Marina Matulović-Dropulić (born 21 June 1942) is a Croatian politician who served as Minister of Spatial Planning, Construction and Housing in the cabinet of prime Minister Zlatko Mateša from 1995 until 1996, and as Minister of Construction, Spatial Planning and Environment in the two cabinets of Ivo Sanader from 2003 until 2009, as well as the cabinet of Jadranka Kosor until 2010. Furthermore, Matulović-Dropulić served as the 49th Mayor of Zagreb, becoming the first woman in the city's history to hold that post. She was initially appointed to the post in 1996 by PresidentFranjo Tuđman, who had refused to appoint four other candidates elected by the city council to serve as the mayor, an incident known as the Zagreb crisis. She was once more elected mayor in 1997 and served until 2000. She is a member of the Croatian Democratic Union party.
Biography
Marina Matulović was born on 21 June 1942 in Zagreb.
She acquired her degree in architecture from the University of Zagreb in 1967 and worked in a number of positions in the construction business, including being the technical director of GK Međimurje, as well as of the Department of Building Construction of the Institute of Construction in Zagreb.[1]
From 1985 until 1990 she was the chairwoman of the Zagreb's Committee for Construction, Housing and Public utilities. In 1990 she became the deputy chairwoman of Zagreb's Executive Committee under Mladen Vedriš. In 1993 Matučović-Dropulić became the Deputy Mayor of Zagreb, during the term of Mayor Branko Mikša.[2]
In 1995 she became a government minister in the cabinet of Zlatko Mateša, holding the portfolio of Spatial Planning, Construction and Housing. She served in that position until PresidentFranjo Tuđman appointed her as mayor of Zagreb in December 1996. Tuđman, however, had already appointed her as mayor on 2 March 1996, but the city council had refused to endorse such a move. Namely, before the appointment of Matulović-Dropulić herself, Tuđman had already refused to endorse two candidates elected to the mayorship by the city council: Goran Granić and Jozo Radoš and a further two candidates were rejected by him after the council refused to back Matulović-Dropulić: Ivo Škrabalo and Dražen Budiša. She was thus only confirmed as mayor in late 1996 after city council members from the Croatian Peasant Party sided with the Croatian Democratic Union.[3]
In the 2000 election she was elected a member of Croatian Parliament and served until December 2003, when she was once more appointed a government minister, this time in the newly formed cabinet of Ivo Sanader, and again taking up the portfolio of Construction, Spatial Planning and Environment. She remained in her post after Sanader formed second cabinet following the 2007 parliamentary election. When Sanader resigned in July 2009 she remained a minister in the cabinet of his successor as Prime Minister, Jadranka Kosor. Her tenure as minister ended after Kosor conducted a cabinet reshuffle in December 2010. She was succeeded by Branko Bačić.[4]
Personal life
She is married to Duško Dropulić and they have one daughter, Morana.[5]
