University of Chicago, Cornell University, American University, The New School, International Forum for Democratic Studies, Foreign Service Institute, Georgetown University, Wilson Center, and MIT Sloan School of Management. Political career Vesna Pusić was one of the 28 founding members of the liberal Croatian People's Party (HNS-LD) in 1990, after participating in the Coalition of People's Accord. She left party politics in 1992, but rejoined the same party in 1997 and was later its president between 2000 and 2008, and again since 2013. She first entered the Croatian Parliament in the 2000 parliamentary election, and has been reelected in 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015. In 1992 Pusić was the co-founder and director of the Erasmus Guild, a nongovernmental, nonpartisan think-tank for the culture of democracy, and the publisher and editor of the journal Erasmus, focusing specifically on different issues of transition in Croatia, countries of former Yugoslavia and Eastern Europe. Erasmus Guild ceased operations in 1998. In 2005 and 2008, she was made Chairwoman of the National Committee for EU negotiations, the body that oversees accession negotiations and is composed of members of parliament as well as representatives of the President, the academic community, employers, and union representatives. In 2006 and 2008 she was elected vice-president of ELDR. In the Croatian presidential election, 2009–2010, Pusić was the HNS-LD candidate. She won 7.25% in the first round, placing fifth out of twelve candidates, and was thus eliminated from the second round. After Kukuriku coalition won the 2011 parliamentary elections, Pusić served as Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the center-left Cabinet of Zoran Milanović. After Radimir Čačić was expelled from the Croatian People's Party on 23 March 2013 because of his attempts to destabilize the party, Pusić become party president once again. Pusić was reelected to the Parliament on 2015 parliamentary elections and served as a Deputy Speaker of the Croatian Parliament between 3 February 2016 and 14 October 2016. She was reelected to the Parliament at the 2016 extraordinary parliamentary elections. After HNS decided to enter coalition with conservative Croatian Democratic Union party, Pusić left HNS and with three other MPs was co-founder of the new social-liberal and centre-left party: the Civic Liberal Alliance. She continued to be an MP until the 2020 parliamentary election, when she chose to retire from politics instead of opting to run for re-election. UN Secretary-General candidature On 3 September 2015 the Croatian Government decided