Igor Lukšić (, ; born 14 June 1976) is a Montenegrin politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of Montenegro from 2010 to 2012, following the resignation of Milo Đukanović.Montenegro Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments . Retrieved 23 December 2010The end of an era, possibly. Retrieved 23 December 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2010 He was succeeded by Đukanović on 4 December 2012 and served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the latter’s fourth cabinet from 2012 to 2016. Presently, Lukšić is with PwC and handles public sector activities in southeast Europe.
Background Igor Lukšić was born in Bar, Montenegro, Yugoslavia, where he finished elementary school and high school. Lukšić's paternal family roots trace back to the area of Crmnica, a region of old Montenegro. His mother's family, Nikčević, came from the town of Nikšić. Lukšić's family background follows a classic pattern of the Yugoslav working class. One grandfather was a train driver, the other an army captain who joined the Partisans when Italy occupied Montenegro in 1941. His father, a marine engineer, was the technical director of Bar's shipping company and at one point organized a vessel to rescue Montenegrins and others from Libya. His mother worked in the administration of another shipping services firm. While he was growing up, Lukšić wanted a career in diplomacy or medicine, but just before taking his place at University of Montenegro, he switched to economics.Young pretender. Retrieved 20 September 2011
Lukšić graduated from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Montenegro in Podgorica on 10 June 1998, later the same year he attended the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna and in 2000 finished his postgraduate studies at the University of Montenegro, obtaining a master's degree on 3 October 2002 on the topic: "Spontaneous Order and Transition" and a PhD on 10 September 2005 on the topic: "Transition – the Process of Achieving Economic and Political Freedoms". Besides speaking his native Montenegrin language, he is fluent in English.
Lukšić is married to Natasha and has two daughters, Sofi and Darija, and a son, Aleksei.Lukšići dobili sina (Retrieved 4 October 2011)
Early career Lukšić was first elected to the Parliament of Montenegro in 2001. From January to April 2003, he was the public relations adviser to the Prime Minister. From March 2003 to February 2004, he served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia and Montenegro. Since February 2004, he has served five terms as Finance Minister and two terms as Deputy Prime Minister since December 2008.
Finance minister Igor Lukšić was appointed Minister of Finance in 2004. As such, he oversaw the final disassociation of state finances that had started long before with the federalization of Yugoslavia. A robust post-independence boom made it possible to consolidate the budget (a record surplus of 7% of gross domestic product was achieved in 2007), and to drastically reduce national debt.
As Finance Minister, Igor Lukšić defined himself as a pro-business reformist, and many times expressed that he believed in the power of entrepreneurship and private property. He advocated privatization to save and modernize jobs in Montenegro.The Growing Popularity of Freedom (Retrieved 20 September 2011)
Being a small and open economy, Montenegro was hit hard by the global late-2000s recession of 2008. The income side of the budget practically collapsed with the slackening of tourism revenues. The Montenegrin government had to increasingly rely on foreign revenue sources. The government considered the Eurobonds issued in September 2010 a major success and proof of investor confidence in Montenegro, as demand for Montenegrin government securities was three times more than supply. The Ministry of Finance under Igor Lukšić issued ten-year bonds at the value of 200 million euros at a fixed interest rate of 7.85 percent.Montenegro issues 200 million-euro Eurobond (accessed: 20 September 2011) Rumours said that the Ministry of Finance sought an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, but government officials including the minister talked about it as an option, but one to avoid, if possible, and the Eurobonds allowed this.
Rise to power Igor Lukšić was long seen as the designated successor of Đukanović. When the latter resigned his office despite winning the election in 2006, Igor Lukšić was his first choice as his successor. Đukanović remained the chairman of the Democratic Party of Socialists, so he still had quite an influence over the nomination process. However, in the end the party nominated Željko Šturanović as prime minister, which was seen as a compromise between Đukanović and Svetozar Marović. Igor Lukšić remained in office as Finance Minister in the new cabinet, and when Šturanović resigned two years later due to health problems and Đukanović took over again, Lukšić was elevated to the rank of Deputy Prime Minister as well.
