{{Short description|Croatian politician and diplomat}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Neven Mimica | image = Neven Mimica 2013.jpg | office = [[European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development]] | 1blankname = Commission | 1namedata = [[Juncker Commission|Juncker]] | term_start = 1 November 2014 | term_end = 1 December 2019 | predecessor = [[Kristalina Georgieva]] & <br>[[Andris Piebalgs]] | successor = [[Jutta Urpilainen]] (International Partnerships) | office1 = [[European Commissioner for Consumer Protection]] | 1blankname1 = Commission | 1namedata1 = [[Barroso Commission#Second college|Barroso II]] | term_start1 = 1 July 2013 | term_end1 = 1 November 2014 | predecessor1 = [[Tonio Borg]] {{small|(Health and Consumer Policy)}} | successor1 = [[Věra Jourová]] {{small|([[European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship|Justice]], Consumers and Gender Equality)}} | office2 = [[Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia]] | term_start2 = 23 December 2011 | term_end2 = 1 July 2013 | prime_minister2 = [[Zoran Milanović]] | predecessor2 = [[Darko Milinović]] | successor2 = [[Ranko Ostojić]] | office3 = [[Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (Croatia)|Minister of European Integration]] | prime_minister3 = [[Ivica Račan]] | term_start3 = 28 September 2001 | term_end3 = 23 December 2003 | predecessor3 = [[Ivan Jakovčić]] | successor3 = [[Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović]] | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|10|12|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Split, Croatia|Split]], [[Socialist Republic of Croatia|PR Croatia]], [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|FPR Yugoslavia]] (modern [[Croatia]]) | death_date = | death_place = | party = [[Social Democratic Party of Croatia|Social Democratic Party]] | education = [[University of Zagreb]] | caption = Mimica in 2013 }} '''Neven Mimica''' ({{IPA|hr|nêʋen mîmit͡sa|pron}}; born 12 October 1953) is a Croatian politician and diplomat who has been serving as [[European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development]] in the [[Juncker Commission]] since 1 November 2014. He was previously the [[European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety|European Commissioner for Consumer Protection]] in the [[Barroso Commission|Second Barroso Commission]] from July 2013 until November 2014 and was in that regard the first European Union Commissioner from [[Croatia]] following its [[2013 enlargement of the European Union|accession to the European Union]].
Prior to his role in the [[European Union]], Mimica also held a number of governmental posts in [[Croatia]]. Namely, he served as the 3rd [[Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (Croatia)|Minister of European Integration]] from 2001 until 2003, in both the [[Cabinet of Ivica Račan I|first]] and [[Cabinet of Ivica Račan II|second]] cabinets of the [[Social Democratic Party of Croatia|Social Democratic]] [[Prime Minister of Croatia|Prime Minister]] [[Ivica Račan]]. Furthermore, he was appointed a [[Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia|Deputy Prime Minister]] in the [[Cabinet of Zoran Milanović|cabinet]] of [[Zoran Milanović]] in 2011 and held the office until resigning to take up the post of European Union Commissioner in 2013.
==Early life and career== The son of primary-school teachers,<ref>Tihomir Loza (10 July 2013), [http://www.politico.eu/article/cautious-croat/ Neven Mimica – Cautious Croat] ''[[European Voice]]''.</ref> Mimica graduated from the [[University of Zagreb]] Faculty of Economics in 1976. His first job was to handle agricultural exports for the Croatian company Astra.<ref>[http://www.politico.eu/article/croatias-ultimate-expert/ Croatia’s ultimate expert] ''[[European Voice]]'', 24 January 2001</ref>
Between 1979 and 1997 Mimica held positions in various governmental bodies related to foreign relations and foreign trade policies, including several counselling positions at embassies in [[Cairo]] and [[Ankara]]. In 1997 he was appointed assistant to the Croatian Minister of Economy and served as Croatia's chief negotiator during the country's accession to the [[World Trade Organization]] and the [[European Union Association Agreement]]; his counterpart at the European Commission was [[Catherine Day (civil servant)|Catherine Day]].<ref>[http://www.politico.eu/article/croatias-ultimate-expert/ Croatia’s ultimate expert] ''[[European Voice]]'', 24 January 2001</ref><ref>Tihomir Loza (10 July 2013), [http://www.politico.eu/article/cautious-croat/ Neven Mimica – Cautious Croat] ''[[European Voice]]''.</ref>
==Political career== In September 2001, Mimica became Minister of European Integration under Prime Minister [[Ivica Račan]], position he held until December 2003.
