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Alenka Bratušek

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Alenka Bratušek
Bratušek in 2023
Minister of Infrastructure
Incumbent
Assumed office
24 January 2023
Prime MinisterRobert Golob
Preceded byBojan Kumer
In office
13 September 2018 – 13 March 2020
Prime MinisterMarjan Šarec
Preceded byPeter Gašperšič
Succeeded byJernej Vrtovec
Prime Minister of Slovenia
In office
20 March 2013 – 18 September 2014
PresidentBorut Pahor
Preceded byJanez Janša
Succeeded byMiro Cerar
Deputy Prime Minister of Slovenia
In office
13 September 2018 – 13 March 2020
Prime MinisterMarjan Šarec
Preceded byKarl Erjavec
Dejan Židan
Boris Koprivnikar
Succeeded byZdravko Počivalšek
Matej Tonin
Aleksandra Pivec
Leader of Positive Slovenia
In office
17 January 2013 – 25 April 2014
Preceded byZoran Janković
Succeeded byZoran Janković
Personal details
Born (1970-03-31) 31 March 1970 (age 54)
Celje, SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia (now Slovenia)
Political partyFreedom Movement (2022–present)
Other political
affiliations		Liberal Democracy (before 2008)
Zares (2008–2010)
Hermina Krt's List (2010–2011)
Positive Slovenia (2011–2014)
Party of Alenka Bratušek (2014–2022)
Residence(s)Kranj, Slovenia
Alma materUniversity of Ljubljana

Alenka Bratušek (pronounced [aˈleːŋka ˈbɾaːtuʃək];[needs tone] born 31 March 1970) is a Slovenian politician, who was the Prime Minister of Slovenia from March 2013 until May 2014 as the first woman in Slovenia to hold this position.[1] She was president pro tempore of the Positive Slovenia party from January 2013 until April 2014.[2][3][4] On 5 May 2014, Bratušek submitted her resignation as prime minister.[5]

Bratušek took office as Minister of Infrastructure in 2018 and served until 2020. She returned to the role in 2023.

Life

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Bratušek was born in Celje. She studied at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology at the University of Ljubljana. Continuing her studies at the University of Ljubljana, she went on to obtain a master's degree in management at the Faculty of Social Sciences. Before entering politics, she served for six years as head of the Directorate for the State Budget at the Ministry of Finance.

In March 2013, an anonymous person criticized Bratušek because she had not cited a source on one page of her master's thesis.[6] Her work has 88 pages with 34 listed sources, but journalists only counted 11 that had been cited; among them were also internal documents of the company Javni gospodarski zavod Brdo, where she was member and later chair of the management board.[7] Slovenske novice journalists also went through her work and wrote that Bratušek plagiarized one page from the work of another author (regarding Gøsta Esping-Andersen's classification of welfare) without proper citation.[8] Her alma mater, the Faculty of Social Sciences, started an investigation regarding alleged plagiarism.[9] The investigating commission concluded that "Bratušek in her master's thesis had used works of other authors contrary to current citation methods, but based on critically evaluation of collected material and sources it can not be expertly and scientifically established that the thesis is not a result of her work."[10]

Political career

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In 2006 she ran in local elections on the list of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia (LDS) and was elected to the Kranj city council. In 2008, Bratušek unsuccessfully ran for Parliament on the list of the Social Liberal party Zares.[11] At the next local elections, in 2010, she switched allegiance, this time to Hermina Krt's List (Lista Hermine Krt) and was once again elected to the Kranj city council.[11][12] In the 2011 early parliamentary elections, she was elected on the list of the Positive Slovenia party. During her parliamentary tenure she was the chairperson of the parliamentary Committee for Budget Control.

On 17 January 2013, Bratušek was elected as president of the Positive Slovenia party after its leader and founder Zoran Janković temporarily renounced all functions in the party following allegations raised by the official Commission for the Prevention of Corruption report.[13] Also following the report, center-right leader Janez Janša's government received a vote of no confidence.

On 10 September 2014 Bratušek was nominated to be one of the vice-presidents of the European Commission under the Junker Presidency, but her nomination was rejected on 8 October 2014, mostly due to her lack of experience.[14][15]

Prime minister

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Alenka Bratušek meeting with Pope Francis

On 27 February, Bratušek was elected prime minister-designate to form a new government of Slovenia. The center-right Slovenian Democratic Party responded by tweeting about "her government lasting no longer than her skirt's length".[16] (In the event, Alenka Bratušek served as prime minister from March 2013 until April 2014.) Gregor Virant welcomed the outcome of the vote, stating that it would enable Slovenia to move forward.[17] Foreign media thought that it would be difficult for Bratušek to form a new government and questioned whether she would continue with the reforms initiated by Janša's government.[18]

A new parliamentary majority, formed by PS and the Social Democrats, was formed. On 20 March, Bratušek formed a government.[19] During her tenure, she presided over the construction of the first mosque in the country.[citation needed]

Bratušek with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at Berlin on 12 July 2013

In seeking to avoid a financial bailout her government won a vote of confidence by 50 to 31 on 15 November.[20]

