Milan Zver (born 25 May 1962) 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, a ...

and

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) from

. He is a member 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 ...

, part of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...

. He is the Vice-President of the

. He served as Minister of Education and

Sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

from 2004 to 2008. He is a member of the Reconciliation of European Histories Group.

Life and career

Zver 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 ar ...

FPR 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 ...

, but spent most of his childhood in the village of

Destrnik Destrnik (, german: Desternigberg) is a settlement in northeastern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Destrnik. It lies in the Slovene Hills ( sl, Slovenske gorice) north of Ptuj. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria ...

in the eastern Slovenian region of

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

. After finishing high school in

Ptuj Ptuj (; german: Pettau, ; la, Poetovium/Poetovio) is a town in northeastern Slovenia that is the seat of the Municipality of Ptuj. Ptuj, the oldest recorded city in Slovenia, has been inhabited since the late Stone Age and developed from a Roman ...

, he enrolled in 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 ...

, where he studied

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

and

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 Faculty of Social Sciences. He graduated in 1987 and continued his studies at the

University of Graz The University of Graz (german: link=no, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, ), located in Graz, Austria, is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria. History The unive ...

under the supervision of the scholar Horst Haselsteiner. He obtained his MA in 1990, but in 1992 he left the research work at the university and decided to undertake public service in Slovenia instead. A member of Slovenian Social Democratic Party since 1990, Zver served as advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister

Jože Pučnik Jože Pučnik (9 March 1932 – 11 January 2003) was a Slovenian public intellectual, sociologist and politician. During the communist regime of Josip Broz Tito, Pučnik was one of the most outspoken Slovenian critics of dictatorship and lack ...

and later to the Minister of Defence

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 ...

. After the Social Democratic Party left

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 (200 ...

's coalition government in 1994, Zver served as a secretary of the Municipal Council of

until 1999, and later as an advisor to the parliamentary group of the Slovenian Social Democratic Party (now known as the Slovenian Democratic Party) in 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 ...

. From 2002 to 2004, he served as member of the Municipal Council of Ljubljana. In 1998, Zver obtained his PhD at the University of Ljubljana under the supervision of historian Janko Prunk. The same year, he started teaching sociology 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 ...

. He has written several articles and monographs in political analysis and history of political thought. In the 2004 parliamentary elections, Zver was elected to the Slovenian National Assembly. He left the Parliament shortly afterward in order to serve as the Minister of Education and Sports in the

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...

government led by

. Until 2007, he also served as the chairman of the commission for the improvement of the conditions of the

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

community in Slovenia. As the Minister of Sports, he attended the

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

of the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

as the representative for Slovenia.

Recent activities

At the initiative of Milan Zver, 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 ...

announced on 11 June 2018 that a conference room will bear the name of

. The official inauguration took place on 28 June 2018 in Brussels, where

President of the European Parliament President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Antonio Tajani, Chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament

Manfred Weber Manfred Weber (born 14 July 1972) is a German politician who has served as President of the European People's Party (EPP) since 2022 and as Leader of the EPP Group in the European Parliament since 2014. He has been a Member of the European Parli ...

President of Slovenia The president of Slovenia, officially the president of the Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Predsednik Republike Slovenije), is the head of state of the Republic of Slovenia. The position was established on 23 December 1991 when the National Assembly (S ...

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 presid ...

, President of

and initiator Milan Zver were among the honorary speakers. Family of

was present at the inauguration as well.Dr. Zver: Dr. Jože Pučnik sedaj domuje tudi v Evropskem parlamentu:http://www.eppgroup.eu/sl/press-release/Dr%3A-Zver%3A-Dr.-Jo%C5%BEe-Pu%C4%8Dnik-sedaj-domuje-tudi-v-EP After the victory of the left-wing coalition led by

in the 2008 parliamentary elections, Zver was replaced by

Igor Lukšič Igor Lukšič (born 3 December 1961) is a Slovenian political scientist, politician and was president of the Slovenian Social Democrats (June 2012 – May 2014). Between November 2008 and February 2012, he served as minister of education in the c ...

as Minister of Education of Sports. In 2009, he was chosen to head the Slovenian Democratic Party's list of candidates to the

. The list obtained the highest procentage of votes in Slovenia, while Zver received the highest number of preferential votes in the country, resulting in the election to the

. Zver has been member of several executive bodies of the

(SDS) since 1992, at first as an adviser and subsequently as a member. He is currently vice president of the party. He has also been active on the international political scene, mostly within the

and in

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

s such as the

International Republican Institute The International Republican Institute (IRI) is an American nonprofit organization. Most of its board is drawn from the Republican Party. It is committed to advancing freedom and democracy worldwide by helping political parties to become more iss ...

and the

Konrad Adenauer Foundation The Konrad Adenauer Foundation (german: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, KAS) is a German political party foundation associated with but independent of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The foundation's headquarters are located in Sank ...

. He is a signatory of the

Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism The Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism was a declaration which was initiated by the Czech government and signed on 3 June 2008 by prominent European politicians, former political prisoners and historians, among them former ...

Private life

Zver is married with two daughters. One, Manca Zver is a model and television host. Zver is also an amateur

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. Besides Slovene, he is fluent in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...

. He has been married twice. His current wife is the Slovenian historian Andreja Valič Zver.

Selected bibliography

* ("Concepts of Democracy among Slovenian Socialists in the Interwar Period"; Ljubljana, 1988); * ("And the Day Shall Shine: Political Essays"; Ljubljana, 1996); * ("Hundred Years of Social Democracy in the Slovene Lands"; Ljubljana, 1996); * ("The Notion of Democracy in the Classical Slovenian Political Thought"; Ljubljana, 2002); * ' ("The Scientific and Political Thought of

", editor; Ljubljana, 2004).

References

External links

Profile at Slovenian Government websiteZver's curriculum vitae
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zver, Milan 1962 births Living people Ministers of Education and Sports of Slovenia Politicians from Ljubljana MEPs for Slovenia 2009–2014 MEPs for Slovenia 2014–2019 Slovenian Democratic Party MEPs Slovenian Democratic Party politicians Slovenian sociologists University of Graz alumni University of Ljubljana alumni Academic staff of the University of Maribor Members of the National Assembly (Slovenia) MEPs for Slovenia 2019–2024