Alenka Smerkolj (born 15 December 1963) is a Slovenian politician appointed

Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

of the

Alpine Convention The Alpine Convention is an international territorial treaty for the sustainable development of the Alps. The objective of the treaty is to protect the natural environment of the Alps while promoting its development. This Framework Convention inv ...

, starting on 1 July 2019 as first woman holder of this post. From November 2014 to September 2018 she was the

Minister without Portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

responsible for Development, Strategic Projects and Cohesion in Miro Cerar's cabinet. From July to September 2016, she was acting Minister of Finance, after Dušan Mramor resigned.

Career

From 1988 to 2014, Smerkolj worked at the NLB Group, latterly as a director with responsibility for the financial markets. As a director, she was responsible for heading the NLB Group's communications with the Bank of Slovenia and the Ministry of Finance over liquidity management. She also held responsibility for balance sheet management, trade in financial instruments, investment banking, and securities custody. She was also a member of the Treasury Board at the Bank Association of Slovenia (BAS). Smerkolj is a professor of French and Spanish at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students. History Beginnings Although certain ...

Political career

On 15 October 2014, Smerkolj was appointed as the State Secretary of the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy. After a one-month tenure, the minister in charge of the department,

Violeta Bulc Violeta Bulc (born 24 January 1964) is a Slovenian politician who served as the European Commissioner for Transport from 2014 to 2019. Early life Bulc earned a bachelor's degree in computer science and informatics at the Faculty of Electrical En ...

, became the

European Commissioner for Transport The European Commissioner for Transport is a member of the European Commission whose portfolio includes the planning and development of homogeneous transport policies and regulations across the Union, of the Trans-European Transport Network as we ...

in the

Juncker Commission The Juncker Commission was the European Commission in office from 1 November 2014 to 30 November 2019. Its president was Jean-Claude Juncker, who presided over 27 other commissioners (one from each of the states composing the European Union, exc ...

. The National Assembly, on 19 November 2014, appointed Smerkolj as the replacement

responsible for Development, Strategic Projects and Cohesion. Following her appointment, she said: "I truly believe that Slovenian will be successful in developing its vision for development. Together, and through establishing an effective dialogue and cooperation in the search for new ideas and solutions, we will take Slovenia to the next level, i.e. towards balanced, progressive and sustainable development. I believe that this is our common objective and that we should join forces and knowledge in meeting this objective." Dušan Mramor resigned as Minister of Finance on 13 July 2016; the following day Smerkolj was appointed the acting minister.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smerkolj, Alenka 1963 births Living people Slovenian politicians Female finance ministers Women government ministers of Slovenia Finance ministers of Slovenia Ministers without portfolio of Slovenia