Lojze Peterle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Peterle in 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1stPrime Minister of Slovenia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 16 May 1990 – 14 May 1992 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | Milan Kučan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy |
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| Preceded by | Office established | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Janez Drnovšek | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 7 June 2000 – 30 November 2000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Andrej Bajuk | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Dimitrij Rupel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Dimitrij Rupel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 25 January 1993 – 31 October 1994 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Janez Drnovšek | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Dimitrij Rupel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Zoran Thaler | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Alojz Peterle (1948-07-05)5 July 1948 (age 77) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Independent | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other political affiliations | Christian Democrats(Before 2000) People’s Party(2000) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Ljubljana | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alojz "Lojze" Peterle (born 5 July 1948) is aSlovenianpolitician. He is a member ofNew Slovenia, part of theEuropean People's Party. He served asPrime Minister of Slovenia from 1990 to 1992,Leader of the Christian Democrats from the founding of the party in 1990 until it merged with theSlovenian People's Party in 2000, and wasMinister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1994 and again in 2000. He was aMember of the National Assembly from 1996 to 2004,[1] and aMember of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2019.
Lojze Peterle was born to a peasant family in theLower Carniolan village ofČužnja Vas nearTrebnje. He attended theNovo Mesto Grammar School. In 1967, he enrolled in theUniversity of Ljubljana, where he studied history and geography, and later also economy. During his student years, he started collaborating with theChristian left intellectual circle around the journalRevija 2000.
In the 1980s, Peterle started working at the Institute for Urban Planning of theSocialist Republic of Slovenia. In the mid-1980s, he was involved in several projects of trans-regional cooperation within theAlpe-Adria regional cooperation network.
In 1990, he was elected president of the newly foundedSlovene Christian Democrats.
Peterle becameprime minister of Slovenia in May 1990 after parliamentary elections of April 1990 won by theDEMOS coalition (which included Christian Democrats and was created in the opposition to theCommunist rule). In 1991, the DEMOS-led Slovene Parliament declared the country's independence from Yugoslavia, in compliance with the result of areferendum held in December the previous year. He served as prime minister until May 1992, when due to an internal crisis in theDEMOS coalition, a new coalition government underJanez Drnovšek was established by aconstructive vote of no confidence. In the elections of 1992, the Christian Democrats gained some support and became the second largest party in a highly fragmentedNational Assembly, after theLiberal Democratic Party. The Christian Democrats entered a cross-party coalition with the Liberal Democrats and theUnited List of Social Democrats (formerCommunist Party of Slovenia) under the leadership ofJanez Drnovšek.
Peterle served as deputy prime minister andforeign minister from January 1993 until October 1994. Tensions were deep in the coalition, however, and Peterle resigned from his posts in 1994 when Drnovšek nominatedJožef Školč, a member of his ownLiberal Democratic Party, to be speaker of Parliament, against the wishes of Peterle who believed that a Christian Democrat should be the speaker. The Christian Democrats did remain in the coalition, which was often divided over specific policy issues. In 1996, Peterle called for the dismissal of foreign ministerZoran Thaler because of his belief that Thaler did not do enough to help Slovenia's relations withItaly.
In the1996 elections, Peterle's party suffered a decisive defeat, losing popular support to the other two centre-right parties, theSocial Democratic Party of Slovenia and theSlovene People's Party, that had remained in the opposition and had criticised what they called a "unprincipled coalition between Christian Democracy and former Communists".
Between 1996 and 2000, the Christian Democrats remained in opposition, and Peterle's leadership was frequently challenged by different fractions within the party. He nevertheless managed to remain the chairman of the Party until 2000, when the Christian Democrats merged with theSlovenian People's Party, which had until then supportedJanez Drnovšek's third term as prime minister. As a consequence, Drnovšek's government fell in 2000, and Peterle became foreign minister again in the short-lived centre-right government ofAndrej Bajuk from June 2000 to November 2000.
Due to a disagreement over the election legislation, Peterle left theSlovene People's Party shortly after its unification with the Christian Democrats and joined the newly foundedNew Slovenia – Christian People's Party. In the 2000 election, both of Slovenia's conservative andchristian democratic parties suffered a defeat against Drnovšek'sLiberal Democracy of Slovenia, while theSlovenian Social Democratic Party assumed the undisputed leadership of the centre-right opposition.
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In 2002, Peterle became the 13th member of the steering committee of theConvention on the Future of Europe, which drafted theTreaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.[2]
In the2004 elections to theEuropean Parliament, Peterle was elected forNew Slovenia, as a member of theEuropean People's Party (EPP). In March 2006, he was elected as Vice President of theEuropean People's Party for a three-year term after recovering from cancer in April 2003.
Peterle served on theCommittee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament. He was also a member of theSubcommittee on Human Rights from 2004 until 2009.
In addition to his committee assignments, Peterle chaired the parliament's delegation to the EU-former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Joint Parliamentary Committee since 2014. He previously served on the delegations for relations with the countries ofSoutheast Asia and theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (2004–2009), to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (2009–2014), to the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee (2009–2013) and for relations withJapan (2013–2014). He was also a supporter of the MEP Heart Group, a group of parliamentarians who have an interest in promoting measures that will help reduce the burden ofcardiovascular diseases (CVD).[3]
In November 2006, Peterle announced that he would be running forPresident of Slovenia in the2007 presidential election. Backed by most of the centre-right government,[4] he was considered the front-runner before the first round of the election, but ultimately lost in a landslide toDanilo Türk in the second round.
He is a founder and current President of the groupMEPs Against Cancer (MAC).
In September 2016, Peterle joined more than 50 MEPs from six different political groups – includingChristofer Fjellner,Ashley Fox,Vicky Ford andBeatrix von Storch – in signing a proposal for a two-term limit of thePresident of the European Parliament. This move was widely seen as an effort to prevent incumbentMartin Schulz from holding onto the presidency for a third consecutive term.[5]
Peterle was not re-elected to the European Parliament at the2019 European Parliament election in Slovenia.[6]
Peterle is president of the Slovenian beekeepers association and hosted the 2003Apimondia beekeepers congress inLjubljana.[7]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byas Prime Minister of theSocialist Republic of Slovenia | Prime Minister of Slovenia 1990–1992 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 1993–1994 | Succeeded by |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs 2000 | Succeeded by | |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | President of theChristian Democrats 1989–2000 | Position abolished |
| Prime Ministers / Presidents of the Executive Council ofSR Slovenia (1945–1990) | |
|---|---|
| Prime Ministers ofSlovenia (1990–present) | |
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| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
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