Violeta Bulc
OfficeEuropean Commissioner for Transport
1blanknameCommission
1namedataJuncker
Term start1 November 2014
Term end1 December 2019
PredecessorSiim Kallas
SuccessorAdina-Ioana Vălean
Office 1Deputy Prime Minister of Slovenia
Prime minister 1Miro Cerar
Term start 119 September 2014
Term end 11 November 2014
Predecessor 1Goran Manns
Successor 1Alenka Smerkolj
Birth date24 January 1964 (age 62)
Birth placeLjubljana, Yugoslavia
(now Slovenia)
PartyOur Future
EducationUniversity of Ljubljana
Golden Gate University

Violeta Bulc (born 24 January 1964) is a Slovenian politician who served as the European Commissioner for Transport from 2014 to 2019.

Early life

Bulc earned a bachelor's degree in computer science and informatics at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, as well as a master's degree in information technology at the Golden Gate University of San Francisco. She then worked from 1991 to 1994 as an expert for wide area networks performance analyses at DHL in Burlingame, California. In 1994, she returned to Slovenia, where she worked as the manager of institutional traffic (until 1997) and then the director of carrier business (until 1999) for Telekom Slovenia. From 1999 to 2000 she was the vice-president of Telemach, a major telecommunications provider, and from 2000 to 2014 the CEO of Vibacom, Sustainable Strategies and Innovation Ecosystems.[1]

Political career

Bulc joined Slovenian politics together with Miro Cerar in 2013, and she was appointed head of the program committee of the Miro Cerar Party.[1]

Bulc served as a minister without portfolio responsible for development, strategic projects and cohesion and as deputy prime minister from 19 September 2014 until 1 November 2014 in the centre-left cabinet of Miro Cerar.[2]

Led by Margrethe Vestager, Bulc was among the seven-strong "Team Europe" that the centrist Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party picked to spearhead its pro-EU, liberal campaign ahead of the 2019 European elections.[3]

Other activities

In 2022, Bulc became a board member of the Joint European Disruptive Initiative.[4]

Critique over esotericism

On 10 October 2014, the Slovenian government announced that Bulc would be Slovenia's nominee for the position of the European Commissioner on the Juncker Commission, replacing Alenka Bratušek.[5] Bulc was criticized because of her esoteric views.[6] After a confirmation hearing in front of the European Parliament's Committee on Transport and Tourism, Bulc was assigned the transport portfolio.[7]

References

  1. ^ "Violeta Bulc - European Commission". European Commission. 1 September 2015.
  2. ^ "Violeta Bulc, MSc takes over GODC". Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy. 19 September 2014. Archived from the original on 16 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  3. ^ Mehreen Khan and Rochelle Toplensky (21 March 2019), Vestager discloses ambition to become next EU commission chief Financial Times.
  4. ^ Brussels Playbook, March 17, 2022
  5. ^ "Violeta Bulc je slovenska kandidatka za evropsko komisarko". RTV SLO. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  6. ^ Germany, Spiegel Online, Hamburg. "Violeta Bulc: Europa-Abgeordnete haben schwere Kritik an Esoterikerin - Spiegel Online". m.spiegel.de
  7. ^ "Violeta Bulc Approved by European Parliament". Sloveniatimes.com. 21 October 2014. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2014.

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