a senior assistant at the Faculty of Engineering in Mostar, after which he was named assistant professor and taught Development of Production Systems. Four years later, he became an associate professor and in 2004 he was a full professor of the University of Mostar. He worked at the Faculty of Economy in Mostar, and also in regular and postgraduate studies. In 2007, he became visiting professor at the University of Mostar's Faculty of Philosophy, and in 2014 member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts of BiH.[1]

Political career

In 1994, Čović joined the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH). Two years later, he became a member of the cantonal committee of HDZ. In 1997, he became the president of the city committee of HDZ in Mostar.

In 1998, he became vice president of HDZ and in 2005 he was elected President. From 1998 to 2001, he served as the Federal Minister of Finance.[1] From 10 January 2001 until 12 March 2001, he served as Acting Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

At the general election in 2002, Čović was elected as member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina with 114,606 votes.[1] He was a Presidency member until 29 March 2005, when he was removed from office by the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Paddy Ashdown, for abuse of power and position. Since 2005 he has been President of HDZ BiH.[1]

In 2008, Čović joined the Prud process as one of the three main negotiators (Dodik-Tihić-Čović). When the Prud process failed over issues of constitutional reform and territorial restructuring, Republika Srpska leader Milorad Dodik and his SNSD party became close partners to HDZ BiH.

Čović with Croatian President Ivo Josipović in 2014

In May 2011 he became a member of the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina and in February 2012 he was named Chairman of the House of Peoples.[1] In 2011, he was also appointed President of the Croatian National Congress of BiH.[1]

During the numerous failed negotiations to implement the 2009 ECtHR Sejdić-Finci judgment, Čović has been singled out by analysts as blocking a solution, maintaining that Bosnian Croats must be able to elect their own member in the BiH Presidency.

At the October 2014 election Čović was re-elected as Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[1] He chaired the Presidency between November 2015 and March 2016, during which period on 15 February 2016, Bosnia and Herzegovina submitted its EU membership application. Čović held again the chair of the Presidency in July-November 2017.

At the October 2018 elections, Čović lost his bid for re-election as Croat member of the Bosnian Presidency to Željko Komšić (already member of Presidency in 2010–2014). He and the HDZ BiH accused Komšić to garner support from Bosniak rather than Croat voters and thus not to be a legitimate representative of Bosnian Croats in the country's presidency.

Investigations and indictments

In November 2006, Čović was sentenced to five years in prison for exempting the Ivanković-Lijanović company of paying taxes on meat imports. The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on appeal, annulled the sentence and acquitted him for lack of jurisdiction.

In 2009, Čović was accused of spending public funds to buy private homes for certain people. In April 2010, he was acquitted.[2]

On 14 May 2010, a third indictment for Čović and six other persons was confirmed by the Court of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton (HNC), this time for abuse of power and position. He and other committee members of the Croatian Post and Telecom (HPT) were accused of transferring a debt of nearly 4,7 million Convertible Marks from the non-existing Ministry of Defence of the Croatian Defence Council to three private companies.[2] By receiving the debt, those three companies became owners of shares in Eronet, the most profitable telecommunicational section of the HPT. At the time, Čović was Federal Minister of Finance and president of the Steering Committee of the HPT. The Court of the HNC asked that this case be brought in front of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the FBiH Supreme Court ruled the case had to be tried in Mostar. In May 2012, Čović was acquitted.[2]

Personal life

Čović is married to Bernardica Prskalo and together they have two children.

On 19 July 2020, it was confirmed that he tested positive for COVID-19, amid its pandemic in Bosnia and Herzegovina;[3] by 4 August, he recovered.[4]

References

1. Official biography Archived 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine;accessed 8 September 2018.
2. CIN: Dragan Covic
3. I.P. (19 July 2020). "Dragan Čović pozitivan na koronavirus" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
4. "Predsjednik HDZ-a Dragan Čović se oporavio od koronavirusa" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. 4 August 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.

External links

• CIN - imovina politicara - Dragan Čović