Borut Pahor

Borut Pahor was born on 2 November 1963 in Postojna. A Bachelor of Political Sciences, he majored in international relations from the then Faculty of Sociology, Political Sciences and Journalism. He graduated with honours in 1987, receiving the highest Slovenian academic awards (the Prešeren and Zore Awards) for students for his undergraduate thesis.

He began his political career in 1990 as a delegate in the then Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, where he also chaired the youth and international affairs committees.

In 1992, he was elected as a deputy to the National Assembly. During his 1992–1996 term he served on the Assembly's Commission for EU Affairs, the Commission for the Supervision of Intelligence and Security Services and the Committee on Defence, and also led Slovenia's delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

In 1993, he became vice leader of the United List of Social Democrats (ZLSD).

He was re-elected as a deputy in the National Assembly in 1996. Up until April 1997 he served as a Vice-President and was a member of the Committee on International Relations, the Constitutional Commission and the Committee on Defence, the Chairman of the Slovenian Delegation to the parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

At the 3rd ZDSL congress in March 1997 in Ljubljana, he was elected the new party leader.

At the 2000 general election, he was elected as a deputy and became President of the National Assembly.

In June 2001, he was re-elected leader of the ZLSD at the party's congress in Koper.

In June 2004, before the end of his term in the Slovenian National Assembly, he was elected via a preference vote as an MEP at the European parliamentary elections. There, he was a member of the Socialist Group, the Committee on Budgetary Control and the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, and was the Vice-Chairman of the Delegation to the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee.

On his initiative the party was renamed the Social Democrats (SD) at the ZLSD's 5th congress in April 2005 held in Ljubljana. 

The 2008 general elections brought a relative victory to the Social Democrats. Acting on the basis of the election result and having consulted parliamentary groups, the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Danilo Türk, appointed Borut Pahor formateur, which was confirmed on 7 November by a ballot in the National Assembly. A new government was sworn in on 21 November 2008.

Borut Pahor is fluent in English and Italian, and has working knowledge of French. In his free time he particularly enjoys playing sport.

Nataša Kovač

Phone: 01 478 11 17

e-mail: natasa.kovac1[@]gov.si

Nataša Kovač was born on 27th December 1958 in Ljubljana, where she attended primary and secondary school. She graduated with summa cum laude honours from VII Gimnazija Vič high school. In 1985 she graduated from the then Faculty of Sociology, Political Sciences and Journalism of the University of Ljubljana, Department of Politology. During her studies she was actively involved in youth issues and served one term as Chairperson of the then youth organisation (ZSMS) of the Community of Vič. In the period between 1978 and 1986, she served two terms as delegate to the Socio-political Council of the municipal assembly.

For a number of years she was International Secretary of the Social Democratic Party. During that time she established excellent contacts within the European space, which proved essential to Slovenia’s efforts to join the European Union. In the past few years, as the secretary of the party committees, she was also chief of staff of the presidential candidate Lev Kreft’s election campaign, Secretary of the Council of the Party Chairman, Borut Pahor, and Partnership for Development co-ordinator, which was a form of cooperation between the Government and the Opposition during the previous administration.

Miloš Pavlica
Phone: 01 478 11 17
e-mail: milos.pavlica[@]gov.si

Miloš Pavlica was born on 3 October 1950. After graduating from the Faculty of Law Mr Pavlica worked for over twenty years in the enterprise sector. During his work in the Iskra electronics business system he was active in the area of planning, organisation, human resources and remuneration, as well as in administrative and political bodies of the Iskra company. He concluded his career at Iskra as the business secretary of Iskra Ltd.

In 1992, he was elected to the first composition of the Slovenian National Assembly. Afterwards, he worked as an advisor to the deputy group of the United List of Social Democrats (ZLSD) in the National Assembly until 2004, when he was appointed vice-mayor of the Municipality of Ljubljana and performed his duties on a professional basis. He was first elected to the Municipal Council of the Municipality of Ljubljana in 1998. At present, he is discharging his duties as a municipal councillor in his third term of office. 

Mr Pavlica was also vice-president of the Slovenian Labour Party upon its establishment in 1991 and subsequently acted as its president for six years. In 1997, he was elected vice-president of the United List of Social Democrats and held this office for a period of eight years. Currently, he still holds the office of president of the Labour Union of the Social Democrats and is a member of the core leadership of the Social Democrats.

Mr Pavlica has also held several offices in non-governmental organisations and supervisory bodies of companies and institutes.