Valter Flego (born 15 August 1972) is a Croatian politician who has been a

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 ...

for Croatia since 2 July 2019. Previously he had served as the 4th

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

Istria County Istria County (; hr, Istarska županija; it, Regione istriana, "Istrian Region") is the westernmost county of Croatia which includes the biggest part of the Istrian peninsula ( out of , or 89%). Administrative centers in the county are ...

from 2013 to 2019, as well as he served three terms as mayor of the town of

Buzet Buzet (; la, Piquentum; it, Pinguente) is a town in Istria, west Croatia, population 6,133 (2011). Demographics In 2011 the total municipal population was 6,133 people, distributed in the following settlements (with population shown in paren ...

. He is a member of the liberal Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) party.

Early life and education

He finished elementary school and first two years of high school in

, and 3rd and 4th grade in

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Prim ...

. After graduation he gained qualification of a machine technician. In 1991 he enrolled in the study of mechanical engineering on the

University of Rijeka The University of Rijeka ( hr, Sveučilište u Rijeci) is in the city of Rijeka, Croatia, with faculties in cities throughout the regions of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Primorje, Istria and Lika. The University of Rijeka is composed of eleven fa ...

, where he graduated in 1996 with special honors and became a mechanical engineer. During his studies he received Rector's Award of the University of Rijeka as the best student of the Technical Faculty as well as Truffle Award for Excellence in curricular and extracurricular activities from the town of Buzet.

Career

After finishing studies, Flego got a job in the company ''Istrian waterworks'', and in the same time enrolled in the postgraduate studies on the Rijeka Faculty of Economics which he finished in year 2000 acquiring a scientific master's degree in economics. After 2001 local elections Flego became the Mayor of

. After 2005 local elections he was unanimously re-elected mayor by the city council. At the first direct local elections that were held in 2009 Flego received over 84% of the voters, thus achieving the best result out of all candidates for mayor in Croatia. In 2013 local elections Flego, who had support from IDS- HNS-LD-Green party, ran against

Damir Kajin Damir Kajin (born 3 February 1962) is a Croatian politician. Born in Koper, he grew up in Buzet. Kajin was the Istrian Democratic Assembly The Istrian Democratic Assembly ( hr, Istarski demokratski sabor, it, Dieta democratica istriana or I ...

, who had support of SDP- HSU- SDSS- HSLS, for the position of Prefect of Istrian county. Eventually he won with 47,25% to 36,24% of votes.

Personal life

Flego is married since 2002 to Branka Flego, an elementary school teacher. They have two sons, Dinko and Ivo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flego, Valter MEPs for Croatia 2019–2024 1972 births Living people Politicians from Koper People from Buzet University of Rijeka alumni Mayors of places in Croatia Istrian Democratic Assembly politicians