Borut Pahor, the former Slovenian president, is reputed to be the most serious, and so far the only, successor to Miroslav Lajčak as the European Union’s special envoy for the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. He is a balanced diplomat, according to analysts, and they estimate that the release of this information is a trial for Belgrade and Pristina in order to see their reaction.

Meanwhile, Pahor himself confirmed that he is interested in this position. The confirmation also comes from the Slovenian Government, more precisely from the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Robert Golob, who said that he unconditionally supports former Slovenian President Borut Pahor in his candidacy for the post of EU Special Representative for the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and other regional issues in the Western Balkans.

For this reason, it was stated in the press service of the Government of Slovenia, Golob held numerous bilateral talks with the leaders of European countries, as well as with the highest representatives of the European Union, in the past month.

He built connections, founder of the “Brdo – Brioni” Process.

Neven Cvetićanin from the Institute of Social Sciences and president of the Forum for Strategic Studies, says that this news is not a surprise, and that the former Slovenian president has been working on moving to Brussels.

– It is also a trial for Belgrade and Pristina, in order to see their reactions. As president, he showed that he is a balanced politician and negotiator, his career was spent in building relationships, and he is one of the founders of the “Brdo – Brioni” Process – says Cveticanin.

Pahor’s advantage would be that he comes from a country that is one of the former countries of the SFRY, grew up in Yugoslavia and spent almost half of his life there.

– This means that he knows very well how the situation in the Western Balkans works. Serbia and Slovenia have achieved constructive relations, Pahor contributed to that. Slovenia did recognize Kosovo, but apart from that topic, there are no more problems in relations – notes Cvetićanin.

“Knows the opportunities in the Western Balkans”

Lajčak’s two-year mandate expires at the end of August, and the news about Pahor’s possible new engagement was published by the Ljubljana newspaper “Delo”.

It is also stated that with the help of the Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs, headed by former party colleague Tanja Fajon, he is preparing to take Lajčak’s place.

– The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia assessed that Pahor is a suitable candidate for taking an important and prestigious role in the Western Balkans, which is considered a strategic area of Slovenia, so they decided that the Slovenian diplomatic network would help the former president of the republic in his candidacy – writes “Delo”.

 

“Suitable Candidate”

Unofficial assessments are that Pahor is a suitable candidate who meets the requirements for filling the position, the Slovenian newspaper adds, and that Pahor has not yet submitted an application to the European Service for Foreign Affairs, “Delo” reveals.

As soon as it was released to the public through “Delo”, there is a chance that it will be realized, Cveticanin believes.

– He founded his institute “Friends of the Western Balkans”, whose program is building better relations in the region. When you look at the advisory board, you see people like Catherine Ashton, the former prime minister of Austria, presidents and prime ministers of countries in the region, and thus he nominated himself and drew the attention of the European Service for Foreign Affairs – says Cveticanin.

The question is whether he will be more successful than Lajcak, and Cveticanin believes that this will be correlated with the results of the European Parliament elections.

– It will be seen what kind of personality the new structures need. He is a social democratic politician, but the political affiliation itself does not have to mean anything, if there is a consensus within the EU. This was also demonstrated with Lajčak – notes Cvetićanin.

Who is Pahor?

Pahor speaks Serbian, he has visited Belgrade several times, and on September 7, 2022, he visited Kosovo and Metohija and said that Pristina is obliged to implement the agreement on the Community of Serbian Municipalities.

He was born in 1963 and graduated in political science in 1987. At the age of 26, Pahor was once the youngest member of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Slovenia and a member of its presidency.

Borut Pahor, the most popular politician in Slovenia

From 2012 to 2022, he was the president of Slovenia, and ahead of his second mandate, the media wondered whether he was “a conciliator of Slovenians and in the Balkans or a political model.” Recently, together with his former head of the cabinet, Alja Brglez, he founded the Institute of Friends of the Western Balkans (FoWB), whose goal is to promote dialogue, reconciliation, peaceful resolution of open issues, economic development and integration of the countries of the region into the European Union.

The FoWB Advisory Board includes, among others, former EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security Catherine Ashton, former Swedish Prime Minister and UN High Representative for BiH Karl Bilt, former BiH Prime Minister and current UN Representative for BiH Zlatko Lagumdžija and others.

He is married to lawyer Tanja Pečar, has a son Luka, actively speaks English and Italian, passively French, plays sports in his spare time.