Matjaž Šinkovec (; born on 22 May 1951) is a

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and

science fiction writer This is a list of notable science-fiction authors, in alphabetical order: A *Dafydd ab Hugh (born 1960) * Alexander Abasheli (1884–1954) *Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838–1926) *Kōbō Abe (1924–1993) * Robert Abernathy (1924–1990) *Dan ...

. He was one of the co-founders of the

Slovenian Democratic Party The Slovenian Democratic Party (, SDS), formerly the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia (, SDSS), is a conservative parliamentary party; it is also one of the largest parties in Slovenia, with approximately 30,000 reported members in 2013. It ...

Early life and career

Šinkovec was born in a

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...

family in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, then part of the

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. He attended the

Poljane Grammar School The Poljane Upper Secondary School () is located in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It is a coeducational nondenominational state secondary general education school for students aged between 15 and 19. It prepares them for university, which the ...

in Ljubljana, where he was also classmate of the later historian and politician

Vasko Simoniti Vasko Simoniti (born 23 March 1951) is a Slovenian historian and politician. Between 2004 and 2008, he served as the Minister of Culture of Slovenia, being reappointed in 2020. He is an active member of the Slovenian Democratic Party. Early ...

. He enrolled 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 ...

, where he graduated from

comparative linguistics Comparative linguistics is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness. Genetic relatedness implies a common origin or proto-language and comparative linguistics aim ...

. In 1976 he obtained his MA in

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

. In 1974, he got employed as journalist in the daily newspaper ''

Delo ''Delo'' () is a business oriented online media in Ukraine, belonging to ekonomika+ media holding. ''Delo'' was the first daily in Ukraine, publishing its real print circulation (13.000 - 15.000) and trying to introduce Western editorial and b ...

'', but soon quit in disaccordance of its editorial policy. For the following years, he could not get a regular job due to his openly critical stance towards the

Titoist Titoism is a Types of socialism, socialist political philosophy most closely associated with Josip Broz Tito and refers to the ideology and policies of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY) during the Cold War. It is characterized by a br ...

regime. He earned his living as a freelance translator and author of

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

short stories. Among others, he translated novels by

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

and

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...

into Slovene. In 1978, he was employed as an official translator in the Secretary for Foreign Cooperation of the

Socialist Republic of Slovenia The Socialist Republic of Slovenia (, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Slovenija, Социјалистичка Република Словенија), commonly referred to as Socialist Slovenia or simply Slovenia, was one ...

. In 1984, he started working at the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Slovenia, becoming one of the closest collaborators of its chairman

France Tomšič France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

who aimed at transforming the Confederation into a politically independent trade union, akin to the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

Early political activity

In 1989, he was one of the co-founders of the

Slovenian Social Democratic Party The Slovenian Democratic Party (, SDS), formerly the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia (, SDSS), is a Conservatism, conservative parliamentary party; it is also one of the largest parties in Slovenia, with approximately 30,000 reported member ...

, together with France Tomšič and

Jože Pučnik Jože Pučnik (9 March 1932 – 11 January 2003) was a Slovenian public intellectual, sociologist and politician. During the communist regime of Josip Broz Tito, he was one of the most outspoken Slovenian critics of dictatorship and lack of civil ...

. A strong supporter of the unification of all democratic political forces in Slovenia against in opposition to the ruling Communist Party, he is considered to be the author of the name of the

DEMOS coalition Democratic Opposition of Slovenia, also known as 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 ...

,http://bam.vecer.com/portali/7dni/v1/default.asp?kaj=2&id=5315303 founded in December 1989 as a common electoral platform of five largest Slovenian opposition parties. In the first democratic elections in 1990, Šinkovec was elected as an MP on the list of his Social Democratic Party. Between 1990 and 1992, he served as the leader of the parliamentary group of the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia and as president of the Parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs. Between 1991 and 1992, he was the chief negotiator for independent Slovenia on the International Conference on former Yugoslavia led by

lord Carrington Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, Baron Carington of Upton (6 June 1919 – 9July 2018), was a British Conservative Party politician and hereditary peer who served as Defence Secretary from 1970 to 1974, Foreign Secreta ...

. In the same period, he also served as head of the first Slovenian delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...

Diplomatic career and return to politics

After 1992, Šinkovec entered the

diplomatic service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtain diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

. Between 1992 and 1997, he served as the first Slovenian ambassador to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. In 1997 he took over the sector of

security policy Security policy is a definition of what it means to ''be secure'' for a system, organization or other entity. For an organization, it addresses the constraints on behavior of its members as well as constraints imposed on adversaries by mechanisms ...

in the Slovenian

Foreign Ministry In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...

. In 1999 he became the permanent representative of Slovenia to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

and in 2004. In April 2006, he was appointed as the head of the Slovenian Intelligence and Security Agency (). As chairman of the Agency, Šinkovec carried out several investigation on the activities of the Secret Service during the decade of

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 ...

governments, with an emphasis on the abuses of the Secret Service for political purposes. In 2007, he was relieved from office and appointed as a personal advisor of

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Janez Janša Ivan Janša (; born 17 September 1958), better known as Janez Janša (), is a Slovenian politician who served three times as a prime minister of Slovenia, a position he had held from 2004 to 2008, from 2012 to 2013, and from 2020 to 2022. Since ...

References

External links

NATO Who's Who.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinkovec, Matjaz Diplomats from Ljubljana Slovenian Democratic Party politicians Politicians from Ljubljana Slovenian translators English–Slovene translators Journalists from Ljubljana Ambassadors of Slovenia to the United Kingdom Permanent representatives of Slovenia to NATO Living people 1951 births University of Ljubljana alumni

Early life and career

Early political activity

Diplomatic career and return to politics

See also

References

External links