On 29 April 2014 she resigned from Positive Slovenia,[21] after losing the party leadership to Zoran Janković on 26 April.[22] Following this development, Bratušek announced her resignation as prime minister, to take effect on 5 May 2014.[23] On 5 May, she officially submitted her resignation letter, triggering discussions about a snap election later in 2014.[5] She became the first Slovenian prime minister to resign from office; her resignation took effect on 8 May.[24]

On 31 May 2014 she formed her own party Alliance of Alenka Bratušek (Zavezništvo Alenke Bratušek; ZaAB).[25] At the following election in July, ZaAB won four seats in the National Assembly, including one for Bratušek.[26]

European Commission

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In her final days as prime minister, Bratušek nominated herself for the position of Vice-President of the European Commission under the Junker Presidency, but on 8 October 2014, following a difficult confirmation hearing before the European Parliament, her nomination was rejected, with 122 out of 135 votes against her nomination.[14][15] Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar nominated another applicant, Slovenian entrepreneur Violeta Bulc.[27][28]

Family life

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Bratušek lives with her partner in Kranj. She has a son and a daughter.[29] Her son, Oskar Cvjetičanin, is a footballer and plays for Southampton academy.[30]

References

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  1. ^ "Predsednica vlade mag. Alenka Bratušek | Kabinet predsednika Vlade RS". Kpv.gov.si. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  2. ^ Positive Slovenia is led by Alenka Bratušek Archived 14 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine (In Slovene: Pozitivno Slovenijo vodi mag. Alenka Bratušek), official website, news section, 17 January 2013
  3. ^ Zoran Janković is not the party's president anymore ("Zoran Janković ni več predsednik stranke"), Delo, 17 January 2013
  4. ^ "Zoran Jankovic is president of Positive Slovenia". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  5. ^ a b "A. Bratušek: "Če res vsi mislijo, kar govorijo, gremo na volitve pred poletjem."". Delo.si. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  6. ^ S pinceto nad magisterij Bratovškove Archived 3 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine (With Tweezers over the Master's Thesis by Alenka Bratušek), Delo, 26 February 2013
  7. ^ "Je Alenka Bratušek magistrirala s kopiranjem?" (in Slovenian). Finance.si. 26 February 2013.
  8. ^ Avtor: S. N. (27 February 2013). "Analiza: kako je z zvijačo magistrirala Bratuškova" (in Slovenian). Slovenskenovice.si.
  9. ^ "Odziv FDV na domnevno plagiatorstvo Alenke Bratušek, 6. 3. 2013". FDV.uni-lj.si.
  10. ^ "Alenka Bratušek ostaja magistra znanosti – MLADINA.si".
  11. ^ a b J., P. (30 April 2014). "Vse stranke premierke Bratušek in ministra Jakiča".
  12. ^ "Razglej.se "Blog Archive" Hermina Krt predstavila svojo listo kandidatov". razglej.se.
  13. ^ "Alenka Bratušek". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  14. ^ a b "Europski parlament odbio kandidaturu Alenke Bratušek".
  15. ^ a b Spiegel, Peter (8 October 2014). "Parliament rejects Bratusek for European Commission job". Financial Times. London.
  16. ^ Politics and mini-skirts, Delo, 24 February 2013
  17. ^ "Znotraj DZ-ja jasna podpora, zunaj njega odzivi mešani :: Prvi interaktivni multimedijski portal, MMC RTV Slovenija". Rtvslo.si. 28 February 2013.
  18. ^ "Tuji mediji: Janša še ni rekel zadnje besede, Bratuškovo čaka težko delo :: Prvi interaktivni multimedijski portal, MMC RTV Slovenija". Rtvslo.si.
  19. ^ "Optimizem po prvih pogovorih pri Bratuškovi: Prvi interaktivni multimedijski portal, MMC RTV Slovenija". Rtvslo.si. 27 February 2013.
  20. ^ Novak, Marja (15 November 2013). "Slovenian PM wins confidence vote, but bailout risk remains". Reuters. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  21. ^ "Bratuškova izstopila iz PS-ja. Volitve ob dogovoru mogoče že pred poletjem". Rtvslo.si. 29 April 2014.
  22. ^ "Pozitivnaslovenija.si – Zoran Janković je predsednik Pozitivne Slovenije". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  23. ^ "Alenka Bratušek s ponedeljkom zapušča premierski stolček". Delo.si. 3 May 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  24. ^ "Konec vlade Alenke Bratušek". Delo.si. 8 May 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  25. ^ ""Želim, da ob dveh črkah ne vidite le mojega imena, ampak začetnici abecede"".
  26. ^ "Novoizvoljeni poslanci: izobraženi, v povprečju stari 48 let, med njimi največ žensk do zdaj :: Prvi interaktivni multimedijski portal, MMC RTV Slovenija". rtvslo.si.
  27. ^ eub2. "Slovenia to propose new Commissioner in 2-3 days – EUbusiness.com – EU news, business and politics" – via eubusiness.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  28. ^ "VELIKA SVAĐA 'Nova kandidatkinja za EU komisiju ima crni pojas i osramotit će nas kao i Bratušek'". Archived from the original on 16 October 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  29. ^ Interview with Alenka Bratušek, Siol.net, 11 March 2012, accessed 28 January 2013
  30. ^ "Ministerial backing for Slovenia's U17 campaign". UEFA. 11 May 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
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Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of Positive Slovenia
2013–2014 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Prime Minister of Slovenia
2013–2014 		Succeeded by
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