Mayor of Ljubljana

Year and Place of Birth: April 7, 1947 in Ljubljana, to a family of well-known musicians.

Education and Career: The beginning of his political career could be seen when he became communist party ideological officer during primary school. He was cultural officer for two years during his study at the classical gymnasium. He studied at the Ljubljana University Faculty of Philosophy department of comparative literature and sociology and wrote his doctoral thesis on "Slovenian Literature as the Voice of National Emancipation" at Brandeis University in the U.S. He was a lecturer at the Ljubljana Faculty of Political Sciences (FSPN) at the end of the 1980s.

Other Activities: Involved in journalism during high school as an associate of "Mladina" (reports on poverty in the center of Ljubljana) and the "Manual for Young Activists". He became the editor of "Tribuna", where he wrote a "Manifest" in 1968 titled "A New Direction in Slovenian Literature: Protest Writing, Political Literature, Proletarian Culture" which provoked sharp comradely criticism by old friends of the writer under the title of "Democracy Yes, Division No".

Exercises in Creative Writing: Writes books and considers himself a writer. Some of them have been translated into Serbian.

How he Entered Politics: Became a member of the Socialist Youth Alliance in 1959; became a member of a youth work brigade even before high school graduation and then became a member of the League of Communists (SK).

Why he Changed: Study in the U.S. His homeland called upon him to serve his military obligation just before he was to receive his doctorate. He was dismissed from the SK because of his pro-American opinions while serving in the Yugoslav Peoples' Army (JNA). His appeal of the decision to dismiss him from the SK was rejected.

And Then: Participated in the founding of "Nova revija" in 1982. Two years later he entered a sharp polemic with party ideologue Stipe Suvar, who had included him in the notorious White Book.

What he Will be Remembered for: The article on the Slovenian national question that appeared on page 57 of the 57th issue of "Nova revija", where he claimed that "it is today impossible to speak of some common Yugoslav interest which is expressed by the working class". Together with the other contributors to "Nova revija", he became known as an enemy of the state.

Membership: The State Security Service tried unsuccessfully for many years to prove that he was a CIA agent. In January 1989 he became president of the Executive Board of the Slovenian Democratic Alliance (SDZ) and claimed that the SDZ is a movement for parliamentary democracy and a sovereign Slovenia.

His Real Strength: Oscillating. Began after the May 1989 arrest of Janez Jansa. He participated in meetings for the release of Jansa and three others and entered the election campaign of 1990 and was elected one of the two vice-presidents of DEMOS (Democratic Movement of Slovenia). He reached the height of his political popularity as foreign minister at the time of the recognition of Slovenia.

His Favorite Position: Foreign minister.

What Was the Creed of his Foreign Policy: In diplomacy - wearing a yellow sweater like his idol Genscher; he did not miss any opportunity to meet with high-level foreign representatives or to participate in any summit, even if this was as part of the Austrian state delegation. Inflexibility and extreme rigidity toward everything that had even smelled "Serb", which is in keeping with his conviction that "it is impossible to negotiate with the Serbs" because the Serbs need "supervision and refinement (UNPROFOR)".

Membership (Again): Became president of the new Democratic Party after the breakup of the SDZ. With the uniting of center parties into Drnovsek's Liberal Democratic Party (LDS), he became president of its advisory board. At the end of 1994 he ran for and won the post of mayor of Ljubljana.

His Reputation: A man who easily changes political parties.

What he Should be Afraid of: His own municipal employees - during his first visit to city hall, prior to assuming his post, he slipped on the first snow and fell and broke his hand.

What Else: His dreams. When he dreams, at least according to his writings in Ljubljana's "Republika", he eagerly dreams of warplanes. He dreamed the same dream during 1991 at the time of gaining independence.