Croatian Ambassador to France Filip Vučak passes away

The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs regrets to report that our ambassador to France, Filip Vučak, passed away on Saturday after a grave illness

The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs regrets to report that our ambassador to France, Filip Vučak, passed away on Saturday after a grave illness.

We will remember Vučak as an excellent diplomat, who made great contribution to the development of Croatian diplomacy from its very beginning, first as the head of the Division for Western and Central Europe during the Homeland War, and later as the head of the Neighbourhood Department after the Zagreb Summit and head of the Department for Central and Eastern Europe during Croatia’s EU accession talks.

As the minister counsellor and minister plenipotentiary at the Croatian Embassy in Paris in late 1990s, and especially as the ambassador since 2017, Vučak greatly contributed to the development of relations with France, which he was very familiar with ever since his student days at the Sorbonne. He has maintained close relations with the Croat community in France.

Vučak had also been Croatia’s ambassador in Madrid during the intensive lobbying for the start of Croatia’s EU accession negotiations as well as to the Holy See, where he persistently promoted historical facts about the blessed Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, notably when the process of Cardinal Stepinac’s canonisation began, for which we are especially grateful. He also been a chargé d’affaires in Moscow.

Thanks to his long diplomatic career and achievements, Vučak has been appointed the foreign minister’s chief of staff and later the foreign minister’s special advisor.

With Vučak’s passing, Croatia lost one of its most experienced diplomats, an erudite, a polyglot and a great patriot. He was among the youngest prisoners after the crackdown on the Croatian Spring. Promoting Croatia’s interests and culture has always been paramount to Vučak, making him a role model for numerous young diplomats to this day.

The ministry, as soon as the epidemiological situation allows, will hold a commemoration to pay respects to its esteemed colleague, Ambassador Filip Vučak.

 

Press releases