Vasko Simoniti Appointed New Slovenian Minister of Culture

18-03-2020

Vasko Simoniti Appointed New Slovenian Minister of Culture

By Damijan Vinter

Vasko Simoniti

LJUBLJANA: Vasko Simoniti was appointed as the new Minister of Culture of Slovenia by the National Assembly on 13 March 2020. His first task will be to draw up a new national cultural programme, the framework for programming and financial priorities in the arts.

The acceleration of private investments in the arts and greater phasing of EU funds will also be high on his agenda, he told the parliamentary Culture Committee.

Born in 1951, Vasko Simoniti holds a PhD in history and is a retired professor of mediaeval history from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana. He was a member of the Committee for NATO in 2003 and since 2004 he has been a member of the Assembly for the Republic and a member of the Board of Experts of the Slovenian Democratic Party responsible for culture.

From 2004 to 2008, he was the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and also the president of the Culture Council of the EU in the first half of 2008.

Simoniti succeeds Zoran Poznič, who ran the Ministry of Culture since March 2019.

Published in Slovenia