Janez Janša
1038986
224330967
2008-07-08T11:12:26Z
Cst17
6898026
Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/193.77.101.185|193.77.101.185]] to last version by Viator slovenicus (using [[WP:HG|Huggle]])
{{BLPsources|date=March 2008}}
{{otherpeople|Janez Janša}}
{{Infobox Prime Minister
| name = Janez Janša
| image = Jansa-rumsfeld2.jpg
| imagesize = 105px
| order = [[Prime Minister of Slovenia]]
| deputy =
| term_start = [[09 November]] [[2004]]
| term_end =
| predecessor = [[Anton Rop]]
| successor =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1958|09|17|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Ljubljana]], [[Slovenia]], [[SFRY|Yugoslavia]]
| party = [[Slovenian Democratic Party|SDS]]
| spouse =
| religion = [[Roman Catholic]]
| signature =
}}
'''Janez Janša''' (born [[September 17]] [[1958]] as '''Ivan Janša''' in [[Ljubljana]]) is a [[Slovenia]]n politician and president of the [[Slovenian Democratic Party]] since [[1993]]. He has been the [[Prime Minister]] of Slovenia since [[November 9]], [[2004]].
== Youth and education ==
Born as Ivan Janša to a [[Roman Catholic]] [[working-class]] family of [[Grosuplje]], he was called Janez (a version of the same name, known as John in English) since childhood. His father was a former member of the [[Slovenian Home Guard]] who had escaped [[Communist]] retaliation due to his young age.<ref>Janez Janša, Okopi (Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1994)</ref> He graduated from the [[University of Ljubljana]] with a degree in defence studies in [[1982]], and became a trainee in the Defence Secretariate of the [[Socialist Republic of Slovenia]]. In his younger years, he was a member of the [[Communist Party of Slovenia|League of Communists]] and one of the leaders of its youth wing. He became president of the Committee for Basic People's Defence and Social Self-Protection of the [[Alliance of Socialist Youth of Slovenia]] (ZSMS).
== Dissident ==
In [[1983]], Janša wrote the first of his [[dissident]] articles about the nature of the [[Yugoslav People's Army]] (JNA). In the late 1980s, as [[Slovenia]] was introducing democratic reforms and gradually lifting restrictions on the [[freedom of speech]], Janša wrote several articles criticizing the [[Yugoslav People's Army]] in the independent magazine ''[[Mladina]]''. As a result, his re-election as president of the Committee was blocked in [[1984]], and in [[1985]] his passport was withdrawn. He claims to have made over 250 job applications in the following year without success, and was unable to secure publication of any articles. In this period he earned his living writing computer programs and acting as a mountaineering guide. Liberalisation in the succeeding years allowed him to get work as secretary of the [[Journal for the Criticism of Science]] ([[1986]]) and later to begin publishing again in ''[[Mladina]]''. On [[30 May]] [[1988]] he was arrested together with other three ''Mladina'' journalists and a staff sergeant of the Yugoslav Army, Ivan Borštner. They were tried in a military court on charges of exposing military secrets, and given prison sentences. The trial was conducted [[in camera]], with no legal representation for the accused, and in [[Serbo-Croat]] (the official language in yugoslav army) rather than in [[Slovene language|Slovene]]. Janša was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, initially in the maximum security prison at [[Dob]], but following a public outcry, he was transferred to the open prison of [[Ig (Slovenia)|Ig]]. The case became famous as the [[JBTZ-trial]] and triggered mass protests against the regime, which marked the beginning of the process of democratization, known as the ''Slovenian Spring''. Janša was released after serving about six months of sentence, and became editor in chief of the Slovene political weekly magazine ''Demokracija'' (Democracy). He remained in this position until the elections of May [[1990]].
[[Image:Janezjansainterrogation.JPG|thumb|[[Janez Janša]] being interrogated by [[Kontraobaveštajna služba|KOS]] authority [[Aleksandar Vasiljević]]]]
== Politician ==
In [[1989]], Janša was involved in the founding of one of the first opposition parties in Slovenia, the [[Slovenian Democratic Union]] (SDZ) and became its first vice-president, and later president of the Party Council. Following the first free elections in May [[1990]] he became the Minister of Defence in [[Lojze Peterle]]'s cabinet, a position he held during the [[Ten-Day War|Slovenian war for independence]] in [[1991]]. After the breakup of the SDZ in [[1992]], he joined the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia (now called [[Slovenian Democratic Party]]) and remained Defense Minister until March [[1994]], when he was dismissed by Prime Minister [[Janez Drnovšek]] following allegations that he allowed the military to interfere in civilian justice. He was subsequently cleared of these allegations in an independent inquiry.
In May [[1993]], he was elected president of the [[Slovenian Democratic Party|Slovenian Social Democratic Party]] with the support of [[Jože Pučnik]], the party's previous leader, and was re-elected in [[1995]], [[1999]] and [[2001]].
He became again Defense Minister from June 2000 to November 2000 in the short-lived centre-right government of [[Andrej Bajuk]]. During this time he introduced [[chaplains]] to the armed forces.
