Meet Slovenia’s MEPs, 2/4: Klemen Grošelj (LMŠ/ALDE) & Tanja Fajon (SD/S&D)

By , 27 May 2019, 16:30 PM Politics
Klemen Grošelj (LMŠ/ALDE) & Tanja Fajon (SD/S&D) Klemen Grošelj (LMŠ/ALDE) & Tanja Fajon (SD/S&D) Twitter

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Klemen Grošelj will work for solidarity and security

Klemen Grošelj, 43, holds a PhD in defence studies from the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Studies. He entered politics last year when he was appointed a state secretary at the Defence Ministry after the general election, and has since authored a new resolution on the national security strategy designed to beef up the national security system at a time of changing global security threats. Elected as the second-placed on Prime Minister Marjan Šarec's LMŠ, Grošelj said during the campaign that EU members should reach agreement on its new strategic areas to be added to the existing ones. He has also said in a recent interview: "I believe in a EU which will have common policies and where the European identity and national identities do not exclude each other." Before turning to politics, Grošelj was best known for his analysis of global geostrategic developments.

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STA, 27 May 2019 - State secretary at the Defence Ministry Klemen Grošelj (LMŠ/ALDE), who has been elected to the European Parliament for the first time, has told the STA that as an MEP he would strive for solidarity and security, as highlighted in his campaign.

"I believe that the EU must remain a place of security where internal cohesion and solidarity among EU member states and citizens will be built," Grošelj said after the partial official results were released.

Asked about his future MEP career, the newly-elected Grošelj did not elaborate further, saying he had not considered possible committee engagements yet.

The 43-year-old was pleased that voters had placed trust in him and the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ). Prior to starting his MEP term, Grošelj said he would like to complete certain duties at the Defence Ministry.

Elected as the second-placed on the LMŠ slate, Grošelj said he welcomed the positive trend of the liberal democracy idea, describing it as striving for "an open society which is not based on exclusion and intolerance" and counterweighting certain extremist or populist forces on the rise.

"A strengthened European centre indicates the strengthening and further development of the European idea, which, as we should keep in mind, is essential for the European peace and prosperity enjoyed by us today," pointed out Grošelj.

Tanja Fajon will fight against intolerance

Fajon, 48, won her third term in the European Parliament as the party's leading candidate after leapfrogging in 2014 SD leader Igor Lukšič with the help of preference votes. The only SD MEP in 2014-2019, Fajon has been a member of the committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs and a member of the delegation for relations with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. MEPRanking.eu, a quantitative analysis of MEP activity, shows she has been overall the busiest Slovenian MEP and one of the 101 most active ones. In her first term, she strongly advocated visa liberalisation for the Western Balkans, which earned her the title of honorary citizen of the Sarajevo canton earlier this year. As one of the vice-presidents of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), she was mentioned in 2018 as a potential successor to S&D president Gianni Pittella. Fajon graduated in journalism in Ljubljana and continued her studies at the University of Paris, where she obtained a master's degree in international politics in 2005. She joined the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija in 1995 and was posted to Brussels as a correspondent for eight years before she entered politics in 2009 to successfully run for a seat in the European Parliament. She is married, but has no children.

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Tanja Fajon will fight against intolerance

Fajon, 48, won her third term in the European Parliament as the party's leading candidate after leapfrogging in 2014 SD leader Igor Lukšič with the help of preference votes. The only SD MEP in 2014-2019, Fajon has been a member of the committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs and a member of the delegation for relations with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. MEPRanking.eu, a quantitative analysis of MEP activity, shows she has been overall the busiest Slovenian MEP and one of the 101 most active ones. In her first term, she strongly advocated visa liberalisation for the Western Balkans, which earned her the title of honorary citizen of the Sarajevo canton earlier this year. As one of the vice-presidents of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), she was mentioned in 2018 as a potential successor to S&D president Gianni Pittella. Fajon graduated in journalism in Ljubljana and continued her studies at the University of Paris, where she obtained a master's degree in international politics in 2005.

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STA, 27 May 2019 - Tanja Fajon (SD/S&D), who has won her third term in the EU Parliament, would like to continue the work she was doing in her previous terms, fighting for human rights and against intolerance, xenophobia, hatefulness and fake news. "I will strive for a socially fair Europe," she told the STA.

After the announcement of the partial official EU election results on Sunday, Fajon thanked voters who, according to her, provided a lot of support to her.

Being asked about the future of her political career, the 48-year-old MEP replied that she would gauge the situation upon her return to the Parliament.

Fajon was also pleased that she would be joined there by another candidate from the Social Democrats' (SD) slate, Milan Brglez, since together they will constitute "a bit stronger delegation than in the past".

The re-elected MEP wishes for a socially fair Europe, a goal she said she was already pursuing in her previous term as a member of the Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties and Committee on Tax Rulings.

"I assume I will remain active in the same areas in my new term, but that will, of course, be determined by the leadership of the S&D political group," said Fajon, one of the vice-presidents of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D).

Looking back at the EU election campaign, she estimated that Slovenians were mostly concerned with how to maintain their standard of living.

"We're talking about decent life, social justice, tax justice and protection of the environment, which has turned out to be important especially through young people's actions, actively supported by myself," said Fajon.

She plans to continue to strive for achieving sustainable equality in Europe. She believes Europeans are facing numerous issues, including political, economic and social ones, which will have to be addressed and tackled.

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