The potential new prime minister of Slovenia, Robert Golob, who won the parliamentary elections in that country with the opposition "Freedom Movement", made a successful career as an executive in the energy sector, before returning to politics as a new name - just before the parliamentary elections.
In the elections, his party won 34 percent of the votes, that is, 40 mandates out of 90 parliamentary seats, writes Tanjug, as reported by RTS.
Robert Golob, a 55-year-old power system expert from the western region of Primorska, decided to challenge current Prime Minister Janez Janša to the polls after he failed to get support at the end of last year for another term as general director of the energy company GEN-I, after 15 years. spent at its head, STA reported.
However, Golob is not new to politics, only the role in which he found himself is new.
Under the liberal government of Janez Drnovšek, he was the state secretary for energy in the Ministry of the Environment from 1999 to 2002.
Before that, he was the head of Slovenia's negotiating team on energy policy in the accession negotiations with the European Union.
In 2011, Golob became the vice-president of Positive Slovenia, a party founded by the mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Janković, which won the 2011 parliamentary elections but failed to form a government.
Instead, the government was formed by Janša, who was dismissed after a year in office due to an oversight related to his property.
Janković, who at the time was facing similar accusations as Janša, says that Golob was his "first choice" to succeed Janša as prime minister.
However, Golob allegedly changed his mind and Alenka Bratušek became prime minister, adds Tanjug.
After the split in Positive Slovenia, Golob sided with Bratušek and for a time became vice president of her party.
Golob first hinted that he would return to politics at a GEN-I press conference in November 2021, where he appeared side by side with Janša's former ally, Brigadier General Anton Krković, who said the plan was to replace Golob with the position of head of GEN-I was orchestrated by people close to Janša.
After much speculation, Golob took over the small green party formed by Jure Leben, the 2018-19 environment minister, and renamed it "Freedom Movement" at the congress in late January, along with several professionals who lost or left their careers under the then-Gov. a promise to focus on a green agenda, an open society, normalization and a modern welfare state.
Politically, Golob is a liberal who stands for personal and social responsibility and a technocratic approach to government, which he intends to form with other left-of-center parties.
He is betting on green and digital transformation to lead the country to the path of success.
Golob has often said in recent weeks that his first priority after the election, even before forming a government, would be to support civil society in pushing for the adoption of bills aimed at repealing what they consider harmful laws passed through parliament by Janša's government. , along with a bill to make the public broadcaster independent of politics.
When the government is formed, he says that their first task will be to prepare for the autumn wave of Kovid-19 in order to protect the vulnerable, and at the same time enable society, the economy and especially schools to function normally.
The second priority will be the provision of energy supply for the winter and the protection of those at risk from price shocks.
Little is known about Golob personally, because he took care to keep his family away from the public eye.
Father of three children, Golob was born on January 23, 1967 in Šempetr near Gorica in the west of Slovenia.
He graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Ljubljana in 1989, then received a master's degree and a doctorate, after which he received a Fulbright scholarship for a visiting position at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, USA.
In 1997, he got a job as an assistant professor at his old faculty.
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