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 from December 2019 to March 2020, deputy prime minister (2016–2018) and minister for Education and Science (2014), as well as spending two non-consecutive stints as speaker of the National Council (2014–2016; 2023–2024). Formerly a member of Direction – Social Democracy, he left the party and co-founded and has led Voice – Social Democracy since June 2020.

In January 2024, Pellegrini announced his candidacy in the 2024 Slovak presidential election. He finished in second behind Ivan Korčok in the first round of voting. However, he defeated Korčok in the second round held on 6 April with 53% of the vote and was inaugurated as the 6th president of Slovakia on 15 June 2024.

Pellegrini is the first Slovak politician to have held all three highest constitutional posts (President, Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament) in the country.

Early life and education

Pellegrini studied at the Faculty of Economics of Matej Bel University and the Technical University of Košice, focusing on banking, investment and finance at the latter. Between 2002 and 2006, he worked as an economist and later as advisor to National Council member for Privatization and Economy Ľubomír Vážny, supported by ĽS-HZDS, SNS and Smer-SD.

Political involvement

Early functions

He started his political career in 2002 at the age of 26 when he ran for the first time in the parliamentary elections for the party Direction – Social Democracy from 41st place and received 1,223 votes, which was not enough for him to become a deputy National Council of the SR. In the same year, he started working as an economist.

In the 2006 parliamentary election, he ran for the Smer-SD party from the 27th place of the candidate list and was elected as a member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic with a gain of 2,665 votes. During the 2006–2010 election period, he was a member of the Health Parliamentary Committee, Committee of the National Council for reviewing the decisions of the National Security Bureau and a member of the Mandate and Immunity Committee of the National Council.

In the 2010 Slovak parliamentary election, he again ran for the Smer-SD party from the 34th place in the candidate list and with a gain of 2,745 votes became a member of the National Council. As a member of the National Council, he served as a member of the Committee for Finance and Budget and a member of the Committee for Review of Decisions National Security Bureau. He was again reelected in the 2012 elections. He ran from the 35th place and received 5,950 votes. Between 4 April 2012 and 3 July 2014 he was State Secretary for Finance in the Fico's Second Cabinet. At the extraordinary assembly of the Smer-SD party on 28 June 2014, he became its new vice-chairman. On 3 July 2014, after the resignation of the Minister of Education Dušan Čaplovič, President Andrej Kiska appointed him as the Minister for Education and Science.

First mandate as Speaker of the National Council

On 25 November 2014, he was elected Speaker of the National Council, succeeding Pavol Paška. In 2015, he was appointed Digital Champion of Slovakia, a European Union appointed position to promote the benefits of an inclusive digital society.

Prime Minister of Slovakia

Made Deputy Prime Minister for Investments in 2016, under Prime Minister Robert Fico, Pellegrini was sworn in as head of government after his predecessor resigned on 15 March 2018 in the wake of the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak. President Andrej Kiska approved of Pellegrini's Cabinet on 21 March 2018; 81 members of the National Council voted in favour of approving the cabinet the next week. After serving as Acting Interior Minister in April 2018, Pellegrini temporarily took on the role of Finance Minister when Peter Kažimír left to become Governor of the National Bank of Slovakia in 2019.

After about a year of assuming office, Pellegrini was on 3 May 2019 invited on reception by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution and the 15th anniversary of Slovakia's entry into NATO. During the meeting, they discussed issues of energy security, Nordstream 2, illegal migration and Ukraine. Trump praised Slovakia's steps to increase the defense budget by two percent within NATO. Later, in December 2019, he assumed the office of Minister of Health after Andrea Kalavská resigned.

His party lost the 2020 parliamentary election to the populist, anti-corruption party Ordinary People led by Igor Matovič. On 16 March 2020, the government introduced measures against the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia, introduced a state of emergency for state hospitals in Slovakia, closed all schools, limited movement of citizens, closed business establishments and introduced quarantine.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, as medical supplies began to dwindle, nations began competing for supplies outside their jurisdictions, either paying companies to reroute or seizing equipment intended for other countries. Pellegrini said he booked two million masks from Ukraine, the requirement was payment in cash. However, a German agent appeared, paid more for the masks, and bought them. Ukraine Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba responded to the situation by saying there was no country in Europe that would not hunt medical masks and respirators around the world.

Second mandate as Speaker of the National Council

On 25 October 2023, he was re-elected Speaker of the National Council with 131 votes.

Presidential candidacy

On 19 January 2024, after popularity by supporters and support by his party Voice – Social Democracy as well as coalition partners Direction – Social Democracy, he announced his candidacy for the presidency.

On 23 March 2024, he came second in the first round with 37.03% with career diplomat Ivan Korčok winning with 42.52% and retired lawyer and judge Štefan Harabin claiming third with 11.74%. Soon after being second, he had claimed support from coalition partners SNS, whose leader Andrej Danko, withdrew from the first round, as well as unsuccessful candidates Krisztián Forró and Ján Kubiš.

On 6 April 2024, in the second round, he won with 53.12% defeating Ivan Korčok with 46.88%. On the day after the election, he confirmed that he will resign as leader of HLAS-SD and withdraw his membership of the party to honour the unwritten political tradition of the president being a nonpartisan officeholder.

Presidency

His presidential inauguration took place on 15 June 2024 during a special session of the National Council in Bratislava.

Personal life

Pellegrini has Italian ancestors. His great-grandfather Leopoldo Pellegrini (1856–1942) of Salter ( Trentino Region), which at the time was also part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire, came to Slovakia to participate in the construction of the railway between Levice and Zvolen.

In 2019, he described himself as a non-practising Catholic.

Pellegrini is a bachelor. In a 2020 interview with tabloid magazine ''Plus 7 dní'', Pellegrini was asked whether he was gay, which he denied. The incident led to the resignation of the magazine's editor, who alleged that Pellegrini had intervened to stop the question from being published.

Pellegrini owns a dog ''Gery'', named after Geralt of Rivia from '' The Witcher''.

Honours

National honours

* : Order of Andrej Hlinka
* : Order of Ľudovít Štúr
* : Milan Rastislav Štefánik Cross
* : Pribina Cross

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pellegrini, Peter
1975 births
Living people
Politicians from Banská Bystrica
Slovak people of Italian descent
Slovak Roman Catholics
Direction – Social Democracy politicians
Voice – Social Democracy politicians
Prime ministers of Slovakia
Deputy prime ministers of Slovakia
Education ministers of Slovakia
Speakers of the National Council (Slovakia)
Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2006-2010
Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2010-2012
Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2012–2016
Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2020–2023
Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2023–2027
Candidates for President of Slovakia
Matej Bel University alumni
Presidents of Slovakia