Karl Viktor Erjavec (born 21 June 1960) 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 lawyer and politician who served in the government of Slovenia as

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

from 2012 to 2018. He was the president of the

Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia The Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia ( sl, Demokratična stranka upokojencev Slovenije, also known by the acronym DeSUS) is a political party in Slovenia led by Ljubo Jasnič. The party claims broadly liberal values with a strong focus ...

, having held the position from 2005 to January 2020 and again from December 2020 until March 2021. He was Minister of Defense from 2004 to 2008 and 2018 to 2020 and Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning from 2008 to 2010.

Early life and public servant

Erjavec was born in

Aiseau Aiseau ( wa, Åjhô) is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Aiseau-Presles, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It was a separate municipality before the Merger of Commons in 1977. It borders the Biesme, near its ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, into a family of Slovene immigrants. He moved to Slovenia in 1972, then

SFR 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 Yug ...

, when the family returned home. He graduated from the Faculty of Law 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 ...

in 1985 under the supervision of the renowned legal expert

Rajko Pirnat Rajko Pirnat (born March 24, 1951, in Ljubljana) is a Slovenian politician, lawyer and academic. From May 16, 1990, to May 14, 1992, he was the Minister of Justice for Slovenia as a member of the Slovenian Democratic Union. In that role, he introd ...

. He entered public service after democratisation in 1990, when the new democratic municipal authorities of the town of

Kranj Kranj (, german: Krainburg) is the third-largest city in Slovenia, with a population of 37,941 (2020). It is located approximately northwest of Ljubljana. The centre of the City Municipality of Kranj and of the traditional region of Upper Carniol ...

named him as head of the local administration. In 1993, he joined the

Slovene Christian Democrats The Slovene Christian Democrats ( sl, Slovenski krščanski demokrati, SKD) was a Christian-democratic political party in Slovenia between 1989 and 2000. It was founded as the Slovene Christian Social Movement in March 1989. Its first president w ...

. Between 1995 and 2000, he worked as the secretary of the Slovenian

ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

Ivo Bizjak, his party colleague. In 2000, when Bizjak was named as Minister of Justice in the centre-left government of

Janez Drnovšek Janez Drnovšek (; 17 May 1950 – 23 February 2008) was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1989–1990), Prime Minister of Slovenia (1992–2002, with a short break in 2000) and President of Slovenia (200 ...

, Erjavec became the secretary at the ministry. During this period, he rose to prominence because of his decisive actions against corruption in the justice system. In 2000, the Slovene Christian Democrats merged with 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 Erjavec was a member of the latter until 2004. When the Slovene People's Party left

Anton Rop Anton Rop (born 27 December 1960) is a Slovenian politician. Currently, he is a vice-president of European Investment Bank. He was Prime Minister of Slovenia, from 2002 to 2004. Until 2005 he was also the president of the Liberal Democratic Part ...

's government prior to the 2004 parliamentary election, Erjavec quit the party and joined the

Liberal Democracy of Slovenia Liberal Democracy of Slovenia ( sl, Liberalna demokracija Slovenije, LDS) is a social-liberal political party in Slovenia. Between 1992 and 2004 it was the largest (and ruling) party in the country. In the 2011 Slovenian parliamentary election, i ...

, then the largest coalition government.

Political career

Just before the parliamentary election of 2004, Erjavec joined the

. The same year, he was elected to the

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

. When his party joined the centre right government coalition of

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 ...

, Erjavec became Minister of Defence. In 2005, he was elected president of the Democratic Party of Pensioners. After the parliamentary election of 2008, the party entered the left wing government coalition of

Borut Pahor Borut Pahor (; born 2 November 1963) is a Slovenian politician who served as President of Slovenia from 2012 to 2022. He previously served as Prime Minister of Slovenia from November 2008 to February 2012. A longtime member and former presid ...

, and Erjavec was named Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning. On 26 January 2010, Erjavec announced his resignation in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

, and on 27 January 2010, he officially resigned in a letter to the Prime Minister. That happened after several months of political pressures that centered primarily on the demand of the Court of Audit of the Republic of Slovenia for the dismissal of Erjavec as he failed to secure an efficient

waste management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitoring ...

system. His resignation became valid on 2 February 2010, after the Prime Minister informed the National Assembly about it. On 12 February 2010, Erjavec was succeeded by Roko Žarnić. In January 2011, Žarnić stated that his predecessor had too little time to settle the issue of waste. In December 2011, he was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a populatio ...

to the National Assembly as a deputy. In February 2012, he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in the center-right coalition government of

. He continued to serve in that position in the following Bratušek and Cerar governments until 2018. From September 2018 to March 2020 he served as Minister of Defence in the Šarec government. At the January 2020 DeSUS party congress he was defeated by

Aleksandra Pivec Aleksandra Pivec (born 26 March 1972) is a Slovenian chemical engineer and politician who served as the country's Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food from 2018 to 2020 and Deputy Prime Minister from March to October 2020. Early life and e ...

after which he declared his retirement from politics, but he returned to party leadership in December 2020 after she was made to resign by the party. After his reappointment he announced that he had no interest in serving in Janša's 3rd government (which his party had joined under Pivec) and began the process of withdrawing DeSUS from the government coalition.

References

External links

Personal website
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Erjavec, Karl Viktor 1960 births Defence ministers of Slovenia Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia politicians Deputy Prime Ministers of Slovenia Environment ministers of Slovenia Foreign ministers of Slovenia Liberal Democracy of Slovenia politicians Living people Members of the National Assembly (Slovenia) People from Hainaut (province) 20th-century Slovenian lawyers University of Ljubljana alumni Slovenian people of Belgian descent