Božidar FRANGEŠ (1977–1985)

Božidar Frangeš was a Yugoslav diplomat and senior official in the Western European Department of the Federal Secretariat for Foreign Affairs of Yugoslavia between 1973 and 1976. He worked closely with Janko Smole, the then Federal Secretary for Finance. Frangeš was one of the main negotiators of the EEC-Yugoslavia joint declaration from December 1976. He believed that the intensification of relations with the EEC was necessary in order to reduce Yugoslavia’s dependence on the Soviet bloc market and to preserve its uniqueness as a developing country. In this sense, he was the main coordinator in the relationship with the Yugoslav Embassy to the EEC led by Petar Miljević and his deputy Žarko Tomašević. In 1977, he was appointed Director of the Institute of International Politics and Economics in Belgrade. He remained in office until 1985.

He published several scientific works, the most famous of which are:

West Europe in the contemporary world: interests and policy options of Yugoslavia, Center for Strategic Studies, Belgrade, 1987; La Yougoslavie et l’économie mondiale au seuil du XXIème siècle: résumé sélectif de l’étude de synthèse du projet, International Politics, Belgrade, 1987; Evropa, Mediteran, Nesvrstanost, Međunarodna politika, Beograd, 1987.