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Nataša Pirc Musar
Pirc Musar in 2024
5th President of Slovenia
Incumbent
Assumed office December 23, 2022
Prime Minister	Robert Golob
Preceded by	Borut Pahor
1st Information commissioner
In office July 17, 2004 – July 16, 2014
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Mojca Prelesnik
Personal details
Born	Nataša Pirc (1968-05-09) May 9, 1968 (age 56) Ljubljana, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia
Political party	Independent
Spouse	Aleš Musar
Children	1
Education	University of Ljubljana University of Vienna

Nataša Pirc Musar (born May 9, 1968) is a Slovenian attorney and author, serving as the 5th president of Slovenia since 2022. She is the former Information commissioner (2004–2014), a former journalist, and former president of the Slovenian Red Cross (2015–2016).

Pirc Musar is best known for her rulings and books on freedom of information, legal opinion, and high-profile legal cases, in which she represented Slovenia-born Melania Trump (wife of former U.S. president Donald Trump), the Social Democrats political party of Slovenia, and other notable clients. In the second round of the presidential elections in November 2022, she was elected the first female president of Slovenia.

Early life and education

Pirc Musar studied law at the University of Ljubljana's Faculty of Law in 1992, where Marko Ilešič was her supervisor. In 1997, she passed the bar exam, and later she got a job at Television Slovenia, where she worked for six years as a journalist and host of the central news program. Then, for five years, she was the presenter of the central news program 24UR on the commercial television channel POP TV. In 2001, she became the head of the corporate communication department at Aktiva Group, where her husband Aleš Musar worked.

Pirc Musar completed additional training at CNN in Atlanta. She then continued her studies for two semesters at the University of Salford in England, during which she did internships at the BBC, Granada TV, Sky News, Reuters TV and Border TV. In 2015 she obtained a PhD at the University of Vienna Faculty of Law with a dissertation on a fair balance between privacy rights and the freedom of information.

Legal and business career

In April 2003, Pirc Musar joined the Supreme Court of Slovenia as director of the Center for Education and Information. Pirc Musar is best remembered for being the Commissioner for Access to Public Information between 2004 and 2014. From March 2011, she was the vice-president of the Joint Supervisory Body for Europol, and from 2012 until the end of her mandate as information commissioner, she was the president of this body of the European Union. After the end of her mandate as information commissioner, she founded her own law firm. Rosana Lemut Strle, became a partner in the law firm in 2016, and the Law Firm is now called Pirc Musar & Lemut Strle. Among others she represented Melania Trump, during her husband's US presidency. In highly publicized cases she represented politicians of the Social Democrats, the ambassador to the United States Stanislav Vidovič, among others.

Between 2010 and 2021, Pirc Musar was voted among the top ten most influential lawyers in the country numerous times. She co-founded the OnaVe association to connect female experts and promote knowledge. From 2015 to 2016, she was the president of the Slovenian Red Cross.

Pirc Musar has authored or co-authored at least six books on freedom of information and privacy in Slovenian, English, and Croatian.

Political career

On June 23, 2022, Pirc Musar announced her candidacy for President of Slovenia in the 2022 Slovenian presidential election, scheduled for 23 October 2022, as an independent candidate. She was the first to announce her candidacy for president, and she was endorsed by former presidents of Slovenia Milan Kučan and Danilo Türk. Pirc Musar has not been a member of a political party, and she does not plan to become one. While she defended her candidacy as an independent, parties such as the Pirate Party and Youth Party – European Greens also supported her.

Her candidacy sparked media speculation about her relationship with Marta Kos, vice president of the ruling party Freedom Movement, who announced her own candidacy for president a little later. Pirc Musar and Kos claimed to be friends, but according to media reports they stopped communicating with each other. In September 2022, Kos withdrew her candidacy, which led to a surge in support for Pirc Musar, who was already leading. In October, she came second in the first round of the presidential elections, therefore becoming one of the two contenders in the run-off of the presidential elections in November 2022. In the second round of 13 November, Pirc Musar defeated Slovenian Democratic Party candidate Anže Logar and was elected Slovenia's first female president.

Personal life

Pirc Musar is married to the businessman Aleš Musar. They have a son. Her husband is the owner of a property known as the "Russian dacha" in Zgornje Gameljne, and they also own a Rolls-Royce Phantom VI limousine, made in 1971 for and once owned by Princess Alexandra, first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.

Honors

•  Greece: Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer (8 April 2024)

