Feri Horvat (; 26 September 1941 – 1 August 2020) was 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 ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and

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 ...

, and one of the founders of the United List of Social Democrats, now known as the

Social Democrats 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 so ...

. Between July and October 2004, he served as speaker of the Slovenian National Assembly. He was born as Franc Horvat in a Slovene

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

family in the village of Kuštanovci in the

Prekmurje Prekmurje (; dialectically: ''Prèkmürsko'' or ''Prèkmüre''; hu, Muravidék) is a geographically, linguistically, culturally and ethnically defined region of Slovenia, settled by Slovenes and a Hungarian minority, lying between the Mur R ...

region of eastern

(then part of the Horthy's Hungary). He studied

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

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 ...

. In the 1960s and 1970s, he served as director of several Slovenian companies, both in the industrial and financial sector. Between 1988 and 1991, he served as Secretary for Tourism and Commerce in the Federal Government of the

Socialist Federal Republic of 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 Yu ...

. During this period, he was a staunch supporter of the economic reforms of the Yugoslav Prime Minister

Ante Marković Ante Marković (; 25 November 1924 – 28 November 2011) was a Croatian and Yugoslav politician, businessman and engineer. Marković is most notable for having served as the last prime minister of SFR Yugoslavia. Early life Marković, was a Bosn ...

, aimed at introducing the market system in the Yugoslav economy. After the

dissolution of Yugoslavia The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

in 1991, Horvat returned to Slovenia, where he was among the co-founders of the United List of Social Democrats, a left wing party which was established by the merger of the former League of Communists of Slovenia and other minor leftist parties. In 1992, he was elected to the Slovenian National Assembly (the lower house of the Parliament of Slovenia). He covered several important functions in the parliamentary work. In June 2004, he was elected speaker of the National Assembly, thus replacing

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 presi ...

, who had been 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 ...

. He held this position until the Slovenian parliamentary elections of 2004, when he was replaced by France Cukjati, a member of the winning

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 ...

References

CV (with photo)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horvat, Feri 1941 births 2020 deaths People from the Municipality of Puconci Slovenian Lutherans Presidents of the National Assembly (Slovenia) University of Maribor alumni League of Communists of Slovenia politicians Social Democrats (Slovenia) politicians