Marijana Petir
Member of the European Parliament
In office
1 July 2014 – 2 July 2019
Personal details
Born4 October 1975 (1975-10-04) (age 48)
Kutina, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia
Political partyIndependent (2017–)
Other political
affiliations		Croatian Peasant Party (HSS, until 2017); HDZ-led right-wing coalition

Marijana Petir (born 4 October 1975) is a Croatian politician,[1] former Member of the European Parliament.[2][3]

Biography

She stems from the village of Mustafina Klada in Moslavina.[4] Petir graduated from the Faculty of Science in Zagreb and the Faculty of Catholic Theology in Zagreb.[5] She also completed postgraduate studies in Nonprofit Management and Social Advocacy at the University of Zagreb.

From 1998 to 2000, Petir led the environmental association "Greens of Moslavina", which fights against the spread of GMOs, and led the Anti-Nuclear Campaign in Moslavina, which successfully opposed the then planned construction of nuclear waste on Moslavacka Gora.[4]

In 2000–2001 she was an intern and then expert associate at Croatia's Ministry of Environmental Protection and Physical Planning.

Member of the Croatian Parliament

Petir entered the Croatian Parliament for the first time in 2002, at age 26 (the youngest MP),[4] as a joint candidate from the list of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), the Liberal Party and the Croatian Social Liberal Party in the 6th constituency. She served from 16 January 2002 to 22 December 2003.

From April 2003 to March 2004, Petir was hired as spokesperson for the HSS.[4] From November 2004 to January 2005 Petir is spokeswoman for the campaign of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Stjepan Mesić in his re-election bid.[4]

From June 2005 to January 2008 Petir holds the position of Deputy Prefect of Sisak-Moslavina County. In that period, she was also the president of the HSS Regional Organization for Central Croatia.

In 2007 Petir is again elected to the Croatian Parliament as representative of the 6th constituency as a joint candidate from the list of the Croatian Peasant Party and the Croatian Social Liberal Party, also chairing the Committee on Environmental Protection, and the HSS parliamentary group. She was removed from the latter position after, on 9 July 2009, she was the only MP to vote against the adoption of Croatia's antidiscrimination law (with the absention of MP Bagarić).[6][7] The antidiscrimination law was opposed by Croatia's Catholic Church, which saw it as a means of promoting homosexuality, but Ivo Sanader's government managed to ensure the consent of all parliamentary parties - including Petir's HSS.[8]

At the time, right-wing Croatian media spoke of "one and a half Catholics in the Croatian Parliament."[9] For these reasons, in 2011 Petir was named Homophobe of the Decade by Zagreb Pride.[10][11][12] Petir retorted that she considered this to be hate speech and perceived them as Christianophobes.[13][14]

She continued to serve as a Member of Parliament until 2011, when HSS only obtained one parliamentary seat. Petir remained in charge of the HSS County Organization of Sisak-Moslavina County, which she headed since 2002, and as vice-president of the HSS.[5][15] Since 2008 Petir also served as HSS councilor in the Sisak-Moslavina County Assembly.

During this period she was also the head of the Office for the Social Doctrine of the Church of the Sisak Diocese,[16][17] and in her capacity as a representative of the Croatian Catholic Bishops’ Conference[5] she took part in the Croatian Parliament's Committee on Human Rights and the Rights of National Minorities.[18][19]

In the 2013 local elections, she was defeated in her own hometown, in the municipality of Velika Ludina, where she managed to win only 27 percent of the vote.[4]

Member of the European Parliament

At the 2014 elections, Petir was elected Member of the European Parliament for the joint list HDZ - HSS - HSP AS - BUZ - HDS - ZDS.[6][20] She received the support of the leaders of the Croatian Peasant Party for her candidacy.[20][3][21][22][23] She was a member of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality and the Delegation to the EU-Macedonia Joint Parliamentary Committee. In 2019, The Parliament Magazine granted her the "MEP Award" for Agriculture, Rural Development & Fisheries.[24]

Marijana Petir was the organizer of the exhibition "Cardinal Stepinac - Apostle of Hope and Love for God and People" which was held at the European Parliament on June 14, 2016. The Serbian Foreign Ministry sent protest letters stating that "Stepinac is responsible for cooperating with the Ustasha regime."[25][26][27]

As a member of the European Parliament, she advocated the release from a Serbian prison of Croatian war veteran Veljko Marić, convicted for war crimes.[28][29] She also visited him in prison in December 2015.[30]

