Vesna Györkös Žnidar (born 29 December 1977) is a Slovenian politician who was Minister of Interior in the Cabinet of Miro Cerar between 18 September 2014 and 13 September 2018. She is a member of the

Modern Centre Party The Modern Centre Party ( sl, Stranka modernega centra, SMC) was a social-liberal political party in Slovenia led by Minister of Economical Development and Technology Zdravko Počivalšek, who succeeded former Prime Minister and former Minister ...

Career

Györkös Žnidar was born on 29 December 1977. She studied law 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 ...

and graduated in 2001. She passed the national bar exam in 2003. With her law studies she followed the careerpath of her mother Elizabeta Györkös, who worked as a public prosecutor in Maribor. In 2005 she obtained her master's degree from the

London School of Economics and Political Science The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

with a degree in European law. After he studies she started working for the Maribor High Court and subsequently a notary office. Györkös Žnidar then worked for the Office for Money Laundering Prevention and from 2006 at the Bank of Slovenia. In 2012 she started her own law firm. She kept the firm until being appointed as Minister of Interior in the Cabinet of Miro Cerar on 18 September 2014. She faced criticism from opposition

Slovenian Democratic Party The Slovenian Democratic Party ( sl, Slovenska demokratska stranka, SDS), formerly the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia ( sl, Socialdemokratska stranka Slovenije, SDSS), is a conservative political party in Slovenia. It has been described as ...

(SDS) in 2015, in a case regarding the arrest of Kosovar politician

Ramush Haradinaj Ramush Haradinaj (; born 3 July 1968) is a Kosovo Albanian politician, leader of the AAK party, and the third prime minister of Kosovo. He is a former officer and leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), and previously served as Prime Minister ...

Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport ( sl, Letališče Jožeta Pučnika Ljubljana) , also known by its previous name ''Brnik Airport'' ( sl, Letališče Brnik), is the international airport serving Ljubljana and the largest airport in Slovenia. It is ...

. The SDS introduced a motion to remove her from office. In September 2015, in response to the

European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the continent to reques ...

Hungary unilaterally placed a fence on the border to Slovenia. After Györkös Žnidar spoke with her Hungarian counterpart the fence was removed and the two countries decided to form joint border controls. In February 2016 Györkös Žnidar announced to limit her country's migration quota to that of Austria. She also announced intensified border controls on the

Schengen The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and j ...

borders, emergency police powers to the

Slovenian Armed Forces The Slovenian Armed Forces or Slovenian Army (SAF; sl, Slovenska vojska; 'SV'' are the armed forces of Slovenia. Since 2003, it is organized as a fully professional standing army. The Commander-in-Chief of the SAF is the President of the R ...

, and the drawing up of a list of safe-countries of origin of migrants. In March 2016 the

Slovenian parliament The Slovenian Parliament ( sl, Slovenski parlament) is the informal designation of the general representative body of the Slovenian nation and the legislative body of the Republic of Slovenia. According to the Constitution of Slovenia, the gen ...

passed legislation to quicken the asylum procedures. On 13 September 2018 the

13th Government of Slovenia The 13th Government of Slovenia was elected on 13 September 2018 by the 8th National Assembly. It is the first minority government in the history of Slovenia. On 27 January 2020, following the resignation of the Minister of Finance Andrej Bertonce ...

took office and she was succeeded by

Boštjan Poklukar Boštjan or Bostjan is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Boštjan Buč (born 1980), Slovenian retired track athlete *Boštjan Burger (born 1966), Slovenian informatician, geographer, panoramic photographer and speleologist * Bos ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gyorkos Znidar, Vesna 1977 births Living people Alumni of the London School of Economics Interior ministers of Slovenia Modern Centre Party politicians University of Maribor alumni Female interior ministers Women government ministers of Slovenia