Marjan Šarec | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Member of the European Parliament forSlovenia | |
| Assumed office 16 July 2024 | |
| 11thPrime Minister of Slovenia | |
| In office 13 September 2018 – 13 March 2020 | |
| President | Borut Pahor |
| Deputy | Miro Cerar Alenka Bratušek Karl Erjavec Jernej Pikalo Andrej Bertoncelj |
| Preceded by | Miro Cerar |
| Succeeded by | Janez Janša |
| Minister of Defence | |
| In office 1 June 2022 – 16 July 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | Robert Golob |
| Preceded by | Matej Tonin |
| Succeeded by | Robert Golob(Acting) |
| President of theList of Marjan Šarec | |
| In office 31 May 2014 – 27 June 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1977-12-02)2 December 1977 (age 47) |
| Political party | List of Marjan Šarec (2014–2022) Freedom Movement (2022–present) |
| Education | Academy of theatre, radio, film and television Ljubljana |
| Website | Official website |
Marjan Šarec (born 2 December 1977) is a Slovenian politician, actor and comedian who served asPrime Minister of Slovenia from 2018 to 2020. He also served as theMinister of Defence in thegovernment of Prime MinisterRobert Golob from June 2022 to July 2024 when he was elected to the European Parliament.
He started his career as a comedian and satirist before entering politics. Elected twice asMayor ofKamnik (2010–2018), Šarec ran in the2017 presidential election, narrowly losing to the incumbentBorut Pahor in therun-off. He entered theNational Assembly in theparliamentary election of 2018 with his party, theList of Marjan Šarec. On 17 August 2018, he became Prime Minister of Slovenia.[1] On 27 January 2020 he announced his resignation as Prime Minister.
Marjan Šarec commenced his education by joiningMarija Vera primary school in Duplica neighbourhood ofKamnik. Subsequently, he enrolled in a vocational course at theHigh School for Woodcraft inLjubljana.[2] After graduating from high school in 1996 and following the advice of directorMarjan Bevk, Šarec graduated as an actor from theAcademy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (part of theUniversity of Ljubljana) in 2001. In the following years, he was actively involved with the SlovenianNational television, appearing inSašo Hribar's radio show Radio Ga-Ga and TV show Hri-bar. Šarec was mostly working as a comedian and political satirist. During this time, his famous stage persona wasIvan Serpentinšek, a grouchy rural character fromUpper Carniola.[3] He also imitated several famous people, including former President of SloveniaJanez Drnovšek,Karel Erjavec,Osama bin Laden,Fidel Castro,Anton Rop,Jelko Kacin,Janez Janša,Andrej Bajuk, and others.[4][5] He was also working as a journalist and editor.[6]
In the 2010election, Šarec ran for office of mayor ofKamnik, a town innorth-central Slovenia. In a rare case among Slovenian media personalities who attempted to enter national or local politics, Šarec was successful. After finishing second in the first round, he narrowly won the runoff.[4] After being a member ofZoran Janković'sPositive Slovenia party, Šarec entered the 2014 local election with his own political list and was reelected in the first round with almost two thirds of the vote.[6] After becoming an elected official, Šarec retired his stage personas and became fully committed to the work of the mayor.[7]
In May 2017, Šarec announced he would run in the upcomingpresidential election, to take place on October 22. Despite the media reminding him of his acting career, Šarec stated he was completely serious about the candidacy, as "the function of the president should be treated as a serious one".[4] Criticizing the incumbent presidentBorut Pahor for treating the presidential function as a celebrity, Šarec was viewed as a potentially strong candidate, one who could attract the younger generation of voters and voters leaning towards the left side of political spectrum.[8][4] In the first round of the election, Šarec won 25% of the vote, resulting in a run-off against Pahor on 12 November, in which he narrowly lost.[9][10]
In June 2018, Šarec participated in theparliamentary election with theList of Marjan Šarec. The party won 12.6% of the vote, resulting in 13 MPs.[11] LMŠ became the second-biggest party in the National Assembly. On 17 August 2018, he was elected as the new head of government, leading the13th Government of Slovenia.[1]
On 27 January 2020, Šarec resigned from the post, following the resignation of the Minister of Finance, who resigned because of the proposed changes to the health-related legislation.[12][13]
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Slovenia 2018–2020 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Defence 2022–2024 | Succeeded by |
| Prime Ministers / Presidents of the Executive Council ofSR Slovenia (1945–1990) | |
|---|---|
| Prime Ministers ofSlovenia (1990–present) | |
Acting defense ministers shown initalics |
| International | |
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| People | |
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