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Tanja Fajon

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Tanja Fajon
Fajon in 2022
Minister of Foreign and European Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 June 2022
Prime MinisterRobert Golob
Preceded byAnže Logar
Member of the European Parliament
for Slovenia
In office
1 July 2009 – 13 May 2022
Succeeded byMatjaž Nemec
Personal details
Born
Tanja Anna Fajon

(1971-05-09) 9 May 1971 (age 53)
Ljubljana, Slovenia, Yugoslavia (now Slovenia)
Political partySocial Democrats
SpouseVeit-Ulrich Braun
EducationUniversity of Ljubljana
University of Paris
WebsiteOfficial website

Tanja Fajon (born 9 May 1971) is a Slovenian politician, former leader of Social Democrats, part of the Party of European Socialists and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Slovenia. She has been serving as the minister of foreign and european affairs in the government of Prime Minister Robert Golob since 1 June 2022.

She is a head of the Slovenian delegation within the political group of Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.[1][2] She is also the author of several documentaries, including Rise of the extreme right in Europe, Human tragedies at the doorstep of Europe, and Constitution of European Union.[3]

Education

Tanja Fajon graduated in journalism at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. In 2005, she obtained a master's degree in Science and International Politics at the College of Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Paris.[1][4]

Tanja Fajon speaks Slovenian, English, German, French, and Croatian.[2]

Career

Career in journalism

Tanja Fajon worked as a journalist and assistant editor at Radio Glas Ljubljana from 1991 to 1995. She was also a reporter and a writer for the Slovenian daily newspaper Republika in 1993. She worked for RTV Slovenia from 1995 to 2001 as a local journalist, and as a correspondent for RTV Slovenia in Brussels from 2001 to 2009.[2] She was also a reporter for CNN from 1995 to 2001.[4] She covered issues from politics, to economy and business, in different States of the European Union, particularly in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France.[3]

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–2022

Fajon meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in 2022

In 2009, Fajon was elected to the European Parliament on behalf of the Social Democrats, associated with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. She was a vice chairwoman of the European Parliament delegation with Croatia until Croatia's membership in the European Union, and a member of the Committee on Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering.

Fajon is a full member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, a substitute member in the Committee on Transport and Tourism, and a substitute member of the European Union-United States delegation. She also serves as a substitute member of the Delegation for relations with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo, and was a rapporteur on the visa liberalisation process for the Western Balkans.[1][2][3]

In addition to her committee assignments, Fajon is a vice chairwoman of the European Parliament Intergroup on Media, responsible for monitoring freedom of the press in Europe. She is also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organised Crime);[5] of the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights;[6] and the MEPs Against Cancer group.[7]

Fajon contributed greatly to the Albanian citizens getting the right to freely travel in EU Schengen Area without visas.[8] This is the first step on Albania's path to European Union accession. In December 2010, a café named after Tanja Fajon was opened in her honor in Tirana, the capital of Albania.[9] She helped Bosnia and Herzegovina,[10] and Moldova gain freedom of Schengen movement as well.[3][11]

In late 2014, the two main political groups in the European Parliament agreed with Jean-Claude Juncker, then president-elect of the European Commission, that Fajon should be Slovenia's member of the European Commission. However, the Slovenian government later announced that Violeta Bulc was going to be the country's nominee for the position of the European Commissioner on the Juncker Commission, replacing Alenka Bratušek.[12]

In 2016, Slovenian opinion polls showed her to be one of the most popular political figures in the country.[13]

Following the 2019 elections, Fajon was part of a cross-party working group in charge of drafting the European Parliament's five-year work program on the rule of law, borders and migration.[14]

Following months of protests and the announcement of a boycott of the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election by opposition parties, Fajon has been one of the key figures in EP-mediated interparty dialogue, as the chair of the delegation for relations with Serbia.[15][16]

In October 2020, she becomes leader of the Social Democrats.[17]

Other activities

Personal life

Fajon lives mostly in Brussels with her husband Veit-Ulrich Braun, a German journalist.[3] Her hobbies are sports, music, and traveling.[2]

Honors and awards

  •  Bosnia and Herzegovina: Tanja Fajon was named Person of the Year 2009 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for her endeavors to abolish visa requirements for the Western Balkan citizens.[10]
  •  Albania: On 22 October 2010, Tanja Fajon received a copy of the key of the city of Tirana, on the occasion of state visit to Albania.
  •  Bosnia and Herzegovina: In December 2010, Tanja Fajon was the first to receive an honorary doctorate from the American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo.[19][20]
  •  Bosnia and Herzegovina: In May 2014, Tanja Fajon received a Key of Heart from citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo.[21]
  •  EU: On 10 September 2019, Tanja Fajon received "Award for the Contribution to the European Integration of the Region" by portal European Western Balkans for "her unwavering commitment to the European future of the Western Balkans (WB) amidst rising challenges, continued representation of the value-based EU in the region, as well as the principled promotion of democracy, freedom and tolerance”Award for the Contribution to the European Integration of the Region".[22][23]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Tanja Fajon - PES". Party of European Socialists.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Tanja Fajon - EU40". Network of MEPs under 40.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Tanja FAJON, Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Bled Forum. 2014.
  4. ^ a b "The Seven Slovenian MEPs". Slovenian Government Communication Office. 2009.
  5. ^ Members of the European Parliament on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime) European Parliament.
  6. ^ Members European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights.
  7. ^ MAC MEPs in the 2019-24 legislature MEPs Against Cancer.
  8. ^ "Pahor Says Visa Liberation Is Dream Come True for Albania". Slovenian Press Agency. 2010.
  9. ^ "Albanian Cafe Named After Slovenian MEP". Slovenian Press Agency. 2010.
  10. ^ a b "MEP Tanja Fajon named Person of the year in Bosnia and Herzegovina". Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2009.
  11. ^ "S&D Euro MP Tanja Fajon gives green light to visa-free movement between Moldova and EU Schengen countries". Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. 2014.
  12. ^ "Violeta Bulc je slovenska kandidatka za evropsko komisarko". RTV SLO. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  13. ^ Ryan Heath (May 19, 2016), The 40 MEPs who actually matter: Tanja Fajon Politico Europe.
  14. ^ Florian Eder (June 13, 2019), POLITICO Brussels Playbook, presented by Google: Madrid’s moment — Parliament working groups sneak peak — Happy birthday, GDPR Politico Europe.
  15. ^ "Serbia must deliver on electoral reform ahead of the 2020 elections, 31 October 2019". European Parliament. 31 October 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  16. ^ "Conclusion of the party dialogue in Serbia: Commitments need to be implemented". European Western Balkans. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  17. ^ "Tanja Falon Named Interim Head of Social Democrats". www.total-slovenia-news.com. 10 October 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  18. ^ Members European Council on Foreign Relations.
  19. ^ "Tanja Fajon received the Honorary Doctorate". American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 2010.
  20. ^ "Tanja Fajon, first honorary doctorate" (in Bosnian). Nezavisne novine. 2010.
  21. ^ "NES award 'European Radio BIH'" (in Bosnian). Nezavisne novine. 2014.
  22. ^ "EWB award MEP Tanja Fajon for commitment to WB European future". N1 Srbija (in Serbian (Latin script)). Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  23. ^ EWB (10 September 2020). "Tanja Fajon - Dobitnica EWB nagrade za doprinos evropskim integracijama regiona". European Western Balkans (in Serbian). Retrieved 19 October 2020.
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