Former Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan Dies.
Former Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan Dies
ZAGREB, April 29 - The 63-year-old Ivica Racan, a long-time leader of the Social Democratic Party and a former Croatian Prime Minister, died in the Zagreb clinic hospital Rebro in the night between Saturday and Sunday where he was being treated for cancer.
Racan was born on 24 February 1944 and graduated from the Zagreb Law School in 1970. In the period between 1972 and 1982 he was a member of the presidency of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Croatia, while Croatia was a republic within the then Socialist Yugoslav federation. From 1986 to 1989 Racan was a member of the presidency of the Central Committee of the Yugoslav Communist Party. In December 1989 he was elected president of the Croatian Communist Party's Central Committee and announced multiparty parliamentary elections. Racan will be remembered for his open opposition to and conflict with Slobodan Milosevic and the Serbian nationalistic leadership in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia at the congress of the Yugoslav Communist Party in Belgrade in January 1990. Leaders of the Croatian and Slovene Communist parties walked out of the Belgrade congress in protest over Milosevic's policy. In 1990, Racan organized the first democratic elections in Croatia and saw to a peaceful transfer of power to the election winner, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). After that, Racan was an opposition leader for a decade.
At parliamentary elections in 1992 and 1995 he won a seat in the Croatian Sabor. In August 1998, Racan signed a coalition agreement with the Croatian Social and Liberal Party (HSLS), on cooperation at elections in early 2000. The SDP-HSLS coalition won those elections and another four parties joined the coalition.
Racan became Prime Minister and mended Croatia's weakened relations with the international community. His government opened a new page in Croatia's relations with the West. In 2001, Croatia and the European Union signed a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) and these first contractual relations between Zagreb and Brussels were a significant step forward on Croatia's road to the European bloc.
Under a 2005 decision of the Sabor, Racan became chairman of the parliamentary National Committee for Monitoring Croatia's Accession Negotiations with the European Union.
On 11 April 2007 Racan resigned as SDP President due to his deteriorated condition. On 29 April, he died in the Rebro hospital after his condition worsened.
A commemoration for Racan will be held in Zagreb on Wednesday, 2 May, the SDP stated later on Sunday.
Racan will be buried at a private ceremony for immediate family and close friends only, according to his wish.
Top Croatian officials - President Stjepan Mesic, Sabor Speaker Vladimir šeks and Prime Minister Ivo Sanader - extended condolences to the family of Ivica Racan and to his close friends and political partners in the SDP.
Carrying the news of Racan's death, world news agencies have portrayed him as one of the key figures in the recent Croatian past. (HINA)
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