Jozef Ráž (born 17 July 1979) is a Slovak politician. He currently serves as the minister of Transport.

Early life

The son of namesake singer

Jozef Ráž Jozef "Jožo" Ráž (born 24 October 1954) is a Slovak singer–songwriter and bassist from Bratislava known mainly for his work with the group Elán. Career Jožo Ráž founded the pop-rock band Elán in 1968 together with his school classma ...

, he was born on 17 July 1979 in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

. Ráž studied international business at the

University of Economics in Bratislava The Bratislava University of Economics and Business () is the oldest university of economics in Slovakia. History The university was established in 1940 as a private university under the name Vysoká obchodná škola v Bratislave (College of Co ...

and law at the Bratislava University of Law.

Career

After graduation, Ráž had a career in civil service. Between 2005 and 2010 he was at the minister of defense. In 2010 he joined the

Slovenská pošta Slovenská pošta, a. s. (literally Slovak Post) is a state-owned company responsible for providing Mail, postal service in Slovakia established on 1 January 1993 when Slovakia became an independent state and became a public limited company owne ...

, where he became a board member. In 2016 the director of Slovenská pošta

Tomáš Drucker Tomáš Drucker (born 20 July 1978) is a Slovak manager and politician who serves as the Minister of Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing wit ...

became the health minister and made Ráž his chief of staff. Ráž held the position until 2018, when his name was put forward by the prime minister

Peter Pellegrini Peter Pellegrini (; born 6 October 1975) is a Slovak politician who is serving as the sixth president of Slovakia since 2024. He previously served as prime minister of Slovakia from 2018 to 2020. Pellegrini also served as the Minister of Health, ...

for the position of the interior affair minister. Nonetheless, the president

Andrej Kiska Andrej Kiska (; born 2 February 1963) is a Slovak politician, entrepreneur, writer and philanthropist who served as the fourth president of Slovakia from 2014 to 2019. He ran as an Independent politician, independent candidate in the 2014 Slova ...

refused the nomination over Ráž's links to the former minister

Robert Kaliňák Robert Kaliňák (born 11 May 1971) is a Slovak politician who has been serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Slovakia and Ministry of Defence (Slovakia), Minister of Defence in the Fico's Fourth Cabinet, Fourth cabinet of Robert Fico since 25 Oct ...

accused of power abuse and ties to organized crime. Following his rejection, Ráž withdrew from public life and focused on running his catering business. In 2023, Ráž became the minister of transportation.

Personal life

Ráž is married with two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raz, Jozef Jr. 1963 births Living people University of Economics in Bratislava alumni Politicians from Bratislava Transport ministers of Slovakia