About Janez Janša
Ivan Janša (Slovene: [ˈíːʋan ˈjàːnʃa]; born 17 September 1958), better known as Janez Janša ([ˈjàːnɛs]), is a Slovenian politician who has served as Prime Minister of Slovenia since 2026, a position he previously held from 2004 to 2008, from 2012 to 2013 and from 2020 to 2022. Since 1993, Janša has led the Slovenian Democratic Party, which has emerged as the pre-eminent Slovenian right-wing party. Janša served as a minister of defence from 1990 to 1994, a post he had also held during the Slovenian War of Independence. He has also served as a prime minister from 2004 to 2008, and again became prime minister in 2012, following an early election in December 2011. On 27 February 2013, Janša's second government was ousted in a vote of non-confidence. In June 2013, Janša was sentenced to two years in prison on corruption charges. The ruling was confirmed by Slovenia's higher court in April 2014, but after the Constitutional Court of Slovenia ordered a retrial for procedural reasons, the case later expired. Despite his party winning a plurality of votes in the 2018 Slovenian parliamentary election, Janša was initially passed over as a prime minister candidate as most parties refused to join a Janša-led government because of Janša's right wing views. After spending years in opposition, Janša was selected as prime minister-designate in March 2020 following the resignation of prime minister Marjan Šarec. His third term as a prime minister ended on 13 May 2022. A communist in his youth, Janša's political stance has drifted rightward during the course of his political career, from a liberal, pro-democracy dissident under communist rule, to a social democrat politician, and to a right-wing national conservative. Janša was a close ally of Hungary's former prime minister Viktor Orbán, although he disagreed with him on several points; Janša has repeatedly expressed support for Ukraine in the war against the Russian invasion in 2022, and also supports sanctions against Russia and increased military aid to Ukraine. Although Janša was also critical of European integration, as Prime Minister he respected European agreements and supported the enlargement of the European Union. His party also remained a member of the centre-right group of the European People's Party. In 1983, Janša wrote the first of his dissident articles about the nature of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). In 1975, aged 17, Janša joined the League of Communists, and became one of the leaders of its youth wing. Since 1993, Janša has led the Slovenian Democratic Party, which has emerged as the pre-eminent Slovenian conservative party. Janša lost his fourth bid for prime minister in April 2022, his party was defeated by the Freedom Movement party.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.