Following the victory of the [[Slovenian Democratic Party]] and its allies in the general election of [[2004]], Janša was appointed by President Drnovšek to form a new government on 3 November [[2004]]. Six days later, he was elected Prime Minister of Slovenia by the [[National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia|National Assembly]], polling the votes of 57 of the 90 MPs. His cabinet was approved by Parliament on 3 December the same year.
Janša has published several books, the two best-known of which are ''Premiki'' ("Manoeuvres", published in [[1992]] and subsequently translated into English under the title "The Making of the Slovenian State") and ''Okopi'' ("Barricades", 1994), in which he exposes his views on the problems of Slovenia's transition from [[Communism]] to a parliamentary democracy. In both books, but particularly in ''Okopi'', Janša criticized the then [[President of Slovenia]] [[Milan Kučan]] of interferring in daily politics using the informal influence he had gained as the last chairman of the [[Communist Party of Slovenia]].
After the lanslide victory of the opposition candidate [[Danilo Türk]] in the [[Slovenian presidential election, 2007|2007 presidential election]], Janša filed a motion for a vote of confidence in the government on [[November 15]] [[2007]], claiming that the opposition's criticism was interfering with the government's work, contrary to the previous agreement between the parliamentary parties, in which the opposition agreed not to undermine the government's work during Slovenia's presidency over the [[European Union]].<ref>[http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/16/europe/EU-POL-Slovenia-Government.php "Slovenian PM seeks confidence vote after opposition candidate became president"], Associated Press (''International Herald Tribune''), November 16, 2007.</ref> The government won the vote, held on [[November 19]], with 51 votes supporting it and 33 opposing it.<ref>[http://europe.courrierinternational.com/eurotopics/article.asp?langue=uk&publication=21/11/2007&cat=POLITICS&pi=5 "A Slovenian government crisis averted"], ''Courrier International'', November 21, 2007.</ref>
== Trivia ==
{{Trivia|date=March 2008}}
Janša has two children with Silva Predalič. In autumn 2006, it was revealed that he is dating a 28-year-old physician Urška Bačovnik from [[Velenje]]. He is frequently accompanied by Ms Bačovnik at public occasions, such as the [[Vienna Opera Ball]]. [http://www.rtvslo.si/zabava/modload.php?&c_mod=rnews&op=sections&func=read&c_menu=8&c_id=19758]
In [[2007]], three performing artists from Slovenia officially changed their names to Janez Janša. They did so for personal reasons. See: [[Janez Janša (director)]], [[Janez Janša (artist)]], [[Janez Janša (performance artist)]].
==See also==
* [[JBTZ-trial]]
* [[Ten Day War]]
* [[Jože Pučnik]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{Commonscat}}
* [http://www.kpv.gov.si/index.php?id=225&L=1 Office of the Slovenian Prime Minister]
{{start box}}
{{s-off}}
{{Incumbent succession box
| before = [[José Sócrates]]<br><small>[[Portugal]]</small>
| title = [[President-in-Office of the European Council]]
| start = [[2008]]
}}
{{Incumbent succession box
| before = [[Anton Rop]]
| title = [[Prime Minister of Slovenia]]
| start = [[2004]]
}}
{{Succession box
| before = Office created
| title = [[Minister of Defence (Slovenia)|Minister of Defence]]
| years = [[1990]] – [[1994]]
| after = [[Jelko Kacin]]
}}
{{Succession box
| before = [[Franci Demšar]]
| title = [[Minister of Defence (Slovenia)|Minister of Defence]]
| years = [[2000]]
| after = [[Anton Grizold]]
}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{Incumbent succession box
| before = [[Jože Pučnik]]
| title = [[Slovenian Democratic Party|President of the Slovenian Democratic Party]]
| start = [[1993]]
}}
{{end box}}
{{SlovenePMs}}
{{European Council}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jansa, Janez}}
[[Category:Slovenian politicians]]
[[Category:Prime Ministers of Slovenia]]
[[Category:Slovenian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1958 births]]
[[bs:Janez Janša]]
[[de:Janez Janša]]
[[el:Γιάνεζ Γιάνσα]]
[[es:Janez Janša]]
[[fr:Janez Janša]]
[[gl:Janez Janša]]
[[hr:Janez Janša]]
[[id:Janez Janša]]
[[is:Janez Janša]]
[[it:Janez Janša]]
[[he:יאנז יאנשה]]
[[lv:Janezs Janša]]
[[hu:Janez Janša]]
[[nl:Janez Janša]]
[[ja:ヤネス・ヤンシャ]]
[[no:Janez Janša]]
[[nn:Janez Janša]]
[[oc:Janez Janša]]
[[pl:Janez Janša]]
[[ru:Янша, Янез]]
[[sq:Janez Jansha]]
[[sl:Janez Janša]]
[[sr:Јанез Јанша]]
[[sh:Janez Janša]]
[[fi:Janez Janša]]
[[sv:Janez Janša]]
[[tr:Janez Janša]]
[[zh:亚内兹·扬沙]]