Gregor Virant (born 4 December 1969) 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 ...

and public servant. Between 2004 and 2008, he served as Minister of Public Administration in

Janez Janša Ivan Janša (; born 17 September 1958), baptized and best known as Janez Janša (), is a Slovenian politician who served three times as a prime minister of Slovenia, a position he had held from 2004 to 2008, from 2012 to 2013, and from 2020 to 2 ...

's first government, between 2011–2013 he was Speaker of the

National Assembly of Slovenia 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 ...

. He also served as Minister of the Interior and Public Administration in the government of Alenka Bratušek between 2013 and 2014. He was the leader (October 2011–May 2014) of the Civic List, until April 2012 named ''Gregor Virant's Civic List'', a liberal political party established in October 2011 to compete in the 2011 parliamentary election.

Life

Virant was 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 are ...

. He 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 at

Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University ( gd, Oilthigh Chailleannach Ghlaschu, ), informally GCU, Caledonian or Caley, is a public university in Glasgow, Scotland. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of The Queen's College, Glasgow (founded in 1875) and G ...

. Between 1995 and 1999, he worked as a legal adviser to the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

of Slovenia. He resides in

Domžale Domžale (; german: Domschale)''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 24. is a town and the seat of Municipality of Domžale. The town lies ...

Public servant career

In 2000, he was appointed secretary-general at the

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

(led by Peter Jambrek) in the short lived centre-right government of

Andrej Bajuk Andrej Bajuk, also known in Spanish as Andrés Bajuk (18 October 1943 – 16 August 2011) was a Slovene politician and economist. He served briefly as Prime Minister of Slovenia in the year 2000, and was Minister of Finance in the centre-right g ...

. He also remained in office during the

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...

governments of

Janez Drnovšek Janez Drnovšek (; 17 May 1950 – 23 February 2008) was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1989–1990), Prime Minister of Slovenia (1992–2002, with a short break in 2000) and President of Slovenia (2 ...

and

Anton Rop Anton Rop (born 27 December 1960) is a Slovenian politician. Currently, he is a vice-president of European Investment Bank. He was Prime Minister of Slovenia, from 2002 to 2004. Until 2005 he was also the president of the Liberal Democratic Par ...

. During that period, he was one of the authors of the reform of public administration, introducing professionalism in public servant posts.

Political career

Virant resigned from office shortly before the 2004 parliamentary elections, in which he ran as a candidate for 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 ...

on the list of the

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 ...

. However, he never joined the party. After the electoral victory of the Slovenian Democratic Party in 2004, Virant became the head of the newly created Ministry of Public Administration in the first government led by

. He launched a thorough reform of the public service in Slovenia, which included modernization and economizing of the service. In the last years of Janša's government, Virant frequently ranked as the most popular minister and one of the most popular politicians in Slovenia. After the 2008 parliamentary elections, in which the Slovenian Democratic Party lost to the left-wing coalition headed by the

Social Democrat 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 soc ...

leader

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 ...

, Virant was replaced as minister by Irma Pavlinič Krebs of the ''

Zares Zares – Social Liberals ( sl, Zares – socialno-liberalni) was a social-liberal political party in Slovenia. Its first president was Gregor Golobič, former Secretary General of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia and former close advisor to ...

'' party. In December 2008, Virant was elected chairman of the Rally for the Republic ( sl, Zbor za republiko), a civic platform founded in 2004 to promote

classical liberal Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, econom ...

, patriotic, republican, and liberal-conservative values in Slovenian public life. Between 2009 and 2011, he was also member of the Council of Experts of the Slovenian Democratic Party, the main opposition party's shadow government. In October 2011, he announced he would run for parliament in the 2011 parliamentary election on an independent ticket. According to an opinion poll released soon after the announcement, Virant was seen as the most appropriate choice for prime minister by the plurality of voters. On 21 October, the

Gregor Virant's Civic List Civic List ( sl, Državljanska lista, DL) is an inactive classical liberalism, classical-liberal extra-parliamentary list of political parties in Slovenia, political party in Slovenia, led by Gregor Virant. LGV won 8.37% of the vote at the early ...

was officially chartered as a political party. On 4 December, Virant was elected to the Slovenian National Assembly as the leader of the

. On 21 December, with the votes of his list, the

, the

Slovenian People's Party The Slovenian People's Party ( sl, Slovenska ljudska stranka, , Slovene abbreviation SLS ) is a conservative, agrarian, Christian-democratic political party in Slovenia. Formed in 1988 under the name of Slovenian Peasant Union as the first democ ...

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 ...

and the

Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia The Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia ( sl, Demokratična stranka upokojencev Slovenije, also known by the acronym DeSUS) is a political party in Slovenia led by Ljubo Jasnič. The party claims broadly liberal values with a strong focu ...

, he became the Speaker of the Assembly, thus defeating the candidate of

Positive Slovenia Positive Slovenia ( sl, Pozitivna Slovenija, PS) was a centre-left political party in Slovenia, following April 2014 led by founder Zoran Janković. The party was founded under the name ''Zoran Janković's List – Positive Slovenia''. It wa ...

party, Maša Kociper. He succeeded Ljubo Germič. On 24 April, he was reelected as the leader of the party. After his party received only 1.2% of votes in

European Parliament election Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Unti ...

, he resigned as party leader.

Family life

Virant is married and has two children. He is the son-in-law of the politician Miha Brejc. His cousin, Mija Janković, is married to Zoran Janković, the mayor of Ljubljana and leader of the

party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Virant, Gregor 1969 births Slovenian Democratic Party politicians Lawyers from Ljubljana Politicians from Ljubljana University of Ljubljana alumni Deputy Prime Ministers of Slovenia Living people Presidents of the National Assembly (Slovenia) Academic staff of the University of Ljubljana Alumni of Glasgow Caledonian University Interior ministers of Slovenia 20th-century Slovenian lawyers