References

1. "Wahlkommission: Slowenen küren Pirc-Musar zur Präsidentin". zeit.de (in German). Retrieved November 13, 2022.
2. ^ "Življenjepis". Nataša Pirc Musar – Kandidatka za predsednico (in Slovenian). Retrieved September 1, 2022.
3. "Kdo je srčni izbranec Nataše Pirc Musar?". Metropolitan.si (in Slovenian). June 23, 2022. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
4. ^ "EXCLUSIVE, Nataša Pirc Musar: How I became Melania Trump's attorney, and we never met!". Telegraf.rs. September 28, 2017. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
5. "dr. Nataša Pirc Musar". Privacy Days (in Slovenian). Retrieved August 31, 2022.
6. ^ "Nataša Pirc Musar". European Institution of Public Administration. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
7. "Zgodovina Informacijskega pooblaščenca". www.ip-rs.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved September 1, 2022.
8. "Nataša Pirc Musar". Advisory Excellence. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
9. ^ "Law firm in Slovenia". Law Firm Pirc Musar & Lemut Strle. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
10. Zerdin, Ali. "No more 'Melania Trump' underwear, honey for Slovenians". The Detroit News. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
11. Nemtsova, Anna (August 9, 2017). "Melania Trump's Lawyer Back Home Says You Better Not Say She Was an 'Escort'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
12. "Janez Janša javno objavil pismo, ki ga je dobil od Nataše Pirc Musar (FOTO)". www.slovenskenovice.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved September 3, 2022.
13. "Bo ustavno sodišče o pobudi za izbris SD in Levice odločalo še pred volitvami?". N1 (in Slovenian). February 10, 2022. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
14. Požar, Bojan. "Stanislav Vidovič, diplomat, politik SMC in-bivši tajni agent prek Nataše Pirc Musar tožil Bojana Požarja in izgubil". Požareport.
15. "Najvplivnejši pravniki o pravni korektnosti, politični všečnosti pravnikov, arbitraži in Wikileaksu". Dnevnik (in Slovenian). Retrieved September 2, 2022.
16. "Vsak dan prvi". www.24ur.com (in Slovenian). Retrieved September 2, 2022.
17. "Kdo je najvplivnejši pravnik?". Mladina.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved September 2, 2022.
18. "Znanih je 10 Najvplivnejšij Pravnikov 2021". IUS-INFO (in Slovenian). Retrieved September 2, 2022.
19. itmelona. "Kdo smo". ONA VE (in Slovenian). Retrieved September 1, 2022.
20. ^ "Med Marto Kos in Natašo Pirc Musar se že iskri; ali je to v resnici samo predstava za javnosti, preberite v jutrišnji reviji Demokracija". Demokracija (in Slovenian). July 20, 2022. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
21. "Nataša Pirc Musar na čelu Rdečega križa". old.delo.si (in Slovenian). June 29, 2015. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
22. "Vstop v zasebnost prepovedan!". COBISS+ (in Slovenian). Retrieved September 3, 2022.
23. "Kako in kdaj uporabljati test javnega interesa? Novela Zakona o dostopu do informacij javnega značaja". COBISS+ (in Slovenian). Retrieved September 3, 2022.
24. "Zaštita podataka i nadležnosti institucija Evropske unije : priručnik; Data protection and competencies of European Union institutions". COBISS+ (in Slovenian). Retrieved September 3, 2022.
25. "Tudi danes imate pravico vedeti". COBISS+ (in Slovenian). Retrieved September 3, 2022.
26. "Samo ti odločaš : komu lahko zaupam osebne podatke in kdaj?". COBISS (in Slovenian). Retrieved September 3, 2022.
27. "Zasebnost in varovanje osebnih podatkov v organizaciji". COBISS+ (in Slovenian). Retrieved September 3, 2022.
28. "Nataša Pirc Musar bo v Ruski dači sporočila, ali bo kandidirala za predsednico države". siol.net (in Slovenian). Retrieved September 1, 2022.
29. Maček, Sebastijan R. (August 23, 2022). "Former information commissioner top contender in Slovenia's presidential race". Euractiv. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
30. "Pirc Musar the first candidate to formally announce her presidential bid". RTV Slovenija. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
31. "Pirate Party endorses Pirc Musar for president". Slovenia Times. July 26, 2022. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
32. "Poleg prostozidarskega in gejevskega skozi Goloba prodira tudi ženski lobi: a Urška, Marta, Nataša, Tanja že sprte". pozareport.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved September 1, 2022.
33. "Zakaj Kučan podpira Natašo proti Marti? Ker že nekaj tednov po Ljubljani govori, da Golob ne sme dobiti vsega". pozareport.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved September 1, 2022.
34. "STA: Pirc Musar's bid gets boost after Kos quits, poll shows". english.sta.si. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
35. "Slovenians Won't Vote for Jansa's Puppet as President". Balkan Insight. November 2, 2022. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
36. "Slovenia elects Natasa Pirc Musar to become first female president". Le Monde. November 13, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
37. "Nataša Pirc Musar izstopila iz lastništva Ruske dače". 24ur.com. July 8, 2024. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
38. "Ruska dača je dolgo propadala, po dveh letih prenove pa spet živi #video #foto" (in Slovenian). Retrieved August 31, 2022.
39. "Rolls Royce | Najem limuzine Ruska dača | Kraljevski Rolls Royce". Ruska dača (in Slovenian). Retrieved August 31, 2022.
40. "Joint efforts by the Presidents of Slovenia and Greece to strengthen cooperation between the two countries". predsednica-slo.si. April 8, 2024.

External links

• Official website

v t e Presidents of Slovenia
Presidents of the People's Assembly of SR Slovenia (1945–74)	Josip Vidmar Miha Marinko Vida Tomšič Viktor Avbelj Ivan Maček Sergej Kraigher Tone Kropušek Marijan Brecelj
Presidents of the Presidency of SR Slovenia (1974–90)	Sergej Kraigher Viktor Avbelj France Popit Janez Stanovnik Milan Kučan
Presidents of Slovenia (1990–present)	Milan Kučan Janez Drnovšek Danilo Türk Borut Pahor Nataša Pirc Musar

• 1968 births
• Living people
• Politicians from Ljubljana
• Presidents of Slovenia
• University of Ljubljana alumni
• University of Vienna alumni
• 21st-century Slovenian politicians
• 21st-century Slovenian women politicians
• 21st-century Slovenian lawyers
• Female heads of state
• Women presidents in Europe
• First women presidents in Europe
• 21st-century women presidents