Violeta Bulc (born 24 January 1964) is a Slovenian politician who served as the

European Commissioner for Transport The European Commissioner for Transport is a member of the European Commission whose portfolio includes the planning and development of homogeneous transport policies and regulations across the Union, of the Trans-European Transport Network as ...

from 2014 to 2019.

Early life

Bulc earned a bachelor's degree in computer science and informatics at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering,

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

, Slovenia, as well as a master's degree in information technology at the

Golden Gate University Golden Gate University (GGU or Golden Gate) is a private university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1901, GGU specializes in educating professionals through its schools of law, business, taxation, technology, accounting, ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. She then worked from 1991 to 1994 as an expert for

wide area network A wide area network (WAN) is a telecommunications network that extends over a large geographic area. Wide area networks are often established with leased telecommunication circuits. Businesses, as well as schools and government entities, use ...

s performance analyses at

DHL DHL (originally named after founders Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn) is a multinational Import-Export Expert Company, founded in the United States and headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It provides courier, package delivery, and express mail service, ...

Burlingame, California Burlingame () is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. It is located on the San Francisco Peninsula and has a significant shoreline on San Francisco Bay. The city is named after diplomat Anson Burlingame and is known for its ...

. In 1994, she returned to Slovenia, where she worked as the manager of institutional traffic (until 1997) and then the director of carrier business (until 1999) for Telekom Slovenia. From 1999 to 2000 she was the vice-president of

Telemach Telemach is a brand of United Group. It may refer to: * Telemach (Bosnia and Herzegovina) * * Telemach (Slovenia) {{Disambiguation ...

, a major telecommunications provider, and from 2000 to 2014 the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Vibacom, Sustainable Strategies and Innovation Ecosystems.

Political career

Bulc joined Slovenian politics together with

Miro Cerar Miroslav Cerar Jr. (, known as Miro Cerar ;) (born 25 August 1963) is a Slovenian law professor and politician. He was Prime Minister of Slovenia, leading the 12th Government. He served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs i ...

in 2013, and she was appointed head of the program committee of the Miro Cerar Party. Bulc served as a minister without portfolio responsible for development, strategic projects and cohesion and as deputy prime minister from 19 September 2014 until 1 November 2014 in the

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

cabinet of Miro Cerar The 12th Government of Slovenia, led by Prime Minister Miro Cerar, was announced on 18 September 2014. It was formed following the 2014 parliamentary election won by the centre-left Party of Miro Cerar; it was the third government formed over f ...

. Led by

Margrethe Vestager Margrethe Vestager (; born 13 April 1968) is a Denmark, Danish politician who formerly served as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age between December 2019 and November 2024 in the Von Der Leye ...

, Bulc was among the seven-strong "Team Europe" that the centrist

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE Party) is a European political party composed of 76 national-level parties from across Europe, mainly active in the European Union. The ALDE Party is affiliated with Liberal Interna ...

picked to spearhead its pro-EU, liberal campaign ahead of the 2019 European elections.

Other activities

In 2022, Bulc became a board member of the

Joint European Disruptive Initiative The Joint  European Disruptive Initiative (JEDI) is a European funding agency aiming at promoting disruptive technologies. It funds innovation in different "missions" (environment and energy, healthcare, education, digital, space, and oceans) ...

Critique over esotericism

On 10 October 2014, the

Slovenian government The Government of the Republic of Slovenia () exercises executive authority in Slovenia pursuant to the Constitution and the laws of Slovenia. It is also the highest administrative authority in Slovenia. The government carries out the country's d ...

announced that Bulc would be Slovenia's nominee for the position of the European Commissioner on the

Juncker Commission The Juncker Commission was the European Commission in office from 1 November 2014 to 30 November 2019. Its President of the European Commission, president was Jean-Claude Juncker, who presided over 27 other commissioners (one from Member state of ...

, replacing

Alenka Bratušek Alenka Bratušek (; 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. She was president ''pro tempore'' of the Positive Slove ...

. Bulc was criticized because of her esoteric views. After a confirmation hearing in front of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

's Committee on Transport and Tourism, Bulc was assigned the transport portfolio.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulc, Violeta 1964 births Golden Gate University alumni Living people Modern Centre Party politicians Politicians from Ljubljana Slovenian European commissioners University of Ljubljana alumni Women European commissioners Women government ministers of Slovenia European commissioners (2014–2019) 21st-century Slovenian women politicians 21st-century Slovenian politicians Deputy prime ministers of Slovenia