Ivan Šipić

Ivan Šipić
Šipić in 2024
Minister of Demographics and Immigration
Incumbent
Assumed office
17 May 2024
Prime MinisterAndrej Plenković
Member of the Croatian Parliament
In office
28 December 2015 – 22 July 2020
Prime MinisterAndrej Plenković
Tihomir Orešković
Zoran Milanović
Constituency9th electoral district
Mayor of Trilj
In office
2008 – 8 June 2021
Preceded byJozo Sarač
Succeeded byIvan Bugarin
Personal details
Born (1974-06-24) 24 June 1974
Sinj, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Political partyDP (since 2021)
Other political
affiliations		HDZ (2001–2021)
Alma materUniversity of Zagreb

Ivan Šipić (born 24 June 1974) is a Croatian politician serving as minister of demographics and immigration since 2024 and a member of the presidency of the Homeland Movement party.[1][2] From 2015 to 2020, he was a member of the Croatian Parliament.[3] From 2008 to 2021, he served as mayor of Trilj.[4]

Early life and education

Šipić was born in Sinj in 1974. He graduated from the Catholic Faculty of Theology at the University of Zagreb in 1998.[1]

Political career

Šipić was a long time member of the Croatian Democratic Union and he first entered politics in 2001 when he ran for the Trilj Town Council in the 2001 Croatian local elections and won a seat. He once again won a seat in the town council in the 2005 Croatian local elections and also became deputy mayor. After then mayor Jozo Sarač became State Secretary of the Central State Office for State Property Management, Šipić became mayor of Trilj. He was re-elected as mayor in the 2009, 2013 and 2017 local elections.[1][5]

In the 2015 Croatian parliamentary election he ran as a candidate of the Patriotic Coalition and won a seat in the Croatian Parliament. While in parliament, he was a member of the Legislation Committee, Judiciary Committee, Elections, Appointments and Administration Committee, Interparliamentary Co-operation Committee and Executive Committee of the National Group to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.[6] The parliamentary term ended early after the government collapsed. From 2016 to 2020 Šipić was a substitute for representative Nediljko Dujić. During this term he was a member of the Committee on the Family, Youth and Sports, Education, Science and Culture Committee, Interparliamentary Co-operation Committee, Executive Committee of the National Group to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Legislation Committee and Judiciary Committee.[7]

In March 2021 after HDZ picked Ivan Bugarin as the party's candidate for mayor of Trilj, Šipić announced he was leaving the party and ran as an independent candidate. He advanced into the secound round but lost to Bugarin by a small margin. However, he won a seat in the Town Council and in 2023 became president of the town council. After losing the mayoral election he joined the Homeland Movement.[1][8][9]

In the 2024 Croatian parliamentary election he ran for parliament and won a seat. However, since he was chosen as minister of Demographics and Immigration in the new government, he did not enter parliament and Ive Ćaleta-Car was chosen as his substitute.[10] He officially became minister on 17 May 2024.[4]

In July, he announced the first new demographic measures, which included a doubling of one-time cash benefits for a newborn child from 300 to 600 euros, a mother receiving one year of pension for each child born, an increase in financial compensation during parental leave, a doubling of the duration of paid paternity leave to 20 days, and an increase in the amount of child allowance.[11] In April 2025 he announced that a decision has been made to finance as many as 638 projects for the development and construction of kindergartens and the equipping of playgrounds across Croatia, with a total value of 22.2 million euros.[12]

In May 2025, Šipić caused controversy after saying: "We need to have soldiers and brave warriors, but who will carry the weapons if there are no children? Who will protect our homeland if we don't invest in our families?".[13] This drew criticism from some left-wing members of parliament. Šipić later responded to the criticism by saying: "The statement was partly clumsy, but it was largely taken out of context".[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Ivan Šipić - Ministar demografije i useljeništva" (in Croatian). Ministry of Demographics and Immigration. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  2. ^ "Tko je novi ministar demografije? Teolog, iz HDZ-a je otišao zbog sukoba sa Sanaderom, a jednu stvar mu nisu oprostili". Jutarnji list (in Croatian). 15 May 2024.
  3. ^ "Ivan Šipić: "Hrvati izvan domovine više neće biti stranci u Hrvatskoj"". Croatian Heritage Foundation. 21 November 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Bivši HDZ-ovac i vjeroučitelj na čelu novog ministarstva: Tko je Ivan Šipić?". Dnevnik.hr. 17 May 2024.
  5. ^ "Novi ministar demografije je teolog i bivši HDZ-ovac" (in Croatian). www.index.hr. 15 May 2024. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  6. ^ "8th term of the Croatian Parliament (28 December 2015 - 14 October 2016)". Croatian Parliament. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  7. ^ "9th term of the Croatian Parliament (14 October 2016 - 22 July 2020)". Croatian Parliament. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  8. ^ "Izlazi kao neovisan kandidat: Gradonačelnik Trilja i njegov zamjenik rivali" (in Croatian). Večernji list. 12 March 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  9. ^ "XVII. SPLITSKO-DALMATINSKA ŽUPANIJA" (PDF). State Election Committee of the Republic of Croatia. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  10. ^ "11th term of the Croatian Parliament (16 May 2024)". Croatian Parliament. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  11. ^ "Novi ministar najavio prve konkretne demografske mjere: Veće novčane potpore i naknade, evo za koliko" (in Croatian). Večernji list. 24 July 2024. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  12. ^ "Šipić najavio veliki val novih projekta za najmlađe: 'Ulažemo 22,2 milijuna eura u vrtiće i igrališta'" (in Croatian). Večernji list. 17 April 2025. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  13. ^ "Ministar demografije: 'Tko će nositi oružje na ramenu ako ne bude djece?'" (in Croatian). Jutarnji list. 14 May 2025. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  14. ^ "Šipić: Nisam rekao da bih djecu slao u rat, izjava je izvučena iz konteksta" (in Croatian). www.tportal.hr. 15 May 2025. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
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