Due to international controversies about him, the premiership of Đukanović was seen as a major obstacle to Montenegro joining the European Union.Waiting for Djukanovic (Retrieved 20 September 2011) He resigned four days after Montenegro was given official candidate status on 21 December 2010.Montenegro Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic resigns (Retrieved 20 September 2011) The DPS unanimously nominated Lukšić as Đukanović's successor.Luksic nominated as Montenegro’s new prime minister (Retrieved 20 September 2011) The Parliament of Montenegro took a final vote on the matter on 29 December 2010. With Lukšić as prime minister, Đukanović remained DPS party leader, as he had during Šturanović's government.The end of an era, possibly (accessed: 20 September 2011)
Prime minister
Members of the Lukšić cabinet
Ideology, political programme and views
Prime Minister Lukšić, then the youngest prime minister in the world,The young, the old and Facebook (accessed: 20 September 2011) faced the challenge of modernizing and implementing reforms, while maintaining political stability and respecting tradition. Although he said that he was independent of Đukanović, many still saw him as a figurehead, and felt that the country was still being run from behind the scenes by Đukanović.Split in ruling Democratic Party of Socialists loom (accessed: 20 September 2011) In response to a question from Reuters in his first foreign media interview as Prime Minister, he said, Lukšić's political credit was to govern by clear and precise rules, with less room for discretionary decision-making and corruption. "Montenegrin society has relied throughout its entire history on strong personalities", he said, but strove to create trust in political institutions. Membership in the European Union as soon as possible was a key priority. To speed up approval, he demanded value changes, and more individual initiatives than state interference. He said in his inaugural speech:
As a member of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) he is officially considered a social democrat, but his economic policy views have been described to be rather liberal, which was not liked by the public. Furthermore, more politicians from the right than from the left figure in his role models. Besides former British prime minister Tony Blair, Lukšić has also called Prime Minister David Cameron, who he even "likes" on Facebook,http://www.facebook.com/#!/igorluksic?sk=info a respected contemporary politician. Both Winston Churchill and former "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher are among his historical political models.Split in ruling Democratic Party of Socialists looms (Retrieved 20 September 2011) Lukšić was strongly influenced by the "neoliberal" economical school of Professor Veselin Vukotic in Montenegro at the University of Donja Gorica. Vukotic taught both Đukanović and Lukšić, and was an important figure in putting together privatization programmes in Montenegro. (Lukšić is also a lecturer of economics at the University of Donja Gorica).
Still, Igor Lukšić used more "patriotic" messages than most of the DPS, which has a much more technocratic attitude to politics. Unlike his predecessors, Lukšić emphasized his use of the Montenegrin language, and in his policies he tried to represent interests of the "Montenegrin nation".I speak Montenegrin (accessed: 20 September 2011)
United Nations Secretary-General selection
After Ban Ki-moon publicized his intention as secretary general at the end of 2016, Igor Lukšić declared his candidacy for the top position. As a part of the newly transparent process to elect the secretary general, he participated in plenary discussions of his vision for the UN and responded to questions on accountability. In regards to impunity and an international tribunal on sexual assault and exploitation by UN Peacekeeping troops he said, at a London Husting panel with other candidates Antonio Guterres and Vuk Jeremic.
In an informal dialogue at UN headquarters in New York, he said "We need to do more on sexual exploitation and assault...Whether through special mechanism like a tribunal or working with member states."
Thirty-seven human rights organizations endorsed a pledge to hold the UN Secretary General to addressing UN accountability and take action on two human rights violations that had tarnished the United Nations' image: failing to provide remedies for victims of cholera in Haiti, and sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers. Dr. Lukšić was the first candidate to sign onto the pledge on 4 August 2016.
In taking this step forward, Lukšić is committing to the five tenets of the pledge: 1) to make improved UN accountability, transparency, and ethical integrity a key personal priority. 2) to work with member states to ensure that what Secretary General Ban described as a "culture of impunity" around sexual exploitation and abuse is replaced by an impartial, accessible and effective accountability mechanism. 3) to ensure that immunity is not misused to shield UN peacekeeping personnel from accountability for sexual exploitation and abuse. 4) to ensure that victims of cholera in Haiti have access to fair remedies. 5) to work with member states to control and eliminate cholera in Haiti.
Policies
Foreign policy
One of the government's top priorities was to achieve Montenegro's membership of the European Union as soon as possible. The cabinet was inaugurated right after Montenegro became a candidate for the EU, so it was expected to speed up this process and implement the reforms needed to start accession negotiations. Lukšić merged the Ministry for European Integration with the Foreign Ministry and charged newly appointed minister Milan Rocen "with providing continuous communication with Brussels, as well as with other departments in the government and other social entities".Montenegrin Prime Minister - designate Igor Luksic presents programme, reshuffles Cabinet (Retrieved 20 September 2011) The Prime Minister pledged to personally coordinate the reforms required for EU accession.
Another focal point was international cooperation on security issues: the Lukšić cabinet was devoted to NATO membership for the country and maintained a Montenegrin presence in international peacekeeping missions, particularly in the Afghanistan ISAF mission, EU operations in the waters of Somalia, and the UN mission in Liberia. In December 2015, Montenegro completed the Membership Action Plan of NATO and was invited to begin accession.
The Government of Montenegro recognised the Libyan National Transitional Council on 21 July 2011. As a candidate country, Montenegro also signed a statement condemning violence in Syria on 18 August 2011.Press release (Retrieved 20 September 2011)
Domestic policy