Peter Pellegrini (; born 6 October 1975) is a Slovak politician who served as the

prime minister of Slovakia The prime minister of Slovakia, officially the Chairman of the government of the Slovak Republic ( Slovak: ''Predseda vlády Slovenskej republiky''), commonly referred to in Slovakia as ''Predseda vlády'' or informally as ''Premiér'', is the ...

from 2018 to 2020 and

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

from December 2019 to March 2020. He previously served as

deputy prime minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...

(2016–2018) and minister for Education and Science (2014), as well as spending two years as

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the National Council (2014–2016). Pellegrini had been a member of

Direction – Social Democracy Direction may refer to: *Relative direction, for instance left, right, forward, backwards, up, and down ** Anatomical terms of location for those used in anatomy ** List of ship directions *Cardinal direction Mathematics and science *Directio ...

until he left the party and founded

Voice – Social Democracy Voice – Social Democracy ( sk, Hlas – sociálna demokracia, HLAS–SD) is a social-democratic political party in Slovakia. The party was founded in June 2020 and officially registered by the Ministry of the Interior in September 2020. The enti ...

in late June 2020.

Education and private career

Pellegrini's studied at the Faculty of Economics of

Matej Bel University Matej Bel University (commonly referred as Matej Bel or UMB), ( sk, Univerzita Mateja Bela) is a public research university in the central Slovak town of Banská Bystrica. The university was established in 1992. It bears the name of Matthias B ...

and the

Technical University of Košice Technical University of Košice (Slovak: ''Technická univerzita v Košiciach'') is the second largest university of technology in Slovakia. University structure * Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnology, * Faculty of Ma ...

, 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

In the 2006 parliamentary election, he was elected to the National Council for

(Smer-SD). He was reelected in the 2010 and 2012 elections. Between 2012 and 3 July 2014 he was State Secretary for Finance. He later briefly became Minister for Education and Science.

Speaker of the National Council

On 25 November 2014, he was elected Speaker of the National Council, succeeding

Pavol Paška Pavol Paška (23 February 1958 – 6 April 2018) was a Slovak politician who served as Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2012 to 2014. He was a member of the Direction - Social Democracy (Sm ...

. In 2015, he was appointed Digital Champion of Slovakia, a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

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 Robert Fico (; born 15 September 1964) is a Slovak politician who served as the prime minister of Slovakia from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018 (when he resigned). He has been the first leader of the Direction – Social Democracy (SMER-SD) ...

, 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 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 candidate in the 2014 presidential election in which ...

approved of

Pellegrini's Cabinet Pellegrini's Cabinet is the former government of Slovakia, headed by prime minister Peter Pellegrini. It was formed on 22 March 2018, after the Prime Minister Robert Fico resigned, as a result of the popular protests following the murder of Ján ...

on 21 March 2018; 81 members of the National Council voted in favour of approving the cabinet the next week. Mikhail Mishustin and Peter Pellegrini (2020-02-26) 01

Mikhail Mishustin and Peter Pellegrini (2020-02-26) 01

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 National Bank of Slovakia ( sk, Národná banka Slovenska, NBS), is the central bank of Slovakia, a member state of the European Union since 2004 and of the euro area since 2009. It was formed on from the division of the State Bank of Czechos ...

in 2019. Later, in December 2019, he assumed the office of

after Andrea Kalavská resigned. His party lost the 2020 parliamentary election to the

populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...

anti-corruption Anti-corruption (or anticorruption) comprises activities that oppose or inhibit corruption. Just as corruption takes many forms, anti-corruption efforts vary in scope and in strategy. A general distinction between preventive and reactive meas ...

party

Ordinary People ''Ordinary People'' is a 1980 American drama film directed by Robert Redford in his directorial debut. The screenplay by Alvin Sargent is based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Judith Guest. The film follows the disintegration of an upp ...

led by

Igor Matovič Igor Matovič (born May 11, 1973) is a Slovak politician and former businessman. He previously served as Deputy Prime Minister of Slovakia and Minister of Finance from April 2021 to December 2022 and Prime Minister from March 2020 to March 2021. ...

. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, 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 Dmytro Ivanovych Kuleba ( uk, Дмитро Іванович Кулеба; born 19 April 1981) is a Ukrainian politician, diplomat, and communications specialist, currently serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is also concurrently a member ...

responded to the situation by saying there was no country in Europe that would not hunt face masks and respirators around the world.

Personal life

Pellegrini has

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

ancestors. His great-grandfather Leopoldo Pellegrini came to

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

to participate in the construction of the railway between

Levice Levice (; hu, Léva, Hungarian pronunciation: ; german: Lewenz, literally lionesses) is a town in western Slovakia. The town lies on the left bank of the lower Hron river. The Old Slavic name of the town was ''Leva'', which means "the Left On ...

and

Zvolen Zvolen (; hu, Zólyom; german: Altsohl) is a town in central Slovakia, situated on the confluence of Hron and Slatina rivers, close to Banská Bystrica. It is surrounded by Poľana mountain from the East, by Kremnické vrchy from the West ...

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pellegrini, Peter 1975 births Living people Direction – Social Democracy politicians Health ministers of Slovakia Finance ministers of Slovakia Prime 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-present Slovak people of Italian descent Politicians from Banská Bystrica Matej Bel University alumni Education ministers of Slovakia