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 Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

Political career

He was born 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 ...

former 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 ...

(now in

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 ...

). 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 (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at the Faculty of Social Sciences of 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 ...

. 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 (, ZKS; ) was the Slovenian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1990. It was established in April 1937 as the Communist Party of Slovenia and was ...

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

Slovenian Parliament The Slovenian Parliament () is the informal designation of the general representative democracy, representative body of the Slovenian nation and the legislature, legislative body of the Republic of Slovenia. According to the Constitution of Slo ...

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 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 (, LDS) is a social-liberal political party in Slovenia. Between 1992 and 2004, it (and its main predecessor, the Liberal Democratic Party) was the largest (and ruling) party in the country. In the 2011 Slovenian pa ...

. 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, after Lojze Peterle of the Slovene Christian Democrats 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, 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 Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. 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 a 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 Eu ...

by the Parliament. In the final impeachment vote, a part of the ruling coalition (MPs from the Slovene Christian Democrats) joined the two major opposition forces (the Slovenian People's Party 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 mobile network provider, mobile network carrier, mobile , wireless service provider, wireless carrier, wireless operator, wireless telco, or cellular company, is a telecommunications provider of se ...

. In 2009, he headed the list of the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

for 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 ...

, 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 Sunday 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 N ...

'' 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 - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

'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 ) is a body mandated by the European Union (EU) with protecting the Union's financial interests. It was founded on 28 April 1999, under the European Commission Decision 1999/352. ...

– 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 Ministers of foreign affairs of Slovenia