NATAŠA KOVAČ, STATE SECRETARY

Nataša Kovač was born on 27th December 1958 in Ljubljana, where she attended primary and secondary school. She graduated with summa cum laude honours from VII Gimnazija Vič high school. In 1985 she graduated from the then Faculty of Sociology, Political Sciences and Journalism of the University of Ljubljana, Department of Politology. During her studies she was actively involved in youth issues and served one term as Chairperson of the then youth organisation (ZSMS) of the Community of Vič. In the period between 1978 and 1986, she served two terms as delegate to the Socio-political Council of the municipal assembly.

For a number of years she was International Secretary of the Social Democratic Party. During that time she established excellent contacts within the European space, which proved essential to Slovenia’s efforts to join the European Union. In the past few years, as the secretary of the party committees, she was also chief of staff of the presidential candidate Lev Kreft’s election campaign, Secretary of the Council of the Party Chairman, Borut Pahor, and Partnership for Development co-ordinator, which was a form of cooperation between the Government and the Opposition during the previous administration.