Katarina Kresal (born 28 January 1973) 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 ...

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, a ...

. She was the

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

in the government 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 ...

from 24 November 2008 till 19 August 2011.

Biography

Born in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

, Kresal studied 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 ...

and in 1996 graduated with honours. Firstly, she was employed as a legal trainee at the Higher Court in Ljubljana, then as a law clerk in a Commercial Disputes department at District Court in Ljubljana. Later she worked as an independent advisor for legal affairs at Kapitalska družba d.d. and afterwards as a Director of the Legal Department in Western Wireless International, Slovenian company based in Ljubljana owned by Americans. Since 2003 she worked as an attorney in law fir
Miro Senica & attorneys
In 2005 she became Deputy Head of Office and Head of Commercial and International Law Department. She entered politics in 2007, when she was elected for the president of 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 ...

(LDS). In the

2008 Slovenian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovenia on 21 September 2008 to elect the 90 deputies of the National Assembly. 17 parties filed to run in the election, including all nine parliamentary parties. The election was won by the Social Democrats ...

, she was elected to 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 ...

. On 24 November of the same year, she became Minister of Interior of the centre-left government of

with a handover from

Dragutin Mate Dragutin Mate (born 2 May 1963) is a Slovenian diplomat and politician of Croat origins. He was a member of the Slovenian Democratic Party (2008-2016). Between 2004 and 2008 he served as Minister of Interior in the centre-right government led ...

. On 12 January 2010, she was proclaimed the Slovenian Woman of the Year for 2009. The award is conferred each year by readers of '' Jana'', the oldest Slovenian women's magazine. On 10 August 2011, she stepped down as a Minister of Interior due to the opinion given by the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption of the Republic of Slovenia over a lease of a building to house the Slovenian National Bureau of Investigation. In their opinion they stated that there could be some irregularities in the lease of the building. She resigned due to her own principle values although she did not agree with the opinion given by Commission for the Prevention of Corruption. Her term ended on 19 August 2011, when the National Assembly took formal note of her resignation. She did not decide to retake the post of a deputy. She stated that she would use all legally possible channels to prove that the lease was untainted. On 15 December 2011, Kresal irrevocably resigned as the president of LDS after the party failed to secure itself the entry into the National Assembly at the

2011 Slovenian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovenia on 4 December 2011 to elect the 90 deputies of the National Assembly. This was the first early election in Slovenia's history. The election was surprisingly won by the center-left Positive Slovenia par ...

. In 2012 she founde
European Centre of Dispute Resolution (ECDR)
ECDR offers services in various fields, with emphasis on commercial, financial, business, consumer, civil, family and employment issues. ECDR operates internationally.

Controversies

Car chase

On 14 March 2010, Katarina Kresal was a passenger in

Audi A8 The Audi A8 is a full-size luxury sedan manufactured and marketed by the German automaker Audi since 1994. Succeeding the Audi V8, and now in its fourth generation, the A8 has been offered with both front- or permanent all-wheel drive—and in s ...

that was reported by

Žurnal24 ''Žurnal24'' in a Slovenian online newspaper. Until 2014, it was a free-press widely circulated daily newspaper published in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It was the youngest daily newspaper in Slovenia, being launched by Styria Medien AG, an Austria ...

to be driving faster than towards Fernetiči and without the police lights. The road speed limit was . The car stopped only after of

car chase A car chase or vehicle pursuit is the vehicular overland chase of one party by another, involving at least one automobile or other wheeled motor vehicle in pursuit, commonly hot pursuit of suspects by law enforcement. The rise of the automotive ...

. The policeman who drove the car was fined with 460

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s and 6

demerit point Demerit may refer to: * Demerit good, in economics * Demerit point, awarded for driving infractions in some countries * negative merit in Buddhism and in Hinduism People with the surname * Jay DeMerit, American soccer player * John DeMerit, f ...

s. On 2 April 2010, the police reported the speed did not surpass . Katarina Kresal said she had not been aware of the car speed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kresal, Katarina 1973 births Members of the National Assembly (Slovenia) Liberal Democracy of Slovenia politicians Living people Interior ministers of Slovenia University of Ljubljana alumni Lawyers from Ljubljana Politicians from Ljubljana Women government ministers of Slovenia Female interior ministers 20th-century Slovenian lawyers 21st-century Slovenian lawyers