In May 2017 she took part in the "Walk for Life" in Zagreb, at which she was pictured together with convicted war criminal Dario Kordić.[31]

Following disputes with the new party leader Krešo Beljak, Petir left the HSS in 2017, continuing to serve as an independent MEP in the EPP group until 2019.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Ne smijemo se ponašati podanički, moramo prepoznati ono što je važno za budućnost Hrvatske
  2. ↑ Narod.hr Petir: pozivam vladu da raspiše izbore za Sisačko-moslavačku županiju, prošli izbori nelegalni
  3. 1 2 Ministar Jakovina je elementarna nepogoda
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Direktno.hr
  5. 1 2 3 EPP group - CV
  6. 1 2 Narod.hr Petir: Od dolaska na vlast Kukuriku koalicije izgubljeno 300 tisuća radnih mjesta u poljoprivredi, podatcima pristupljeno 30. svibnja 2014.
  7. ↑ Dalje Prošao Zakon o diskriminaciji, Petir jedina protiv, 9. srpnja 2008.
  8. ↑ “Sabor donio Zakon protiv diskriminacije“, Portal Jutarnji list, 9. srpnja 2008.
  9. ↑ Hrvatski list, srpanj 2008.
  10. ↑ "HRT na Eurosong šalje pjevača nominiranog za homofoba desetljeća - CroL". www.crol.hr. Retrieved 2019-02-07.
  11. ↑ "NEO-CONSERVATIVE THREATS TO SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH & RIGHTS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION :: CESI". www.cesi.hr. Archived from the original on 2019-02-09. Retrieved 2019-02-07.
  12. ↑ “HSS-ovka Petir o izboru za homofoba: Oni su kršćanofobi“, M. Ćuk za “Slobodnu Dalmaciju“ 16. lipnja 2011. god.
  13. ↑ Raskrižje - hrvatski katolički portal Razgovor s Marijanom Petir (razgovor vodio Josip Križić), 29. lipnja 2011.
  14. ↑ Slobodna Dalmacija (PSD) Petir: Križ mi nisu skinuli komunisti, neće ni kršćanofobi, 26. lipnja 2011.
  15. ↑ HSS - SMZ “Marijana Petir - Predsjednica Županijske organizacije HSS-a“, službene stranice HSS-a Sisačko - moslavačke županije, pristupljeno 12. ožujka 2015.
  16. ↑ Narod.hr Nikad veće borbe protiv članstva neke zemlje u EU nije bilo nego protiv ulaska Hrvatske
  17. ↑ “Socijalno djelovanje i kultura življenja“, prikaz predavanja Marijane Petir službene stranice Sisačko-moslavačke biskupije, 28. listopada 2014.
  18. ↑ “Prijedlog odluke Odbora za izbor, imenovanje i upravne poslove o razrješenju članice Odbora za ljudska prava i prava nacionalnih manjina Hrvatskoga sabora“, službene stranice Hrvatskog sabora, 3. srpnja 2014.
  19. ↑ Narod.hr Petir: Nerazumijevanje Vlade za Hrvate protjerane iz Srbije
  20. 1 2 Narod.hr EU svom seljaku majka, hrvatska Vlada je hrvatskom seljaku maćeha
  21. ↑ Izborni rezultati u Hrvatskoj pokazuju vrlo ozbiljan poraz Kukuriku koalicije
  22. ↑ Davor Stier: Volja birača mora se prihvatiti i ja je pozdravljam
  23. ↑ Profile: Marijana Petir, europarl.europa.eu; accessed 18 November 2016.
  24. ↑ Hutchinson, Lorna (21 March 2019). "MEP Awards 2019: Heartfelt reactions from our winners". The Parliament Magazine. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  25. ↑ Izložba o bl. Alojziju Stepincu u srcu Europe
  26. ↑ U Europskom parlamentu otvorena izložba o životu i djelu bl. Alojzija Stepinca
  27. ↑ Srbija prosvjeduje zbog izložbe o Alojziju Stepincu u Europskom parlamentu
  28. ↑ Pitanje zastupnika Europskoj komisiji od 5. veljače 2015. god., u svezi Veljka Marića, službene stranice Europskog parlamenta
  29. ↑ "Petir o Veljku Mariću u Europskom parlamentu" stranice zastupnice M. Petir kod Europske pučke stranke, 13. siječanj 2015.
  30. ↑ "Europarlamentarka Marijana Petir posjetila Veljka Marića u mitrovačkom zatvoru", Miroslav Flego za "Večernji list", 23. prosinca 2014. god.
  31. ↑ Index.hr
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