Branko Mikulić

Yugoslav politician

Branko Mikulić (10 June 1928 – 12 April 1994) was a Yugoslav politician who served as Prime Minister of Yugoslavia from 1986 to 1989. Mikulić was one of the leading politicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the communist rule in the former Yugoslavia. He was a member of the Presidency of Yugoslavia for SR Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1984 to 1986, and previously served as President of the Presidency of SR Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1982 to 1983. Mikulić also served as President of the Executive Council of SR Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1967 to 1969. He was President of the League of Communists of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1969 to 1978 as well.

Mikulić was born to a Bosnian Croat family in 1928 in village Podgrađe, Municipality of Gornji Vakuf, at the time Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. His father was a prosperous farmer and a leading local member of the Croatian Peasant Party, who during World War II became a deputy on the State Anti fascist Council for the National Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina or (abv. ZAVNOBiH). Mikulić finished gymnasium in Bugojno and together with his father Jure joined the Yugoslav Partisans in 1943.

He insisted on distinctiveness of Bosnia and Herzegovina which was characterized by historical permeation of cultures and customs that "shaped the man of this land" and enforced a unique and distinctive "Bosnian soul", but he never missed to emphasize the value of "unity of particularity" and "particularity in unity", as well as the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina is the "motherland of all those who live there". He never shied away to criticize attempts of outside political centers, especially those in Croatia and Serbia, to interfere with Bosnia and Herzegovina internal affairs. by way of full emancipation of the Bosniak nation and reintegration of the Bosnian Croats into the political system. Meanwhile, western Herzegovina enjoyed economic regeneration during Mikulić's rule. In Ljubljana, Slovenian sociologist Tomaž Mastnak criticized Mikulić's nomination over the radio. The government subsequently laid charges against Mastnak. On 15 May 1986, he was appointed President of the Federal Executive Council of Yugoslavia. In March 1987, Mikulić was publicly rebuked for his economic policy by striking workers who refused to serve him while in Kranjska Gora for a ski jump competition. After the outbreak of 70 strikes nationally in a two week period (with strikes being illegal in Yugoslavia), Mikulić threatened to mobilize the army to restore order in May 1987. His government devalued the dinar by 25% on 17 November 1987. Mikulić reached a Standby Agreement with the International Monetary Fund in 1988. SR Croatia and SR Slovenia attempted to launch a no confidence motion against Mikulić in May 1988, but this proved unsuccessful. In June 1988, several thousand people protested in front of the Federal Assembly calling for Mikulić's resignation. After a no confidence vote in the Federal Assembly, Mikulić resigned his post on 30 December 1988 and returned to Sarajevo. With this, his government became the first and only to resign in the history of communist Yugoslavia. Mikulić left office with Yugoslavia in 21 billion USD of debt to Western countries. He was replaced by Ante Marković on 16 March 1989.

Mikulić resolutely refused to leave besieged Sarajevo, although his health was quite compromised at the time. In the 1990s, in an interview for Nedeljna Dalmacija he stated, that in the event of the breakup of Yugoslavia, he would remain with those "who choose a sovereign and independent Bosnia and Herzegovina and its territorial integrity within the existing borders."

Mikulić was one of the leading politicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the communist rule in the former Yugoslavia.

Before moving from the political scene in 1989, Mikulić was a leading official in the organizing committee of the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympic Games, and the person most responsible in getting the Games to the city, despite resistance from other Yugoslav political centers and media.