Ljudmila Novak (born 1 August 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 ...

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 ...

and a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

. She is the president of the New Slovenia – Christian People's Party. Since 21 December 2011, she has been the vice-president of the Slovenian

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 ...

Early life and career

Novak was born in

Maribor Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, th ...

. She studied Slovene and

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...

at the

University of Maribor The University of Maribor ( sl, Univerza v Mariboru) is Slovenia's second-largest university, established in 1975 in Maribor, Slovenia. It currently has 17 faculties. History The university's roots reach back to 1859, when a theological semin ...

. Between 1982 and 2001, she worked as a school teacher, first in

Murska Sobota Murska Sobota (, Slovenian abbreviation: ''MS'' ; german: Olsnitz;''Radkersburg und Luttenberg'' (map, 1:75,000). 1894. Vienna: K.u.k. Militärgeographisches Institut. hu, Muraszombat) is a town in northeastern Slovenia. It is the centre of the ...

, and then in

Višnja Gora Višnja Gora (; german: Weixelburg,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, pp. 96, 99. also ''Weichselburg'', ''Weichselberg'') is a town in th ...

and finally in Moravče.

Political career

Novak entered politics in 2001, when she was elected mayor of Moravče. In 2002, she became a member of the Executive Council of

New Slovenia New Slovenia – Christian Democrats ( sl, Nova Slovenija – Krščanski demokrati, NSi) is a Christian-democratic, conservative political party in Slovenia. Since 2018, it is led by Matej Tonin. The party was formed on 4 August 2000 following ...

party. In 2004, she was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. As a member of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...

, she was named a member of the

Committee on Culture and Education The Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) is a committee of the European Parliament. Responsibilities of the Committee This committee has focused on the well-being of all members of the human race and the increased opportunities for educat ...

. In 2022, she joined the Committee of Inquiry to investigate the use of

Pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...

and equivalent surveillance

spyware Spyware (a portmanteau for spying software) is software with malicious behaviour that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user—for example, by violating their privac ...

.Parliament names MEPs to sit on three new committees

, press release of 24 March 2022. She is also a substitute for the

Committee on Regional Development The Committee on Regional Development (REGI) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Younous Omarjee Younous Omarjee (born 30 September 1969 in Saint-Denis, Réunion) is a French politician who ...

, a member of the delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and a substitute for the delegation for relations with

Mercosur The Southern Common Market, commonly known by Spanish abbreviation Mercosur, and Portuguese Mercosul, is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full members are Argentina ...

. After the Slovenian parliamentary election of 2008, when New Slovenia failed to gain any seats in the

(NA), the lower house of the Slovenian parliament, Novak was elected president of the party. 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 ...

, the party won 4 seats in the NA. She learned and practiced the language

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

in her youth, but she does not actively speak it today. She still understands it. In 2007 she participated in the 7th congress of the

European Esperanto Union The European Esperanto Union (EEU; eo, Eŭropa Esperanto-Unio) is a union of the national Esperanto associations of the European Union member states. It holds congresses every two years. The congress in Maribor, Slovenia, in July and August 2007, ...

in Maribor, Slovenia. On 21 January 2009 she presented to the European Parliament in the Committee of Culture (under the sign PE 416.668v01-00) in the framework of the debate/opinion on multilingualism of

Vasco Graça Moura Vasco Navarro da Graça Moura, GCSE GCIH OSE (3 January 1942 – 27 April 2014) was a Portuguese lawyer, writer, translator and politician, son of Francisco José da Graça Moura and wife Maria Teresa Amado da Cunha Seixas Navarro de Castro, ...

three proposals for change in article 4, touching on Esperanto.

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Novak, Ljudmila 1959 births Living people Members of the National Assembly (Slovenia) MEPs for Slovenia 2004–2009 Deputy Prime Ministers of Slovenia Ministers for Slovenes abroad New Slovenia MEPs Politicians from Maribor Slovenian Esperantists Women MEPs for Slovenia University of Maribor alumni Vice-Presidents of the National Assembly (Slovenia) Women government ministers of Slovenia MEPs for Slovenia 2019–2024