Borut Pahor

1990-2004 Member of the Parliament

1997-2012 Leader, Social Democratic Party

2000-2004 President of the Parliament

2004-2008 Member of the EU Parliament

2008-2012 Prime Minister

2012-2022 President of the Republic

Borut Pahor has devoted his political career to:

• democracy (30 years of witnessing and shaping the transition from communism to democracy in Central and Eastern Europe),
• future of ever closer European Union, united free and at peace,
• national reconciliation and the promotion of peace and dialogue,
• European perspective of Western Balkans.

Borut Pahor is the long-time leader of the Brdo-Brijuni Process, a joint initiative that he co­ founded with Croatia as Prime Minister by Slovenia to serve as a driving force for political and overall development of the Western Balkans and its Euro-Atlantic integration. Brdo­ Brijuni Process was an incentive for other high-level initiatives, the Berlin Process being amongst them.

Barut Pahor has received several state decorations of the highest level from different countries. He was awarded with academic honors as follows:

• the Honorary Doctorates by the University of Lisbon and by the New University of Ljubljana for his efforts for reconciliation and the common European project (2022),
• the “Sigillum Magnum”, the highest honour of the University of Bologna, which is awarded to the most influential persons (2021),
• the prize ”Alcide De Gasperi: Builders of Europe” award, which is conferred by the Government of the Autonomous Province of Trento for achievements in building Europe.
• the esteemed title of the Protector of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts EASA, recently he was awarded by the EASA Ring of Tolerance, too.

Barut Pahor was born on 2 November 1963 in Postojna. He has a degree in political science, with a focus on international relations. In 1987, he won the Preseren and Zore Awards from the then Faculty of Sociology, Political Science and Journalism, University of Ljubljana for his graduate thesis.

He has a son Luka (25) with Tanja Pecar, advocate in Ljubljana.