Zoran Thaler (born ) is a Slovenian politician and businessman. He is a former Slovenian foreign minister and a former

member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

Political career

He was born in

Kranj Kranj (, german: Krainburg) is the third-largest city in Slovenia, with a population of 37,941 (2020). It is located approximately northwest of Ljubljana. The centre of the City Municipality of Kranj and of the traditional region of Upper Carnio ...

former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

(now in

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

). He graduated from

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students. History Beginnings Although certain ...

. He started his political career in the Alliance of the Socialist Youth of Slovenia (ZSMS), the largely autonomous youth and student organisation, many times in opposition to the

League of Communists of Slovenia The League of Communists of Slovenia ( sl, Zveza komunistov Slovenije, ZKS; sh, Savez komunista Slovenije) was the Slovenian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1989. It was establis ...

. In the first free elections in Slovenia, he was elected to the

Slovenian Parliament The Slovenian Parliament ( sl, Slovenski parlament) is the informal designation of the general representative body of the Slovenian nation and the legislative body of the Republic of Slovenia. According to the Constitution of Slovenia, the gen ...

as member of the Alliance of the Socialist Youth of Slovenia – Liberal Party (later renamed to Liberal Democratic Party) and became Deputy Foreign Minister (1990–1993) in first democratic Government of Slovenia ruled by the

DEMOS coalition Democratic Opposition of Slovenia, also known as the DEMOS (in Slovenian: ''Demokratična opozicija Slovenije'') was a coalition of centre-right political parties, created by an agreement between the Slovenian Democratic Union, the Social Democrat ...

. He was re-elected to the Parliament in 1992 and 1996 on the list of the ruling

Liberal Democracy of Slovenia Liberal Democracy of Slovenia ( sl, Liberalna demokracija Slovenije, LDS) is a social-liberal political party in Slovenia. Between 1992 and 2004 it was the largest (and ruling) party in the country. In the 2011 Slovenian parliamentary election, ...

. Between 1993 and 1995, he served as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Parliament. In January 1995, he was nominated Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia in the government of

Janez Drnovšek Janez Drnovšek (; 17 May 1950 – 23 February 2008) was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1989–1990), Prime Minister of Slovenia (1992–2002, with a short break in 2000) and President of Slovenia (200 ...

, after Lojze Peterle of the

Slovene Christian Democrats The Slovene Christian Democrats ( sl, Slovenski krščanski demokrati, SKD) was a Christian-democratic political party in Slovenia between 1989 and 2000. It was founded as the Slovene Christian Social Movement in March 1989. Its first president ...

had resigned. Thaler's term in office was marked by tensions with neighbouring Italy, which had already begun in the previous years. The disagreements between the two countries were mostly centered around the issue of property restitution to Italian refugees from Yugoslavia from the late 1940s. Thaler was involved in several negotiations with the Italian Foreign Minister

Susanna Agnelli Susanna Agnelli, Contessa Rattazzi, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (24 April 1922 – 15 May 2009) was an Italian politician, businesswoman and writer. She was the first woman to be appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in Italy. Early life Born ...

, in which he unblocked the Italian veto to Slovenia's access to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

. The Italian counterpart demanded that Slovenia changed its constitutional provisions which prevented foreign citizens to acquire real estates in Slovenia. In 1996, Slovenia agreed to the so-called "Spanish compromise", in which Slovenia promised to liberalize its property market regulations, allowing Italian and other EU citizens to purchase real estate in Slovenia. This resulted in the unblock of the Italian veto to Slovenia's access to the

. The deal made it possible for Slovenia to sign the Association Agreement with the EU on 10 June 1996 in Luxembourg and formally apply for membership in the EU the same day. In May 1996, Thaler was

impeached Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...

by the Parliament. In the final impeachment vote, a part of the ruling coalition (MPs from the

) joined the two major opposition forces (the

Slovenian People's Party The Slovenian People's Party ( sl, Slovenska ljudska stranka, , Slovene abbreviation SLS ) is a conservative, agrarian, Christian-democratic political party in Slovenia. Formed in 1988 under the name of Slovenian Peasant Union as the first democ ...

and the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia). In December 1996, Thaler was re-elected to Parliament on the list of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia. In 1997 he became again Minister of Foreign Affairs in Janez Drnovšek's third cabinet. During his mandate, the Parliament ratified the Association Agreement with the EU, after having changed the Constitution a day earlier in accordance with the Spanish compromise. The European Commission gave a positive opinion on the Slovenian application for membership shortly afterwards. After that achievement Thaler left politics for business. Between 2004 and 2006, he served as chairman of Si.mobil, Slovenia's second largest

mobile operator A mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a wireless service provider, wireless carrier, cellular company, or mobile network carrier, is a provider of wireless communications services that owns or controls all the elements necessary to sel ...

. In 2009, he headed the list of the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

for the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

, not being a member of the party and was elected on 7 June 2009. As a member of the European Parliament, Thaler was EP Rapporteur for Macedonia, vice-chairman of the EP Delegation for the South Caucasus, and a member of EP Foreign Affairs Committee. In March 2011, ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' implicated Thaler among other members of the European Parliament in a cash-for-laws scandal.

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

's ''Sunday Times'' also provided edited video of Thaler discussing adding amendments to EU laws with undercover journalists. On 21 March he resigned as a member of the European Parliament.

European Anti-fraud Office The European Anti-Fraud Office (commonly known as OLAF, from the french: Office européen de lutte antifraude) is a body mandated by the European Union (EU) with protecting the Union's financial interests. It was founded on 28 April 1999, unde ...

– OLAF investigated the case. In January 2012 OLAF concluded the investigation with the decision that there was "no infringement" on Thaler's side.Thaler v Bruslju oproscen obtozb , Delo
Delo.si (4 February 2012).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thaler, Zoran Liberal Democracy of Slovenia politicians People from Kranj University of Ljubljana alumni Living people 1962 births Social Democrats (Slovenia) MEPs MEPs for Slovenia 2009–2014 Foreign ministers of Slovenia