Janez Janša Assumes Power as Slovenian Prime Minister, Reversing Foreign Policy and Building Coalition Majority

Janez Janša has returned to lead Slovenia as prime minister for a fourth non-consecutive term, securing executive power through a complex parliamentary deal following weeks of legislative impasse in Ljubljana.

The political transition marks a major policy reorientation for the central European nation, introducing deregulation, border enforcement measures, and a recalibration of key foreign alliances.

The shifts follow the March 22 election, where former Prime Minister Robert Golob’s center-left Freedom Movement (Gibanje Svoboda) won 29 seats with 28.7% of the vote—down from 41 seats in 2022. Janša’s right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), which he has led since 1993, finished second with 28 seats and 27.9% of the vote in the 90-seat National Assembly.

When Golob failed to assemble a 46-vote governing coalition after a month of negotiations, President Nataša Pirc Musar refrained from issuing a prime ministerial nomination. Janša subsequently forged a majority coalition, ultimately receiving 51 votes in a secret parliamentary ballot. His support base included 48 lawmakers from his party and coalition allies, two designated representatives for Slovenia’s Italian and Hungarian minority communities, and one anonymous vote from opposition ranks.

Upon assuming office as predsednik vlade, Janša announced major shifts in foreign policy. His administration suspended the previous government’s recognition of a Palestinian state, initiated plans to move the Slovenian embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and rescinded a 2025 ban on bilateral defense trade with Israel.

The moves align with Janša’s commitment to strengthening diplomatic relations with Washington. Addressing an America 250 event organized by the U.S. Embassy in Ljubljana—attended by Viktor Knavs, father of former U.S. First Lady Melania Trump—Janša cited American democratic principles as an enduring reference point for Slovenian sovereignty.

On European security, Janša continues to back military aid for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. During his prior term in March 2022, he joined the prime ministers of Poland and the Czech Republic on an early wartime visit to Kyiv, and recently attended the Ukraine–Southeast Europe Summit in the Ukrainian capital on Ukraine Statehood Day.

Regarding border management, Janša joined 18 European Union leaders in endorsing a joint declaration advocating structural changes to continental immigration policy. The signed proposal calls for enhanced measures against human smuggling, accelerated deportation mechanisms, stronger partnerships with non-EU states, and reduced irregular arrivals.

Domestically, the government’s economic agenda centers on curbing administrative overhead, supporting private options in healthcare and education, reforming national pensions, and reducing business regulations. A major infrastructure initiative under the program involves constructing a second nuclear reactor at the Krško nuclear power plant.

Janša’s career spans the full trajectory of modern Slovenian political history. In 1988, during the JBTZ affair, he was tried by a Yugoslav military court and imprisoned for allegedly leaking state documents to journalists, serving six months of an 18-month sentence prior to his release following widespread public protests.

He co-founded the Slovenian Democratic Union in 1989 and served as the nation’s minister of defense during the 10-day war of independence in 1991. Decades later, in June 2013, he was convicted in connection with a 2006 defense procurement deal with Finnish firm Patria, serving six months of a two-year sentence before the Constitutional Court unanimously overturned the conviction in April 2015.

Janša is scheduled to travel to the United States in September to address the United Nations General Assembly.