Who is Who – Davor Ivo Stir: MEP, grandson of an Ustasa colonel, and the hardline wing of HDZ

Croatian MEP Davor Ivo Stir was elected as the head of the European Parliament delegation for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, and on that occasion, he stated that he will work diligently on Kosovo's European perspective. This is not the first time that this member of Croatia’s HDZ has openly advocated for opening the doors of European and international organizations to Pristina.

"Kosovo has also been promised a European perspective, and I intend to work diligently on that in cooperation with my colleagues from the European Parliament and the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo. Peace, security, dialogue, and normalization of relations with Serbia, protection of minority rights and all citizens of Kosovo, and the implementation of the constitutional order throughout the entire territory of the Republic of Kosovo will be priority issues," said Stir.

According to Klix.ba, HDZ intensively lobbied to place a member of their party in this position, but sources report that this idea was not well-received by the majority of EPP members and other parties that make up the majority in the European Parliament.

Open the doors to Kosovo

Last year, as a Croatian representative in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Stir called for Kosovo's admission to that organization and the UN, while also advocating for "opening the doors" to Serbia for EU membership.

"Open the doors for Kosovo to become a part of the Council of Europe and the UN, but also open the doors for Serbia to become an EU member. Both Kosovo and Serbia are surrounded by the EU and NATO. Therefore, I believe that Serbia and Kosovo are with the West and in the West. Of course, it is up to the authorities in Belgrade to align with the West, to become an EU member, and up to the authorities in Pristina to implement the necessary reforms to first become a candidate country, and then an EU member," the Croatian representative said.

He also stated that "the European solution he looks forward to is for Serbia and Kosovo to be reunited, but this time as two member states of a united Europe, as two EU member states."

Grandfather - Colonel of the Ustasa Army

Stir was born in 1972 in Argentina, in Buenos Aires, and according to Wikipedia, he is a descendant of political emigrants who came to Argentina after World War II.

"His grandfather, Ivan Stir, was a colonel in the Ustase army and an assistant to Vjekoslav (Maks) Luburic, while his maternal grandfather, Milorad Lukac, was one of the leading emigrant politicians of the Croatian Peasant Party," the site states.

In 2021, during a speech in Vukovar, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic mentioned Ivan Stir, calling him "the Chepin killer and a war criminal."

However, this did not hinder his grandson’s political and diplomatic career.

The danger of separatism, but only in Bosnia and Herzegovina

One of the constants in his political career is his support for Kosovo.

Thus, back in 2017, as Croatia's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, after a meeting with Kosovo's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Enver Hoxhaj, he stated that Croatia, through its European partnership, aims to strengthen Kosovo's institutions and help implement the Stabilization and Association Agreement.

"Croatia strongly supports the independence and integrity of Kosovo," Stir said at a press conference.

However, when it comes to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Stir has repeatedly warned about the "danger of centralist and separatist forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina" and advocated for strengthening federalism in that country.

"There is, of course, an entity called the Federation, but it does not function that way, and that’s why I have said that this federation must be federalized," he stated for RSE.

He resigned from his role as foreign minister in 2017, with media reports stating that Stir belongs to the ultraconservative faction of HDZ and found the coalition with the liberal HNS unacceptable, a party that had been one of HDZ's biggest critics.

Ensuring that the majority does not become a minority

Stir is also interested in neighboring Montenegro, even though it is not "in his new portfolio."

Recently, along with four other MEPs, he raised his voice to stop an initiative to amend the Law on Dual Citizenship in Montenegro, as these changes "could lead to Montenegrins becoming a minority in their own country."

"This is a project that raises many questions, primarily because it has been suggested that a huge number of people who do not currently live in Montenegro could obtain citizenship, which could change Montenegro’s identity, that is, Montenegrins, in the end, could even become a minority in their own country," Stir said for RSE.

Imaginary enemy

He also had a public dispute with the President of Serbia, after writing about Vucic in his texts a few years ago.

"The disgusting things I’ve read in Croatian media only show how interested and coordinated the actions and attacks on our country are," Vucic said, while Stir responded on Facebook, telling Vucic to focus on his own people "and not imaginary enemies from Croatia."

However, it seems that Stir himself fights similar enemies, as he warned in 2018 about "Serbia's attempt to position itself as the leading power in the region," clarifying that the intention was not to recreate Yugoslavia, but to create instruments for a dominant influence in the "Yugosphere."

"Bull"

Davor Stir holds a degree in political science and international relations from the Catholic University of Buenos Aires, and later also studied journalism. He built his political and diplomatic career after returning to Croatia in the second half of the 1990s.

In his youth, he celebrated April 10, the day when the Independent State of Croatia was established in 1941, but later publicly renounced the glorification of that entity.

He worked in Croatian embassies in Washington and Brussels, and until 2009, he was the foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Ivo Sanader. He is a member of HDZ.

In the 2011 parliamentary elections, he was elected as a representative in the Croatian Parliament, and he was one of the closest associates of Jadranka Kosor. In April 2013, Stir was elected as Croatia's representative in the European Parliament, where he served until 2016, when he was appointed head of Croatian diplomacy.

As of 2024, he has once again become a member of the European Parliament.

The media describes him as a right-winger and a conservative, close to Catholic circles.

His German surname, "Stier," translates to "bull."

He is married and the father of three children.