Tanja Fajon

Tanja Anna Fajon (born 9 May 1971) is a Slovenian politician who has served as Minister of Foreign and European Affairs since June 2022. A member of the Social Democrats, she led the party from 2020 to 2024. Fajon was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Slovenia until 2022, having been elected in 2009, 2014, and 2019.

Born in Ljubljana, Fajon attended the Poljane Grammar School and studied journalism at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, later earning a master’s degree in international politics at Paris-Sud University. Before entering politics, she worked as a journalist at Radio Glas Ljubljana and the newspaper Republika, and from 1996 at RTV Slovenia. She spent eight years as RTV Slovenia’s Brussels correspondent, closely covering Slovenia’s accession to the European Union in 2004 and the early years of its EU membership.

As an MEP, Fajon led the Slovenian delegation within the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). She played a pivotal role as rapporteur on visa liberalisation for the Western Balkans and served as Vice-Chair of the S&D from 2014 to 2019 during her third term. She is the only Slovenian to be named twice among the 40 most influential MEPs by Politico Europe.

Following the 2022 parliamentary election, Fajon was briefly elected as a member of the National Assembly before joining the 15th Government of Slovenia led by Prime Minister Robert Golob. As party leader during the government’s formation, she personally chose to serve as Minister of Foreign and European Affairs.