===Member of the Croatian Parliament, 2004–2013=== Mimica was elected to the [[Croatian Parliament]] in the [[2003 Croatian parliamentary election|2003 elections]] as a representative of the [[Social Democratic Party of Croatia|Social Democratic Party]], and again in 2007. From January 2008 he served as deputy speaker of the Croatian parliament and also as the chairman of the parliament's Committee for European Integration.
In addition to his parliamentary work, Mimica served as consultant to the [[Government of Kosovo]] on establishing European integration structures from 2005 until 2006.<ref>[http://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/cwt/files/mimica-doi_en.pdf Neven Mimica's declaration of interests] [[European Commission]].</ref>
===Deputy Prime Minister, 2011–2013=== Ahead of the [[2011 Croatian parliamentary election|2011 elections]], [[Social Democratic Party of Croatia|SDP chairman]] [[Zoran Milanović]] assigned key preparatory work to Mimica, including the task of drafting public administration bills that later formed the basis of Milanovic's reform agenda.<ref>Tihomir Loza (10 July 2013), [http://www.politico.eu/article/cautious-croat/ Neven Mimica – Cautious Croat] ''[[European Voice]]''.</ref> On 23 December 2011 he was selected as one of four [[Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia|deputy prime minister]]s in the [[Government of Croatia|government]] of Milanović, responsible for internal, foreign and European policy.
===Member of the European Commission, 2013–2019=== On 1 July 2013 Mimica became [[European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy|European Commissioner for Consumer Protection]] in the [[Barroso Commission|European Commission]]. In this capacity, he was in charge of consumer markets, health technology and cosmetics, product and service safety, financial services and redress, and consumer strategy and enforcement.<ref>Andrew Gardner (3 July 2013), [http://www.politico.eu/article/croatian-commissioner-creates-first-cabinet/ Croatian commissioner creates first cabinet] ''[[European Voice]]''.</ref> For the remainder of his time in office, he shepherded through the Council of Ministers and European Parliament draft legislation that had already been proposed. He also oversaw the implementation of existing legislation.<ref>Andrew Gardner and Dave Keating (5 June 2013), [http://www.politico.eu/article/the-consumer-policy-portfolio/ The consumer policy portfolio] ''[[European Voice]]''.</ref> [[László Andor]] was Acting Commissioner in his stead, from 19 April 2014 – 25 May 2014 while he was on electoral campaign leave for the [[2014 European Parliament election in Croatia|2014 elections]] to the [[European Parliament]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://euobserver.com/news/123733|title=Six commissioners head for EU election campaign trail|work=euobserver.com}}</ref> He ultimately decided to not take up his seat.
