Janez Podobnik (born 17 September 1959) is a

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

n conservative

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

Early life

Podobnik was born in the small town of

Cerkno Cerkno (; it, Circhina; ger, Kirchheim) is a small town in the Littoral region of Slovenia. It has around 2,000 inhabitants and is the administrative centre of the Cerkno Hills. It is the seat of the Municipality of Cerkno. Cerkno is a small ...

in western

, in what was then the

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

. He studied medicine 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 ...

, where he graduated in 1984. From 1984 to 1990, he worked as a general physician in

Idrija Idrija (, in older sources ''Zgornja Idrija''; german: (Ober)idria, it, Idria) is a town in western Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Idrija. It is located in the traditional region of Inner Carniola and is in the Gorizia Statisti ...

Political career

He entered politics during the period of democratization known as the Slovenian spring. In 1990, he joined the

Slovenian People's Party The Slovenian People's Party ( sl, Slovenska ljudska stranka, , Slovene abbreviation SLS ) is a conservative, agrarian, Christian-democratic political party in Slovenia. Formed in 1988 under the name of Slovenian Peasant Union as the first democ ...

and was elected as the first non- communist mayor of Idrija after World War II. In 1992, he was elected to the

Slovenian National Assembly The National Assembly ( sl, Državni zbor Republike Slovenije, or ), is the general representative body of Slovenia. According to the Constitution of Slovenia and the Constitutional Court of Slovenia, it is the major part of the distinctively ...

. During the coalition government between the Slovenian People's Party and the left Liberal Democracy of Slovenia, Podobnik served as speaker of the National Assembly (1996–2000). In 1997, he unsuccessfully ran for

president of Slovenia The president of Slovenia, officially the president of the Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Predsednik Republike Slovenije), is the head of state of the Republic of Slovenia. The position was established on 23 December 1991 when the National Assembly p ...

, but was defeated in a

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock marke ...

by the incumbent

Milan Kučan Milan Kučan (; born 14 January 1941) is a Slovene politician who served as the first President of Slovenia from 23 December 1991 until 22 December 2002. Before being president of Slovenia, he was the 13th President of the Presidency of SR Slov ...

. He was reelected to the parliament in 2000, and he served as the head of the parliament group of the Slovenian People's Party from 2000 to 2004. In 2003, he was elected president of the Slovenian People's Party. In 2004, the party entered the centre-right government led by

Janez Janša Ivan Janša (; born 17 September 1958), baptized and best known as Janez Janša (), is a Slovenian politician who served three times as a prime minister of Slovenia, a position he had held from 2004 to 2008, from 2012 to 2013, and from 2020 to 2 ...

, and Podobnik became minister of the environment. In November 2007, Podobnik resigned as president of the Slovenian People's Party, which was defeated in the parliamentary election in September 2008.

Personal life

Podobnik is a devout

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

. He is married and has one child, Rok. His brother, Marjan Podobnik, also a politician, was the president of the Slovenian People's Party from 1992 to 2000, and deputy prime minister from 1997 to 2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Podobnik, Janez 1959 births Living people People from Cerkno Presidents of the National Assembly (Slovenia) Slovenian Roman Catholics Environment ministers of Slovenia Slovenian People's Party politicians Slovenian general practitioners University of Ljubljana alumni