Luka Mesec (born 1 July 1987) is a Slovenian politician and activist who has been the leader of the

eco-socialist Eco-socialism (also known as green socialism, socialist ecology, ecological materialism, or revolutionary ecology) is an ideology merging aspects of socialism with that of green politics, ecology and alter-globalization or anti-globalization. ...

The Left party since June 2017. Mesec was elected to the Slovenian National Assembly for the first time at the 2014 parliamentary election, and reelected at the 2018 parliamentary election. He is the coordinator of the Council of the Initiative for Democratic Socialism, Labour-Punk University, and its successor, the Institute for Labour Studies.

Early life and education

Luka Mesec was born on 1 July 1987 in

Kranj Kranj (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, fourth-largest city in Slovenia and the largest urban center of the traditional region of Upper Carniola (northwestern Slovenia) and the Slovene Alps. It is located approximately northwest o ...

. He grew up in Železniki, where he finished elementary and high school, after which he enrolled in the political science program at the

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 ...

's Faculty of Social Sciences. In 2012, he received a bachelor's degree in

European studies European studies is a field of study offered by many academic colleges and universities that focuses on the History of Western civilization and the evolution of Western culture, as well as on current developments in European integration. Some ...

. As a student, Mesec was active in the Selca Valley Student Club, the Polituss Student Political Science Club, the ''Mi smo univerza'' movement, and the ''Prekercev front''. Since 2010, he has participated in the work of the "Labour-Punk University," an activist organization that introduced

democratic socialism Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic ideology, economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and wor ...

to Slovenian politics, and the Institute for Labor Studies.

Political career

Mesec participated in the 2012–13 Slovenian protests. He was elected to the Slovenian National Assembly at the 2014 parliamentary election, and reelected in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

. Under his leadership, The Left party connected with member parties of the

Party of the European Left The Party of the European Left (PEL), or European Left (EL), is a European political party that operates as an association of democratic socialist and communist political parties in the European Union and other European countries. It was formed ...

, including Greek

Syriza The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance (), best known by the syllabic abbreviation SYRIZA ( ; ; a pun on the Greek adverb , meaning "from the roots" or "radically"), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politi ...

, French Left Front, German The Left, and Spanish United Left. On June 1, 2022 he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Labor, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities in the government of

Robert Golob Robert Golob (born 23 January 1967) is a Slovenian businessman and politician, serving as Prime Minister of Slovenia and leader of the Freedom Movement since 2022. Early life and education Golob obtained his PhD in electrical engineering at th ...

Political positions

Mesec advocates

participatory economics Participatory economics, often abbreviated parecon, is an economic system based on participatory decision making as the primary economic mechanism for allocation in society. In the system, the say in decision-making is proportional to the impa ...

, social corporate governance, tax relief for the poor,

labor rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, the ...

and the abolition of

tax haven A tax haven is a term, often used pejoratively, to describe a place with very low tax rates for Domicile (law), non-domiciled investors, even if the official rates may be higher. In some older definitions, a tax haven also offers Bank secrecy, ...

s, and is against

neoliberalism Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pe ...

, which, in his opinion, is nothing more than a class struggle of capital against organized labor. He believes that Europe, which once had a strong

social democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

and

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s, is experiencing this class struggle under the guise of

European integration European integration is the process of political, legal, social, regional and economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe, or nearby. European integration has primarily but not exclusively come about through the European Union ...

, in which countries compete against each other instead of being based on reciprocity.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mesec, Luka 1987 births Deputy prime ministers of Slovenia Labour ministers of Slovenia Living people People from Kranj People from Železniki Social affairs ministers of Slovenia The Left (Slovenia) politicians University of Ljubljana alumni