From 1 November 2014 Mimica was [[European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development]] in the [[Juncker Commission|European Commission]] led by [[Jean-Claude Juncker]]. In this capacity, he is part of the commission's foreign policy around [[Federica Mogherini]].<ref>Andrew Gardner and Dave Keating (15 September 2013), [http://www.politico.eu/article/juncker-the-foreign-policy-president/ Juncker, the foreign-policy president?] ''[[European Voice]]''.</ref>
Early in Mimica's tenure, the European Union approved 1.15 billion euros in aid for [[West Africa]] as part of the five-year [[European Development Fund]] program in 2015, nearly doubling its previous commitment to a region that is a major source of migrants seeking to enter Europe.<ref>Philip Blenkinsop (14 March 2016), [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-burundi-eu-idUSKCN0WG15R EU suspends direct aid to Burundi over political crisis] ''[[Reuters]]''.</ref> In late 2015, he negotiated a 200 euro million aid agreement with [[Eritrea]] as part of the commission's efforts to reduce the flow from what was, at the time, the source of the third largest number of migrants.<ref>John Aglionby (17 September 2015), [https://www.ft.com/content/4bdf3a4a-5d2f-11e5-a28b-50226830d644 EU seeks €200m aid agreement with Eritrea] ''[[Financial Times]]''.</ref> Since 2016, he has been working to implement the European Union's 44 billion euro Emergency Trust Fund for Africa which is aimed to entice private investors to some of the world's poorest nations and slow mass migration to Europe.<ref>Robin Emmott and Marilyn Haigh (21 September 2016), [https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-europe-migrants-funding-idUKKCN11R16A EU's new Africa fund aims to attract private investors to Sahel region] ''[[Reuters]]''.</ref>
Also during Mimica's time in office, the European Union suspended direct financial support for the government of [[Burundi]]’s [[List of Presidents of Burundi|President]] [[Pierre Nkurunziza]] after concluding that it had not done enough to find a political solution to the [[Burundian unrest (2015–present)|2015 post-election unrest]] in the country. The European Union funds about half the annual budget of Burundi and has imposed sanctions on officials close to the president.<ref>Philip Blenkinsop (14 March 2016), [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-burundi-eu-idUSKCN0WG15R EU suspends direct aid to Burundi over political crisis] ''[[Reuters]]''.</ref>
In September 2016, Mimica was appointed by [[United Nations Secretary-General]] [[Ban Ki-moon]] to serve as member of the Lead Group of the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement.<ref>[https://www.un.org/press/en/2016/sga1678.doc.htm Secretary-General Appoints 29 Global Leaders to Spearhead Fight against Malnutrition] [[United Nations]], press release of 21 September 2016.</ref>
Towards the end of his term, in 2019, Mimica pledged a total of 500 million euros in contributions of the EU to [[The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria|Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria]] for the 2020–2022 period.<ref>[https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/news/2019-10-10-global-fund-donors-pledge-usd14-billion-in-fight-to-end-epidemics/ Global Fund Donors Pledge US$14 Billion in Fight to End Epidemics]{{Dead link|date=September 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }} [[The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria|Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria]], press release of 10 October 2019.</ref>
==Other activities== * [[The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria|Friends of the Global Fund]], Member of the Board of Directors (since 2020)<ref>[https://ec.europa.eu/info/system/files/c20209029_en.pdf Decision of the European Commission on former Commissioner Neven Mimica's post term of office professional activity as member of the Board of Directors of 'Friends of the Global Fund Europe] [[European Commission]], statement of 8 July 2020.</ref>
== References == {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} *[http://www.sabor.hr/Default.aspx?art=27678&sec=2851 Neven Mimica] at the [[Croatian Parliament]] website
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=[[Ivan Jakovčić]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (Croatia)|Minister of European Integration]]|years=2001–2003}} {{s-aft|after=[[Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović]]}} |- {{s-new|office}} {{s-ttl|title=[[List of European Commissioners by nationality#Croatia|Croatian European Commissioner]]|years=2013–present<!-- 2019 -->}} {{s-aft|after=[[Dubravka Šuica]]<br>{{small|Nominee}}}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Tonio Borg]]|as=European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy}} {{s-ttl|title=[[European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy|European Commissioner for Consumer Protection]]|years=2013–2014}} {{s-aft|after=[[Věra Jourová]]|as=European Commissioner for [[European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship|Justice]], Consumers and Gender Equality}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Kristalina Georgieva]]|as=European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response}} {{s-ttl|rows=2|title=European Commissioner for [[European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response|International Cooperation]] and [[List of European Commission portfolios#Development|Development]]|years=2014–present<!-- 2019 -->}} {{s-aft|rows=2|after=TBD}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Andris Piebalgs]]|as=European Commissioner for Development}} {{s-end}}
{{Second Barroso Commission}} {{Juncker Commission}} {{European Commissioners from Croatia}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mimica, Neven}} [[Category:1953 births]] [[Category:Diplomats from Split, Croatia]] [[Category:Croatian European commissioners]] [[Category:Deputy prime ministers of Croatia]] [[Category:Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb alumni]] [[Category:European integration ministers of Croatia]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Politicians from Split, Croatia]] [[Category:Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament]] [[Category:Social Democratic Party of Croatia politicians]] [[Category:European commissioners (2014–2019)]]