Dragan Đilas

Dragan Đilas Драган Ђилас
72nd Mayor of Belgrade
Incumbent
Assumed office August 19, 2008
Preceded by	Nenad Bogdanović (Branislav Belić)
Minister without portfolio in charge of the National Investment Plan
In office May 15, 2007 – July 7, 2008
Succeeded by	Verica Kalanović
Director of the People's Office of the President
In office July 11, 2004 – May 15, 2007
Succeeded by	Tatjana Pašić
Personal details
Born	22 February 1967 (1967-02-22) (age 44) Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Milica Delević (?-2008)
Alma mater	University of Belgrade
Religion	Serbian Orthodox Christian

Dragan Đilas (Serbian: Драган Ђилас, born February 22, 1967 in Belgrade, Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Serbian politician and businessman. He is the current mayor of Belgrade and a member of the Democratic Party.

He previously served as the Minister without Portfolio in charge of the National Investment Plan in the 2007-2008 Cabinet of Serbia and as the Director of the People's Office of the President between 2004 and 2007.

Early career

Đilas graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in the aerospace engineering program. He worked as journalist at Radio Index. On May 15, 1989, a part of Radio Index merged with Ritam Srca radio programme thus forming Radio B92, meaning that Đilas was one of the new station's founders. He soon became a news editor at the station.

Simultaneously, Đilas was active in opposing the regime of Slobodan Milošević, leading the student protest in 1991 and 1992. In the days following the violent March 9th Protest in 1991 that claimed two lives and the ensuing student clashes with the police, Milošević (at that time the President of Serbia) came to the University of Belgrade in order to face the students, and Đilas got a chance to address him in an uncomfortable encounter recorded by the TV cameras. Later, Đilas was part of an official student delegation that Milošević received. As a student leader/activist, in June 1992, Đilas appeared on RTS interview programme Razgovor s povodom thus getting 50 minutes on state television, which he used to further criticize Milošević's policies. All throughout this period Đilas continuously received offers from two largest opposition parties at that time, the Serbian Renewal Movement and the Democratic Party to join their ranks, but he refused.

In the coming years, he continued to actively participate in various anti-Milošević rallies between 1996 and 2000, although by now his activism took a back seat to his budding business career in the mass media.

Business career

Since the mid 1990s, Đilas is very active in the Serbian media market.

He has a minority stake in a limited-liability company called Multikom Group whose ownership is dividid between Đilas (25%), Dragoslav Ilić (42%), Milica Delević (25%) and Nebojša Garić (8%).^[1] .

The company is also active in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Montenegro.

Since 2001, Đilas co-owns (through Multikom Group) a closed joint stock company called Direct Media^[2] , a media company that sells advertising space in various Serbian electronic media outlets. The company also offers ad rights in large sporting events such as the World Cup, Olympics, and World Basketball Championships.

Political career

Even though he was politically active in various forms since his early youth, Đilas officially entered politics in 2004 when he joined the Democratic Party (DS).

People's Office

On October 1, 2004 Đilas became the director of the People's Office, instituted by the newly elected President of Serbia Boris Tadić. The creation of People's Office was one of Tadić's election promises at the June 2004 presidential elections. Đilas stayed in the position until May 2007 when the new Government of Serbia was finally formed by the DS and the DSS-NS coalition almost 5 months after January 2007 parliamentary election. He became the Minister without Portfolio in charge of the National Investment Plan (NIP).

Minister without Portfolio in charge of NIP

His tenure, however, was short-lived since the government fell in February 2008 following unilateral declaration of independence by the Serbian province of Kosovo.

Đilas' time in office was marked by frequent vicious clashes with the government colleague Minister for Capital Investment Velimir Ilić. The two already had history^[3] of public feuding when they became part of the same cabinet in May 2007. It didn't take long for their feud to reignite and in October 2007 things boiled over when Ilić placed an angry, obscenity-laced phone call to Đilas' office, the transcript of which ended up in Serbian media.^[4]

Mayor of Belgrade

On 19 August 2008, Đilas was sworn in as the new mayor of Belgrade.

During the 2008 Belgrade mayoral election campaign, Đilas was often denounced as a "tycoon" by the Liberal Democratic Party due to his amassed personal wealth. There was even a wall-spraying campaign with the phrase "Đilas Tajkun" written on various buildings around Belgrade. However, the party denied any link with the sprayed writings.

Personal life and other endeavours

Đilas is the founder and vice president of Naša Srbija humanitarian organisation for Serbian children who were left without one or both parents in the wars in the former Yugoslavia.

Đilas divorced in 2008. He was married to Milica Delević who is also politically active. From fall 2003 until mid-August 2004 she headed the Office for Cooperation with the European Union under the Council of Ministers. Then from 2007 until 2008, she was the deputy to Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić. From November 2008, she is heading the Office for European Integration in the Serbian Government.

They have two daughters together, Sofija and Jovana.

In September 2009, 42-year-old Đilas married the 28-year-old doctor Iva in a low-key civic ceremony. A year later they had a church wedding.^[5]

They have a daughter Ana.

See also

• Mayor of Belgrade

References

1. ^ Multikom Group d.o.o.
2. ^ Direct Media a.d.
3. ^ Ministar kapitalni opet napada, B92, November 8, 2005
4. ^ Velja Ilić prostački izvređao Ðilasa i sekretaricu, Blic, October 6, 2007
5. ^ Dragan Đilas posle godinu dana u braku, rekao svojoj ženi “da” i u crkvi!

External links

• Biography of the Mayor of Belgrade
• Biography of Dragan Đilas

Government offices
Preceded by Branislav Belić (acting)	Mayor of Belgrade 2008–present	Incumbent
Preceded by Mlađan Dinkić	Minister in charge of the National Investment Plan 2007 – 2008	Succeeded by Verica Kalanović
Preceded by post created	Director of the People's Office of the President 2004 – 2007	Succeeded by Tatjana Pašić

Persondata
Name	Djilas, Dragan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 22, 1967
Place of birth	Belgrade, Serbia
Date of death
Place of death