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SHEKERINSKA RADMILA
Born in Skopje on the 10th of June 1972.
Master of Arts in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA. Graduated at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in 1995 as the best student in the class of power engineering.
Elected President of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDUM) in November 2006 after the party’s defeat on the parliamentary elections.
After these elections, Sekerinska who was elected Member of Parliament in the fourth Regional District (south and southeast Macedonia), serves as member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, European Affairs Committee and the Inter-ethnic Committee. As President of the biggest opposition party, Radmila Sekerinska is the Parliamentary opposition leader and President of the National Council for European Integration.
Sekerinska was previously deputy Prime Minister responsible for European integration and foreign aid coordination in three consecutive Governments from 2002 to 2006. She was also the acting Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia from May 12, 2004 until June 12, 2004 and from November 3, 2004 until December 15, 2004.
During her term as deputy Prime Minister responsible for EU integration, the European Council in December 2005 granted the Republic of Macedonia a status of candidate country for accession to the European Union.
For her dedication and achievements in the field of European integration of Macedonia and the region of Western Balkan, Sekerinska was awarded by the World Economic Forum with the title - Young Global Leader. Sekerinska is also a member of the European Strategy Forum, presided over by the President of Portugal.
At the age of 26, Sekerinska was the youngest elected member of Parliament in 1998. She became a deputy-coordinator of the Parliamentary Group of SDUM and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Education and Science Committee and Environment, Youth and Sports Committee. She participated in the Macedonian delegation to the Interparliamentary Union and in the Group for Cooperation with the European Parliament.
As one of only four women MPs (out of 120 in the Macedonian Parliament), Radmila Sekerinska continuously argued for a greater participation of women in the decision-making. The real breakthrough occurred when SDUM introduced the first quota system for women within the party, a policy that was followed with a change in the election legislation obliging all parties to have at least 30% of women on all the election lists. Needless to say, the legislation was proposed and adopted by the SDUM-led coalition. This change resulted from a wide lobby of women NGO’s and SDUM women clubs, strongly supported by Radmila Sekerinska.
Prior to becoming a President of SDUM, Sekerinska was elected Vice-President in two consecutive mandates (1999-2003 and 2003-2006). In 1999 she was also appointed International Secretary of SDUM and has successfully led the party bid for membership in the Socialist International. In 1997 and 1998, she was the party spokesperson.
Radmila Sekerinska started her political carrier in the Socialdemocratic Youth of Macedonia in 1992. She participated in the drafting of SDYM’s Platform and its autonomous political activities within SDUM. In 1995 Sekerinska became the President of SDYM. During her first term, she managed to ensure that at least 20% of all elected members of SDUM are younger than 32 years old.
Radmila Sekerinska is fluent in English and French, as well as in Serbian and Croatian. |