Jože Mencinger (5 March 1941 – 26 August 2022) was a Slovenian lawyer, economist, and politician. Mencinger was born in

Jesenice Jesenice (, german: Aßling''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru'', vol. 6: Kranjsko. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 144.) is a Slovenian town and the seat of the Municipality of Jesenice on the ...

, Slovenia, then part of the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...

. After finishing the study of 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 ...

in 1964, he obtained an MA at the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-ba ...

's Law School in 1966. He obtained his PhD at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1975. In May 1990, he was appointed Minister of Economy in the first democratically elected Slovenian government. In

Lojze Peterle Alojz "Lojze" Peterle (born 5 July 1948) is a Slovenian politician. He is a member of New Slovenia, part of the European People's Party. He served as Prime Minister of Slovenia from 1990 to 1992, Leader of the Christian Democrats from the foun ...

's cabinet, he served as Vice President of the Government for Economic Coordination from 1990 to 1991 (as a member of the Slovenian Social Democratic Union). In May 1991, he resigned because of disagreements on the model of privatization of the economy to be followed in Slovenia. Soon afterwards, he quit the Slovenian Social Democratic Union. In 1992, he became a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. After the party's failure to gain parliamentary representation in the 1996 elections, he quit politics. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he came back to the public life as a strong critic of Slovenia's membership in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

. In the mid-2000s, he engaged in frequent and virulent polemics with the younger generation of Slovenian

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and

neo-liberal 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 ...

economists ( Mičo Mrkaić, Jože P. Damijan, Sašo Polanec, Igor Masten, Janez Šušteršič). Between 2004 and 2008, he frequently criticized the liberal economic policies of

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 center-right government. Between 2001 and 2005, he served as rector of the

. Mencinger was also a member of the Slovenian National Council for 5 years. He was a member of the

European Academy of Sciences and Arts The European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA, la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea) is a transnational and interdisciplinary network, connecting about 2,000 recommended scientists and artists worldwide, including 37 Nobel Prize laur ...

and received the Golden Order of Freedom of the Republic of Slovenia. He also commented on the experience of privatization in Slovenia during the post-communist era. Mencinger appeared in

Boris Malagurski Boris Malagurski ( sr-Cyrl, Борис Малагурски; born 11 August 1988) is a Serbian-Canadian film director, producer, writer, political commentator, television host, and activist.

's documentary film ''

The Weight of Chains ''The Weight of Chains'' is a 2010 Canadian documentary film directed by Boris Malagurski.European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. In 2014, he was chosen to head the

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 ...

's list of candidates 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 ...

.RTVSLO.si – Pozitivna Slovenija 25. aprila na kongres. Jože Mencinger nosilec liste.
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Notes and references

External links

Jože Mencinger, PhD, Professor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mencinger, Joze 1941 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Slovenian economists Heads of universities in Slovenia Yugoslav lawyers University of Ljubljana alumni University of Belgrade Faculty of Law alumni Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Recipients of the Order of Freedom of the Republic of Slovenia University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni Positive Slovenia politicians Deputy Prime Ministers of Slovenia Members of the National Council (Slovenia) Slovenian Democratic Party politicians Democratic Party of Slovenia politicians People from Jesenice, Jesenice 21st-century Slovenian economists