State Secretary

Born on 27 November 1965, Igor Senčar graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Ljubljana and received his Master’s degree from the Faculty of Economics in Ljubljana.

Between 1990 and 1993, he worked in the Investment Department at Telekom Slovenije. In 1993, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia as Minister Counsellor in the Department for European Integration and Economic Relations. Senčar was then seconded to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, where he served as Adviser and then as Secretary of the National Assembly’s Commission for European Affairs from 1997 to 2000. He was then appointed as Head of the Prime Minister’s Office. From 2001 to 2002, he served as Undersecretary and Head of the EU Section and the Section for General and Institutional Affairs within the Department for European Integration and Economic Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Between 2002 and 2003, Senčar was assigned to the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Slovenia to the EU in Brussels, where he served as Counsellor and was responsible for the European Convention. In 2003, he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary at the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Slovenia to the EU and Adviser to the Slovenian Representative to the Praesidium of the European Convention, Lojze Peterle, on the Intergovernmental Conference. At the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Slovenia to the EU in Brussels, in 2004–2005, Senčar also served as Representative of the Republic of Slovenia to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union. In 2005, he was appointed Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the EU in Brussels, and held the position until 2010. In the first half of 2008, he chaired the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER II) during the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

After his return from Brussels, he assumed the position of Director-General for European Affairs and Bilateral Political Relations. In February 2012, Senčar was appointed State Secretary.

He is married, with two children.