Milan Zver (born 25 May 1962) is a Slovenian politician, sociologist and political scientist. He currently serves as vice-president of the Slovenian Democratic Party. Between 2004 and 2008, he was Minister for Education and Sports in Janez Janša's centre right government. In the European elections of 2009, he received the highest number of preferential votes in Slovenia, and was subsequently elected to the European Parliament.
Life and career
Zver was born in
Ljubljana,
former Yugoslavia, but spent most of his childhood in the village of
Destrnik in the eastern Slovenian region of
Styria. After finishing high school in
Ptuj, he enrolled to the
University of Ljubljana, where he studied
sociology and
political science at the Faculty of Social Sciences. He graduated in 1987 and continued his studies at the
University of Graz under the supervision of the scholar
Horst Haselsteiner. He obtained his MA in 1990, but in 1992 he left the research work at the university and decided to undertake public service in Slovenia instead. A member of
Slovenian Social Democratic Party since 1990, Zver served as advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister
Jože Pučnik and later to the Minister of Defence
Janez Janša. After the Social Democratic Party left
Janez Drnovšek's coalition government in 1994, Zver served as a secretary of the Municipal Council of
Ljubljana until 1999, and later as an advisor to the parliamentary group of the Slovenian Social Democratic Party (now known as the Slovenian Democratic Party) in the
National Assembly of Slovenia. From 2002 to 2004, he served as member of the Municipal Council of Ljubljana.
In 1998, Zver obtained his PhD at the University of Ljubljana under the supervision of historian Janko Prunk. The same year, he started teaching sociology at the University of Maribor. He has written several articles and monographs in political analysis and history of political thought.
In the parliamentary elections of 2004, Zver was elected to the Slovenian National Assembly. He left the Parliament shortly afterward in order to serve as Minister for Education and Sports in the centre-right government led by Janez Janša. Until 2007, he also served as the chairman of the commission for the improvement of the conditions of the Roma community in Slovenia.
As the Minister of Sports, he attended the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics as the representative for Slovenia.
Recent activities
After the victory of the left-wing coalition led by
Borut Pahor in the
2008 parliamentary elections, Zver was replaced by
Igor Lukšič as Minister of Education of Sports.
In 2009, he was chosen to head the Slovenian Democratic Party's list of candidates to the European Parliament. The list obtained the highest procentage of votes in Slovenia, while Zver received the highest number of preferential votes in the country, resulting in the election to the European Parliament.
Zver has been member of several executive bodies of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) since 1992, at first as an adviser and subsequently as a member. He is currently vice president of the party. He has also been active on the international political scene, mostly within the European People's Party and in conservative think tanks such as the International Republican Institute and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
Private life
Zver is married and has two daughters. His daughter
Manca Zver is a famous model and TV host. Zver is also an amateur
football player. Besides
Slovene, he is fluent in
English,
German and
Serbo-Croatian.
Selected bibliography
Koncepcija demokracije pri Slovenskih socialistih med obema vojnama ("Concepts of Democracy among Slovenian Socialists in the Interwar Period"; Ljubljana, 1988);
In dan bo sijal: politične razprave ("And the Day Shall Shine: Political Essays; Ljubljana, 1996);
Sto let socialdemokracije na Slovenskem ("Hundred Years of Social Democracy in the Slovene Lands"; Ljubljana, 1996);
Demokracija v klasični slovenski politični misli ("The Notion of Democracy in the Classical Slovenian Political Thought; Ljubljana, 2002);
Pučnikova znanstvena in politična misel ("The Scientific and Political Thought of Jože Pučnik", editor; Ljubljana, 2004).
External links
Profile at Slovenian Government website
Zver's curriculm vitae
Category:Slovenian Democratic Party politicians
Category:Slovenian Roman Catholics
Category:Slovenian sociologists
Category:University of Graz alumni
Category:University of Ljubljana alumni
Category:1962 births
Category:Living people
Category:Government ministers of Slovenia
Category:Slovenian Democratic Party MEPs
Category:MEPs for Slovenia 2009–2014
