Juraj Droba (born 25 May 1971) is a Slovak politician and businessman serving as Governor of

Bratislava region The Bratislava Region (, ; (until 1919); ) is one of the Regions of Slovakia, administrative regions of Slovakia. Its capital is Bratislava. The region was first established in 1923 and its present borders exist from 1996. It is the smallest of ...

since 4 December 2017. Between 2010 and 2018, he was an MP in the

National Council of Slovakia The National Council of the Slovak Republic (, abbreviated to ''NR SR'') is the national parliament of Slovakia. It is unicameral and consists of 150 members, who are elected by universal suffrage under proportional representation with seats dis ...

. He is a founding member of the

Freedom and Solidarity Freedom and Solidarity (, SaS), also called Saska, is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Slovakia. Established in 2009,. SaS was founded by economist Richard Sulík, who designed Slovakia's flat tax system. It generally hol ...

party.

Early life

Droba graduated in English and Physical Education teaching at the

Comenius University in Bratislava Comenius University Bratislava () is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is named after Jan Amos Comenius, a 17th-century ...

in 1996, after which he enrolled in the Executive MBA programme at the

, organised in cooperation with the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

. Whilst pursuing his MBA, Droba became a partner at a local communication firm called Omnipublic. In 2001, he went to the United States to enroll at the Graduate School of Political Management of the

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

During his stay in the United States, Droba befriended

Eduard Heger Eduard Heger (; born 3 May 1976) is a Slovak politician, who served as the Prime Minister of Slovakia from 1 April 2021 to 15 May 2023. He previously served as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in the Matovič Cabinet, cabinet of I ...

, later Prime Minister of Slovakia. After graduating from GWU, Droba returned to Slovakia and served as a Board Member and Director of External Communication division at

Slovak Telekom Slovak Telekom is the convergent telco provider with the largest internet, fixed-line, digital TV, ICT and mobile services portfolio. The company is Subsidiary, wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG. The Slovak Telekom Group consists ...

. In 2007, he and Heger teamed up with a group of American investors to start Old Nassau, the producer of premium Slovak export vodka brand Double Cross Vodka.

Political career

Member of Parliament

Droba was elected to parliament in 2010 and again in 2012 on the liberal

(SaS) party list. He left the party with four other MPs in 2013 due to disagreement with the leadership of the party's chairman

Richard Sulík Richard Sulík (; born 12 January 1968) is a Slovak politician, economist and businessman. He is the leader of the political party Freedom and Solidarity and served as Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Economy in Government of ...

. The defectors subsequently founded the liberal wing of the

Nova A nova ( novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white ...

party led by former Minister of Interior Affairs

Daniel Lipšic Daniel Lipšic (born 8 July 1973) is a Slovak politician and Jurist. He is a former Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and former Minister of Interior. Until 28 May 2012 he was a member of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), in wh ...

. Droba ran for the MEP seat on the New Majority list in 2014, but was not elected. He later found himself at odds with conservative members on the New Majority and expressed the desire to rejoin SaS, but was not allowed back by the party members despite Sulík's support. Despite the rejection, Droba and another MP Eugen Jurzyca, who had previously defected from the

Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party The Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party (, SDKÚ-DS) is a liberal-conservative, Christian-democratic political party in Slovakia. The SDKÚ-DS was a member of the Centrist Democrat International and was a member of the Eur ...

, joined with the loyalist SaS MPs to reestablish the SaS parliamentary faction, which had been previously dissolved as the remaining number of MPs after the defection was too low to warrant a faction.

Governor of Bratislava region

Juraj Droba and Eduard Heger opening a school 02

Droba was elected Governor of the Bratislava region in 2017 but he gave up his MP seat. He rejoined the Freedom and Solidarity in 2019. and ran on the party list in the

2020 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 29 February 2020 to elect all 150 members of the National Council. The populist Ordinary People and Independent Personalities–NOVA–Christian Union–Change from Below (OĽaNO–NOVA–KÚ� ...

. Despite being elected, Droba did not take his seat, claiming he only ran to support the party. Droba won praise for prudently moving fast to close the schools in the

following the outbreak of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in March 2020. He was criticised for disruption in the regional bus service following the change in the company operating the bus lines in 2021. Droba blamed the

Arriva Arriva Ltd. is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. The company was originally established on 24 October 1938 as T Cowie Ltd. Initially focused on the sale of motorcycles, it relaunched shortl ...

company who took over the lines for disruption and claimed he spared no effort to rectify the situation as soon as possible.

Personal life

Droba married TV executive Gabriela Drobová between 2001 and 2007, with whom he did not have any children. In 2012, he had a son from a relationship Katarína Lešková, also named Juraj. In 2022, Droba married Lucia Piteková, the director of Slovak representation at the

Dubai Expo Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

. Their son was born in September 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Droba, Juraj Living people 1971 births Governors of Bratislava Region Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2010-2012 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2012–2016 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2016–2020 Freedom and Solidarity politicians Comenius University alumni People from Bratislava Slovak emigrants to the United States