Željana Zovko

Zovko came back to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1999 to work as associate for public relations for the Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ante Jelavić (HDZ BiH).[1] She then served as head of cabinet for Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Dragan Čović (HDZ BiH) from 2002 till April 2004.[2]

With his political support, Zovko moved to the diplomatic service: Čović named her as resident ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to France from April 2004 to 2008. She then moved on as Bosnian ambassador to Spain between 2008 and December 2011.[1]

In 2012 Zovko came back to Bosnian politics, serving until March 2015 as foreign affairs advisor for the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Vjekoslav Bevanda (HDZ BiH).[1] In the same period she also served as international secretary for Bosnia and Herzegovina of Croatia's HDZ party.[2]

From August 2015 till November 2016 Zovko served as ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Italy.[1]

In 2016, following the resignation of Andrej Plenkovic and Davor Ivo Stier who went on to form a new government in Croatia, and the refusal of Ivan Tepeš to replace Stier, Zovko took up a place in the European Parliament as MEP for Croatia. Her switch of loyalties from the Bosnian diplomatic service to representing Croatian voters in the European Parliament raised criticisms in the press.[3] She was re-elected at the 2019 elections, and joined the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), of which she was later elected vice-chair.[4] Zovko is a member of the parliamentary delegation for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo (DSEE), also having the citizenship of one of the countries at stake.[5]

In 2017 October, Zovko served as chief observer for the EU election observation mission to Nepal during the 2017 Nepalese legislative election.[6]

In October 2020, she was elected as Vice-chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee.