Jožef Školč (born 19 August 1960) is a

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

n left liberal

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He was born in the village of

Breginj Breginj (; locally ''Brgin'' and ''Bәrgin'', , ) is a village in the Municipality of Kobarid in the Littoral region of Slovenia. It is located in the Breginj Combe. Name Breginj was first attested in written sources in 1170 as ''Vergia'' and ''Ve ...

in western Slovenia, in what was then the

Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. 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 (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

. 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 (, ZKS; ) was the Slovenian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1990. It was established in April 1937 as the Communist Party of Slovenia and was ...

. By that time, the organization was already fairly independent from the

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

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 Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

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 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 (20 ...

. The same year, he was elected MP in the

Slovenian National Assembly The National Assembly (, or ; short form ''državni zbor'') 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 incomple ...

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 Liberal Democracy of Slovenia (, LDS) is a social-liberal political party in Slovenia. Between 1992 and 2004, it (and its main predecessor, the Liberal Democratic Party) was the largest (and ruling) party in the country. In the 2011 Slovenian pa ...

. 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 2008 to 2012. A longtime member and former president of the Social D ...

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