Ivica Dačić, Serbian journalist and politician, 95th Prime Minister of Serbia
Ivica Dačić (Serbian Cyrillic: Ивица Дачић, pronounced [îʋitsa dâtʃitɕ]; born 1 January 1966) is a Serbian politician serving as the president of the National Assembly of Serbia since 2020 and as the leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia since 2003.
From 2008 to April 2014, he served as Minister of Internal Affairs, while concurrently also serving as Prime Minister of Serbia for part of that tenure, from July 2012 until 2014 and after that he served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from April 2014 to October 2020. He also served as Acting Prime Minister of Serbia from 31 May 2017 until 29 June 2017, after the incumbent Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vučić, was sworn in as President of Serbia. He was succeeded in office by Ana Brnabić on 29 June 2017.
Dačić graduated from the University of Belgrade in 1989 and joined the Socialist Party in 1991. He quickly rose up the ranks of the party, becoming its spokesman in 1992, under his mentor, Slobodan Milošević, President of Serbia and FR Yugoslavia.Following the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević, Dačić became a member of the main board, and became party leader in 2006. Like his predecessor Slobodan Milošević, he is regarded as a pragmatic leader willing to change views based on circumstance and has worked to reform the party. The Socialist Party of Serbia is currently in a coalition with the populist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). Commentators describe his political positions as nationalist.The DS-led coalition that included Dačić's party reached an EU candidate status. The SNS-led coalition that also included his party pursued the European Union to start formal negotiations for the accession of Serbia and he signed the Brussels Agreement on the normalization of relations of governments of Serbia and Kosovo.