Ivica Dačić

Ivica Dačić (Serbian Cyrillic: Ивица Дачић, pronounced [îʋitsa dâtʃitɕ]; born 1 January 1966) is a Serbian politician serving as first deputy prime minister of Serbia and minister of foreign affairs since 2022, roles which he previously served under governments of Mirko Cvetković, Aleksandar Vučić, and Ana Brnabić. He has been the leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) since 2006 and acting prime minister of Serbia following the election of Brnabić as president of the National Assembly in March 2024.

Dačić graduated from the University of Belgrade in 1989 and joined SPS in 1991. He quickly rose up the ranks of the party, becoming its spokesman in 1992, under his mentor, Slobodan Milosević, President of Serbia and FR Yugoslavia. After the fall of Milošević, he served as the minister of information in a transitional government from 2000 to 2001. Dačić became SPS party leader in 2006. Like his predecessor Milošević, he is regarded as a pragmatic leader willing to change views based on circumstance and has worked to reform the party. Dačić led SPS into a government with the Democratic Party (DS) in 2008, after which he became the first deputy prime minister and minister of internal affairs, roles which he served until 2012. The DS–SPS government reached an EU candidate status. After the 2012 parliamentary election, SPS formed a coalition government with the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS); Dačić was elected prime minister. The SNS–SPS government pursued the European Union to start formal negotiations for the accession of Serbia and he signed the Brussels Agreement on the normalisation of relations of governments of Serbia and Kosovo.

In 2014, he returned to being the first deputy prime minister and also became the minister of foreign affairs, roles which he served until 2020. Dačić was elected president of the National Assembly after the 2020 parliamentary election and was succeeded by Vladimir Orlić in 2022. Commentators described his political positions as populist and nationalist.