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Robert Golob

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Robert Golob
BERJAYA
Golob in 2026
10th Prime Minister of Slovenia
In office
1 June 2022 – 4 June 2026
PresidentBorut Pahor
Nataša Pirc Musar
DeputyKlemen Boštjančič
Tanja Fajon
Luka Mesec
Preceded byJanez Janša
Succeeded byJanez Janša
Leader of the Freedom Movement Party
Incumbent
Assumed office
26 January 2022
DeputyUrška Klakočar Zupančič (2022–2023)
Sara Žibrat (2023–present)
Klemen Boštjančič (2023–present)
Matej Arčon (2023–present)
Preceded byJure Leben
Personal details
Born (1967-01-23) 23 January 1967 (age 59)
Šempeter pri Gorici, SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia
PartyFreedom Movement (2022–present)
Other political
affiliations
LDS (1999–2002)[1]
PS (2011–2014)
SAB (2014)
Spouses
Jana Nemec
​
(divorced)​
Tina Gaber
​
(m. 2025)​
Children3
EducationUniversity of Ljubljana (BS, MS, PhD)
Georgia Institute of Technology
SignatureBERJAYA

Robert Golob (born 23 January 1967)[2] is a Slovenian businessman, engineer and politician, serving as Prime Minister of Slovenia from 2022 to 2026 and leader of the Freedom Movement since 2022.[3]

Early life and education

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Golob obtained his PhD in electrical engineering at the University of Ljubljana in 1994 and continued his studies as a post-doctoral Fulbright scholar in the United States, at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.[4][5]

Business career

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In 2004, Golob co-founded the energy trading company GEN-I,[6][7] which is state-controlled,[8][9] and where he remained chairman until 2021.[10]

Political career

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Between May 1999 and June 2000, Golob was the State Secretary at the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the government led by prime minister Janez Drnovšek of the LDS party. In 2002, he was elected to the City Council of Nova Gorica, a position he held until 2022.[11] In 2011, Golob joined the Positive Slovenia party, founded by the mayor of Ljubljana Zoran Janković.[12] In 2013–14, with the rising tensions within the party between its founder and chairman Zoran Janković and Prime Minister Alenka Bratušek, Golob played a mediating role between the two factions.[13] In May 2014, after the final split between the two factions, he joined the breakaway Party of Alenka Bratušek (SAB), becoming one of its vice-presidents.[14] After SAB's poor performance in the subsequent 2014 election, he moved away from national-level politics, remaining active only at the local level in his municipality of Nova Gorica. Among other engagements, he chaired the neighborhood assembly of Kromberk-Loke between 2010 and 2014, and remained member until 2022.[15]

In 2021, Golob decided to once again take an active role in national politics, after his term as chairman of GEN-I had not been extended.

Prime minister (2022–2026)

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BERJAYA
Golob with French President Emmanuel Macron, 27 February 2026

In January 2022, Golob took over the small extra-parliamentary Green Actions Party and renamed it the Freedom Movement.[16] On 24 April 2022, in the 2022 Slovenian parliamentary election, the Freedom Movement won 41 seats in the 90-seat National Assembly.[17]

Golob formed the government by joining forces with Social Democrats, another centre-left party, and The Left, giving him a majority in the legislature.[18] On 25 May 2022, Golob was appointed Prime Minister of Slovenia by the National Assembly.[3]

The government led by Golob approved a new Family Code in October 2022 in accordance with the ruling of the Slovenian Constitutional Court outlawing prohibitions of same-sex marriage. This made same-sex marriage legal in Slovenia.[19]

Domestic Policy

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Ministries

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Upon taking office, Golob also announced an expansion of the number of ministries. The amended Government Act had already been adopted on 22 June 2022, but the Slovenian Democratic Party collected enough signatures to call for a referendum. This took place on 27 November 2022, and voters supported the amendment with 56.69% in favor.[20] The Golob government implemented the change a year after. The competencies of some existing ministries were changed, and three new ones were established: the Ministry of a Solidarity Future, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, and the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Energy. With this, the government had 19 ministries and one government office.[21]

Healthcare

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As one of the goals of his term, Robert Golob has set up a health reform.[22] One of the major objectives was abolishing supplementary health insurance.[23]

Foreign policy

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Middle East

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Golob criticized Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war.[24] In May 2024, he announced that his government would recognize the Palestinian state.[25] In July 2025, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich were also sanctioned under his government.[26]

NATO

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NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte sent a letter to Prime Minister Golob at the end of May 2026. In it, he accused Slovenia of undermining the alliance and manipulating data on defense spending when the allies had agreed to raise it to at least two percent of GDP.[27] At the time, Slovenia was also trying to achieve this goal with investments that were not included in defense spending.[28] Without these investments, Slovenia would have allocated only about 1.6 percent of GDP to defense, which is about 300 million euros less than NATO's requirements.[29][30] The Prime Minister's Office responded that they were advocating a "broader understanding of security" and that two percent of GDP was the highest amount up to that point.[29]

