Luka Mesec (born 1 July 1987) is a Slovenian politician and activist who has been the leader of the

eco-socialist Eco-socialism (also known as green socialism or socialist ecology) is an ideology merging aspects of socialism with that of green politics, ecology and alter-globalization or anti-globalization. Eco-socialists generally believe that the expansi ...

The Left party since June 2017. Mesec 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 ...

for the first time at the 2014 parliamentary election, and reelected at the 2018 parliamentary election. He is the coordinator of the Council of the Initiative for Democratic Socialism, Labour-Punk University, and its successor, the Institute for Labour Studies.

Early life and education

Luka Mesec was born on 1 July 1987 in Kranj. He grew up in

Železniki Železniki (; german: Eisnern''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, pp. 66–67.) is a small town in Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipal ...

, where he finished elementary and high school, after which he enrolled in the political science program 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 ...

's Faculty of Social Sciences. In 2012, he received a bachelor's degree in

European studies European studies is a field of study offered by many academic colleges and universities that focuses on current developments in European integration. Some programmes offer a social science or public administration curriculum focusing on develop ...

. As a student, Mesec was active in the Selca Valley Student Club, the Polituss Student Political Science Club, the ''Mi smo univerza'' movement, and the ''Prekercev front''. Since 2010, he has participated in the work of the "Labour-Punk University," an activist organization that introduced democratic socialism to Slovenian politics, and the Institute for Labor Studies.

Political career

Mesec participated in the

2012–13 Slovenian protests 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

. He was elected to the

at the 2014 parliamentary election, and reelected in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

. Under his leadership, The Left party connected with member parties of the

Party of the European Left The Party of the European Left (PEL), commonly abbreviated European Left, is a European political party that operates as an association of democratic socialist and communist political parties in the European Union and other European countries. ...

, including Greek Syriza, French Left Front, German The Left, and Spanish United Left. On June 1, 2022 he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Labor, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities in the government of

Robert Golob Robert Golob (born 23 January 1967) is a Slovenian businessman and politician, serving as Prime Minister of Slovenia and leader of the Freedom Movement since 2022. Early life and education Golob obtained his PhD in electrical engineering at ...

Political positions

Mesec advocates

participatory economics Participatory economics, often abbreviated Parecon, is an economic system based on participatory decision making as the primary economic mechanism for allocation in society. In the system, the say in decision-making is proportional to the impa ...

, social corporate governance, tax relief for the poor, labor rights and the abolition of

tax haven A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

s, and is against

neoliberalism Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...

, which, in his opinion, is nothing more than a class struggle of capital against organized labor. He believes that Europe, which once had a strong

social democracy Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote s ...

and

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

s, is experiencing this class struggle under the guise of European integration, in which countries compete against each other instead of being based on reciprocity.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mesec, Luka 1987 births Living people Deputy Prime Ministers of Slovenia Labour ministers of Slovenia People from Kranj People from Železniki Social affairs ministers of Slovenia University of Ljubljana alumni