Jožef Školč (born 19 August 1960) 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 ...

n left liberal

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 ...

. He was born in the village of Breginj in western Slovenia, in what was then 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 ...

. He graduated from

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

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 1988 he was elected president of the Alliance of Socialist Youth of Slovenia, the youth organization of the

Communist Party of Slovenia The League of Communists of Slovenia ( sl, Zveza komunistov Slovenije, ZKS; sh, Savez komunista Slovenije) was the Slovenian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1989. It was establis ...

. By that time, the organization was already fairly independent from the Communist Party and played an important role in the process of democratization of Slovenia. In 1990, the Alliance of Socialist Youth was renamed to Liberal Democratic Party and Školč became its first president. In the first free elections in Slovenia in April 1990, the party gained around 14% of the popular vote and remained in opposition against the government led by the

DEMOS coalition Democratic Opposition of Slovenia, also known as the DEMOS (in Slovenian: ''Demokratična opozicija Slovenije'') was a coalition of centre-right political parties, created by an agreement between the Slovenian Democratic Union, the Social Democrat ...

. In 1992, Školč resigned as president of the Liberal Democratic Party to give way to

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 ...

. The same year, he was elected MP in 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 ...

and between 1994 and 1996, he served as its speaker. Between 1997 and 2000, he served as Minister of Culture of Slovenia. Between 2007 and 2008, he was head of the parliament group of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia. Since 2008, he has been serving as a State Secretary in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister

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 ...

References

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skolc, Jozef 1960 births Living people People from the Municipality of Kobarid Liberal Democracy of Slovenia politicians Presidents of the National Assembly (Slovenia) University of Ljubljana alumni