Tomáš Taraba (born 13 February 1980) is a Slovak politician who has been serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Slovakia and Minister of Environment in the Fourth cabinet of Robert Fico since 25 October 2023. With a previous business background, Taraba was elected to the National Council in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

on the list of Kotlebists – People's Party Our Slovakia. Notably, he was never a formal member of the People's Party, neither before nor after his election. From 2019 to 2023, he served as chairman of

Life – National Party Life – National Party (, Život), formerly known as Christian Democracy – Life and Prosperity – Alliance for Slovakia (, KDŽP), is a Far-right politics, far-right Christianity, Christian List of political parties in Slovakia, political par ...

. Taraba suspended his party membership to run on the list of the

Slovak National Party The Slovak National Party (, SNS) is an ultranationalist political party in Slovakia. The party characterizes itself as a nationalist party based on both social and European Christian values. Since 1990 SNS has won seats in every Slovak pa ...

, on which he was elected in the 2023 parliamentary election. Taraba is among the three most popular ministers in the Slovak government, boasting a total approval rating of 43% as of April 2024.

Early life and education

Taraba was educated at

Pezinok Pezinok (; in the local dialect ''Pezinek''; ; ; ) is a town in southwestern Slovakia. It is roughly northeast of Bratislava and, as of December 2023, had a population of 24,443. Pezinok lies near the Little Carpathians and thrives mainly on vi ...

Grammar School. Afterwards, he studied political science at the

Comenius University Comenius University Bratislava () is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is named after Jan Amos Comenius, a 17th-century ...

, graduating in 2003. Taraba also studied business management at the

University of Regensburg The University of Regensburg () is a public research university located in the city of Regensburg, Germany. The university was founded on 18 July 1962 by the Landtag of Bavaria as the fourth full-fledged university in Bavaria. Following groundbr ...

. Upon graduation, Taraba worked as in the private sector and in the SARIO government agency.

Political career

Taraba acted as an advisor to the chairman of the

Christian Democratic Movement The Christian Democratic Movement (, KDH) is a Christian democratic political party in Slovakia that is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and an observer of the Centrist Democrat International The Centrist Democrat International ...

Ján Figeľ Ján Figeľ (born 20 January 1960) is a Slovak politician who served as European Commissioner from 2004 to 2009, then as Slovak Minister of Transport from 2010 to 2012. From 2016 to 2019, Figeľ was European Commission special envoy for the pr ...

, which both of them denied. He worked at SARIO in the foreign direct investment section in 2006. Taraba joined

in 2019 and became its chairman at the same time. In the

2020 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 29 February 2020 to elect all 150 members of the National Council. The populist Ordinary People and Independent Personalities–NOVA–Christian Union–Change from Below (OĽaNO–NOVA–KÚ� ...

, he was among the Life members elected on the ballot of the far right

People's Party Our Slovakia Kotlebists – People's Party Our Slovakia (, ĽSNS) is a far-right, neo-Nazi political party in Slovakia. The party claims to derive its origin from the legacy of Andrej Hlinka and Jozef Tiso. Positioned on the far-right of the political spect ...

. Taraba left the parliamentary group of the People's Party shortly after the February election due to political disagreements with Milan Mazurek at the end of May 2020. In March 2021 interviews during the coalition crisis, Taraba expressed possible support for the minority government after the potential departure of SaS and For the People. Taraba gave up his position as chairman of Life and ran as an independent candidate on the SNS candidate list in the

2023 Slovak parliamentary election Early parliamentary elections were held in the Slovakia, Slovak Republic on 30 September 2023 to elect members of the National Council (Slovakia), National Council. Regular elections were scheduled to be held in 2024. However, on 15 December 202 ...

. He became Minister of Environment on 25 October 2023.

Personal life

Taraba is multilingual, able to speak Slovak, French, German, and English. He is

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, is married to his wife Denisa with five children.

References

External links

Tomáš Taraba
on

National Council of Slovakia The National Council of the Slovak Republic (, abbreviated to ''NR SR'') is the national parliament of Slovakia. It is unicameral and consists of 150 members, who are elected by universal suffrage under proportional representation with seats dis ...

official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Taraba, Tomáš Living people 1980 births Deputy prime ministers of Slovakia Environment ministers of Slovakia Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2020–2023 Politicians from Bratislava Comenius University alumni University of Regensburg alumni Slovak Roman Catholics Francophone people

Early life and education

Political career

Personal life

See also

References

External links