Croatia swears in first female president
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Croatia’s first female president, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, was sworn in yesterday and pledged to help kick-start the EU member’s ailing economy.
The 46-year-old conservative former foreign minister and NATO official narrowly defeated her left-wing predecessor Ivo Josipovic last month.
The leading member of the main opposition HDZ party will serve a five-year term.
“I will be a top economic diplomat of our country,” she said in her inaugural speech.
“I want that after almost two years of (EU) membership, we all eventually start to live the life of a European Union member,” Grabar-Kitarovic said.
Hopes of EU membership boosting the economy of the Adriatic nation have faded.
The Croatian economy, hit by a six-year recession, remains among the weakest in the 28-nation bloc. Unemployment is almost 20 percent and the government forecasts a meager 0.5 percent growth this year.
Grabar-Kitarovic gave her speech immediately after the swearing-in ceremony at Saint Marc’s square Zagreb’s old quarter. She is the former Yugoslav republic’s fourth president since its independence in 1991.
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