Personal life

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Golob was married to Jana Nemec Golob for over thirty years. They have three children together.[31] Since autumn 2022, he has been living with Tina Gaber, a former model, in Ljubljana.[32][33] In September 2025, Golob and Gaber got married in Strunjan.[34]

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "Kdo je bodoči voditelj naše države Robert Golob". Svet24 (in Slovenian). Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  2. ↑ "CONOR.SI – normativna datoteka osebnih in korporativnih imen :: COBISS+". plus.cobiss.net (in Slovenian). IZUM-Institut informacijskih znanosti Maribor. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Robert Golob elected prime minister". sta.si. The Slovenian Press Agency (STA). 25 May 2022.
  4. ↑ "Assoc. Prof. Robert Golob, PhD. President of Management Board, GEN-I d.o.o." University of Ljubljana Faculty of Engineering. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  5. ↑ "Preskočil razred, skočil na čelo države". Primorske novice. 25 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  6. ↑ "prof. dr. Robert Golob". Laboratorij za energetske strategije.
  7. ↑ "Dr Robert Golob - Chairman GEN-I". Business Investor Guide. Archived from the original on 19 April 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  8. ↑ "Kandidata za zamenjavo Goloba zavrnjena". www.delo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  9. ↑ "Dogajanje v Gen-I blizu vrelišču: lastniki v nov poskus imenovanja uprave". N1 (in Slovenian). 16 November 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  10. ↑ "Vsak dan prvi - 24ur.com". www.24ur.com.
  11. ↑ "Ekipa". listarobertagoloba.si. Archived from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  12. ↑ "Janković za N1: Robertu Golobu sem pripravljen odstopiti Pozitivno Slovenijo". 9 December 2021.
  13. ↑ "Pozitivna Slovenija: Začasno premirje". 4 October 2013.
  14. ↑ "Poslovno poročilo – stranka Zavezništvo Alenke Bratušek za leto 2014" (PDF) (in Slovenian). April 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  15. ↑ "Kromberk - Loke - Krajevne skupnosti - O mestni občini". Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  16. ↑ "Robert Golob elected new head of renamed green party". The Slovenia Times. 26 January 2022. Archived from the original on 26 January 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  17. ↑ "Po 99 odstotkih preštetih glasov zmaga Gibanja Svoboda, v DZ-ju le pet strank". RTVSLO.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  18. ↑ "Janez Janša suffers heavy defeat as newcomer party wins Slovenian election". POLITICO. 24 April 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  19. ↑ "Slovenia introduces marriage equality". dw.com. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
  20. ↑ Ma, Al. "Referendum o vladi: po 99 odstotkih preštetih glasov 56 odstotkov za, 44 odstotkov proti". rtvslo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 23 March 2026.
  21. ↑ "Z reorganizacijo bo vlada svoje naloge izvajala še uspešnejše | GOV.SI". Portal GOV.SI (in Slovenian). 24 January 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
  22. ↑ "Golob napovedal reformo zdravstvenega sistema z letom 2024, za energetsko krizo naslednje leto skoraj pet milijard evrov". Dnevnik. Archived from the original on 29 October 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
  23. ↑ Ma, Al. "DZ potrdil ukinitev oziroma preoblikovanje dopolnilnega zdravstvenega zavarovanja". rtvslo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 23 March 2026.
  24. ↑ "Slovenia to recognise Palestinian state by mid-June". Reuters. 9 May 2024.
  25. ↑ "Slovenia to Recognize Palestinian State, Premier Golob Says". Bloomberg. 9 May 2024.
  26. ↑ "Slovenia bars two far-right Israeli ministers". France 24. 17 July 2025. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  27. ↑ "STA: Rutte warns Slovenia's core defence spending insufficient". english.sta.si. Retrieved 24 June 2026.
  28. ↑ "Rutte pisal Golobu in ga obtožil manipuliranja s številkami glede izdatkov za obrambo". www.dnevnik.si (in Slovenian). 28 May 2026. Retrieved 24 June 2026.
  29. 1 2 "Rutte okrcal Slovenijo: Spodkopavate našo kolektivno varnost | 24ur.com". www.24ur.com (in Slovenian). Retrieved 24 June 2026.
  30. ↑ J, P. "Rutte: Slovenija ne izpolnjuje cilja dveh odstotkov BDP-ja za obrambo". rtvslo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 24 June 2026.
  31. ↑ "Veste, kdo je žena Roberta Goloba? Našli smo njeno fotografijo". www.slovenskenovice.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  32. ↑ "Robert Golob: Trenutno s Tino Gaber ne načrtujeva poroke". siol.net (in Slovenian). Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  33. ↑ "Premier Golob ekskluzivno v oddaji Preverjeno: S Tino in otroki živimo skupaj". www.24ur.com (in Slovenian). Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  34. ↑ "(FOTO) Izmenjavo prstanov pospremila pesem Sreča na vrvici, obred vodil Janković". Dnevnik. 6 September 2025. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
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