Robert Golob (born 23 January 1967)[2] is a Slovenian businessman and politician, serving as Prime Minister of Slovenia and leader of the Freedom Movement since 2022.[3]
Robert Golob | |
---|---|
Prime Minister of Slovenia | |
Assumed office 1 June 2022 | |
President | Borut Pahor Nataša Pirc Musar |
Preceded by | Janez Janša |
Leader of the Freedom Movement Party | |
Assumed office 26 January 2022 | |
Deputy | Urška Klakočar Zupančič |
Preceded by | Jure Leben |
Personal details | |
Born | Šempeter pri Gorici, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia | 23 January 1967
Political party | Freedom Movement (2022–present) |
Other political affiliations | Liberal Democracy of Slovenia (1999–2002)[1] Positive Slovenia (2011–2014) Party of Alenka Bratušek (2014–2022) |
Spouse | Jana Nemec Golob |
Children | 3 |
Education | University of Ljubljana Georgia Institute of Technology |
Early life and education
editGolob obtained his PhD in electrical engineering at the University of Ljubljana in 1994. After his studies, he was a post-doctoral Fulbright scholar in the United States at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.[4][5]
Business career
editIn 2004, Golob co-founded an energy trading company GEN-I,[6][7] which is state-controlled,[8][9] and where he remained chairman until 2021.[10]
Political career
editBetween May 1999 and June 2000, Golob was the State Secretary at the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the government led by prime minister Janez Drnovšek of the LDS party. In 2002, he was elected to the City Council of Nova Gorica, a position he held until 2022.[11] In 2011, Golob joined the Positive Slovenia party, founded by the mayor of Ljubljana Zoran Janković.[12] In 2013–14, with the rising tensions within the party between its founder and chairman Zoran Janković and Prime Minister Alenka Bratušek, Golob played a mediating role between the two factions.[13] With the final break within the party in April 2014, he joined the breakaway Party of Alenka Bratušek (SAB), becoming one of its vice-presidents.[14] After the poor performance of SAB in the subsequent 2014 election, winning only four seats, he moved away from politics on the national level, remaining active only at the local level in the municipality of Nova Gorica; he chaired the neighborhood assembly of Kromberk-Loke between 2010 and 2014, remaining one of its members until 2022.[15]
When his mandate as chairman of GEN-I ended in 2021, and after not receiving another one, Golob decided to take an active role in politics again.
Prime Minister (2022–present)
editIn January 2022, Golob took over the small extraparliamentary Green Actions Party and renamed it to Freedom Movement.[16] On 24 April 2022, in the 2022 Slovenian parliamentary election, the Freedom Movement won 41 seats in the 90-seat National Assembly.[17]
The Social Democrats, another centre-left party, announced that they would join a government led by Golob, in addition to The Left, giving him a majority in the legislature.[18] On 25 May 2022, Golob was appointed Prime Minister of Slovenia by the National Assembly.[3]
Golob criticized Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip during the Israel–Hamas war.[19] In May 2024, he announced that his government would recognize a Palestinian state.[20]
Personal life
editGolob was married to Jana Nemec Golob for over thirty years. They have three children.[21] Since autumn 2022 he has been living with a former model Tina Gaber in Ljubljana.[22][23]
References
edit- ^ "Kdo je bodoči voditelj naše države Robert Golob". Svet24 (in Slovenian). Retrieved 29 November 2022.
- ^ Maribor, IZUM-Institut informacijskih znanosti. "CONOR.SI – normativna datoteka osebnih in korporativnih imen :: COBISS+". plus.cobiss.net (in Slovenian). Retrieved 26 May 2022.
- ^ a b "Robert Golob elected prime minister". sta.si. The Slovenian Press Agency (STA). 25 May 2022.
- ^ "Assoc. Prof. Robert Golob, PhD. President of Management Board, GEN-I d.o.o." University of Ljubljana Faculty of Engineering. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
- ^ "Preskočil razred, skočil na čelo države". Primorske novice. 25 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
- ^ "prof. dr. Robert Golob". Laboratorij za energetske strategije.
- ^ "Dr Robert Golob - Chairman GEN-I". Business Investor Guide.
- ^ "Kandidata za zamenjavo Goloba zavrnjena". www.delo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 26 April 2022.
- ^ "Dogajanje v Gen-I blizu vrelišču: lastniki v nov poskus imenovanja uprave". N1 (in Slovenian). 16 November 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
- ^ "Vsak dan prvi - 24ur.com". www.24ur.com.
- ^ "Ekipa". listarobertagoloba.si. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
- ^ "Janković za N1: Robertu Golobu sem pripravljen odstopiti Pozitivno Slovenijo". 9 December 2021.
- ^ "Pozitivna Slovenija: Začasno premirje". 4 October 2013.
- ^ "Poslovno poročilo – stranka Zavezništvo Alenke Bratušek za leto 2014" (PDF) (in Slovenian). April 2022.
- ^ "Kromberk - Loke - Krajevne skupnosti - O mestni občini".
- ^ "Robert Golob elected new head of renamed green party". The Slovenia Times. 26 January 2022.
- ^ "Po 99 odstotkih preštetih glasov zmaga Gibanja Svoboda, v DZ-ju le pet strank". RTVSLO.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 24 April 2022.
- ^ "Janez Janša suffers heavy defeat as newcomer party wins Slovenian election". POLITICO. 24 April 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
- ^ "Slovenia to recognise Palestinian state by mid-June". Reuters. 9 May 2024.
- ^ "Slovenia to Recognize Palestinian State, Premier Golob Says". Bloomberg. 9 May 2024.
- ^ "Veste, kdo je žena Roberta Goloba? Našli smo njeno fotografijo". www.slovenskenovice.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 28 March 2023.
- ^ "Robert Golob: Trenutno s Tino Gaber ne načrtujeva poroke". siol.net (in Slovenian). Retrieved 30 July 2023.
- ^ "Premier Golob ekskluzivno v oddaji Preverjeno: S Tino in otroki živimo skupaj". www.24ur.com (in Slovenian). Retrieved 28 March 2023.
External links
edit- Media related to Robert Golob at Wikimedia Commons