Nikola Gruevski, Никола Груевски [ˈnikɔla ˈɡruɛfski] born 31 August 1970 in Skopje) is Prime Minister of Macedonia since 27 August 2006. He is the leader of VMRO-DPMNE since May 2003. He was Minister of Finance in the VMRO-DPMNE government led by Ljubčo Georgievski until September 2002.
Political career
Minister of Finance
The government under Ljubčo Georgievski sold the Macedonian Telecom to Hungarian Matáv. Gruevski also implemented financial reforms, including the value added tax of 18%, requiring fiscal receipts for all Macedonian businesses, which was a program designed to fight tax evasion.
Party leader
Gruevski is a populist leader of VMRO-DPMNE.
After VMRO-DPMNE was defeated in the Macedonian parliamentary election, 2002, there was a period of infighting within the party. Gruevski emerged as the pro-EU leader, and was elected as a leader of the party, after Ljubčo Georgievski left the position. The former prime minister set up his own party (VMRO-People's Party), but VMRO-DPMNE retained most of the party's supporters.
The VMRO-DPMNE won the Macedonian parliamentary election, 2006. On August 25 he constituted the new government. His government has many new faces, mostly in their 30s in key ministries and other positions. In the election Gruevski earned the distinction of becoming the first elected European head of government born in the 1970s. He remains the second youngest head of government in Europe, surpassed only by Montenegrin prime minister Igor Lukšić.
In June 2007 Gruevski attended a meeting in Tirana, Albania along with U.S President George W. Bush, President of the United States, Sali Berisha, Prime Minister of Albania and Ivo Sanader, Prime Minister of Croatia.
On 1 June 2008, the coalition led by his party VMRO-DPMNE won Macedonian parliamentary election, 2008, their second electoral victory in a row, winning more than half of the seats in the parliament. The polling was marred by a number of violent incidents and allegations of fraud in some ethnic Albanian dominated municipalities. He created a government with the Democratic Union for Integration.
On 5 June 2011, the coalition led by his party VMRO-DPMNE won the Macedonian parliamentary election, 2011, their third electoral victory in a row, winning 56 out of the 123 seats in the parliament. Mr. Gruevski is expected to present the new government within 35 days, again in coalition with the Democratic Union for Integration.
Personal life
Gruevski completed primary and secondary education in Skopje. After having graduated from the Faculty of Economics at St. Clement of Ohrid University of Bitola in 1994, he worked in the banking sector. In 1996 he also acquired some qualifications for the international capital market from some London Securities Institute. On 12 December 2006, he obtained a Master’s degree from the Faculty of Economics at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje. Gruevski founded the Brokerage Association of the Republic of Macedonia in 1998 as its president and made the first transaction at the Macedonian Stock Exchange. Gruevski divorced his first wife and married again in May 2007 to Borkica Gruevska with whom he has two daughters: Anastasija and Sofija.
Gruevski is half Greek from his father side, having family roots in Macedonia, Greece. His paternal grandparents stem from Achlada (Greek: Αχλάδα; Macedonian: Крушоради, "Krušoradi"), a village in the Meliti municipality of the Florina Prefecture, Greece, where his family had the Greek surname Grouios ("Γρούϊος"). His grandfather, Νικόλαος Γρούιος, (Nicholaos Grouios), joined the Greek Army during the Second World War and fought in the Greco-Italian War where he lost his life in 1940 and his name is mentioned on the war memorial in Achlada among the names of the locals who were killed during World War II. Some years later, during the Greek Civil War, Gruevski's grandmother and father emigrated to the Socialist Republic of Macedonia where they change their original last name Grouios ("Γρούϊος") to the Slavic name "Gruevski" and gained citizenship.
