Vesna Pusić

Vesna Pusić (pronounced [ʋɛ̂sna pǔːsitɕ]; born 25 March 1953) is a Croatian sociologist and politician who served as a First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the centre-left Cabinet of Zoran Milanović. She is known as outspoken liberal and an advocate of European integration, gender equality and LGBT rights.

After becoming involved in politics in the early 1990s, Pusić served three consecutive terms as MP, having been elected to the Croatian Parliament in the 2000, 2003, and 2007 parliament elections. She also ran in the 2009–10 presidential election, coming in fifth out of twelve candidates. During her 2008–2011 parliament term she chaired the parliamentary committee for tracking the progress of Croatia's accession negotiations with the European Union. She also held the post of Vice-President of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR).

Pusić is president of the Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats.

Early life

Vesna Pusić was born in Zagreb to jurist and university professor Eugen Pusić and Višnja Pusić, a professor of English language.

Vesna

The vesna or vesnas were mythological female characters associated with youth and springtime in early Slavic mythology, particularly within Croatia,Serbia and Slovenia. Along with her male companion Vesnik, she was associated with rituals conducted in rural areas during springtime. In the nineteenth century, Russian peasants celebrated the return of spring on March 1 by going out to the fields, carrying a clay figure of a lark on a pivot which had been decorated with flowers. They sang songs naming the spring season Vesna. The word "vesna" is still the poetic word for "spring" in the Slovene language, as well as Czech and Slovak. Also, vesna (Russian: весна́) is a Russian word for spring. The month February is sometimes named vesnar in Slovene language.

In Slovene mythology, the beautiful women called "vesnas" lived in palaces atop mountains where they discussed the fate of crops and of human inhabitants. A magical circle around their palaces kept them from leaving the mountain top except during the month of February, when they would travel in wooden carts down to the valley below. Only certain people were capable of hearing them singing. People who snuck up to their mountain palaces might learn their fates, but risked an unpleasant end if they were caught by the vesnas.