Dimitrij Rupel (born April 7, 1946 in Ljubljana) is a politician from Slovenia and current foreign minister of that country. Rupel studied at the University of Essex, the University of Ljubljana (where he got his bachelor's degree in world literature and sociology), and the Brandeis University (where he got a Ph.D. in sociology in 1976). During this time, he has published literary works, journalistic and critical articles, and has worked as a translator and editor. From 1977 to 1978, he taught at Queen's University in Canada, then in 1985 at the New School for Social Research of New York and at Cleveland State University in 1989. Together with other intellectuals in the 1980s, initiated and edited the alternative and dissident magazine Nova Revija. Rupel was one of the founders of the Slovenian Democratic Union (Slovenska demokratična zveza), established in 1989, and renamed to Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka) in 1991, when he was elected president. Rupel was the first foreign minister of Slovenia, from 1990 until 1993, during the country's separation from Yugoslavia. In 1993, he was a representative in the National Assembly of Slovenia. In 1994, most of Rupel's party merged into the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia. He was also elected mayor of Ljubljana in 1994, took charge in 1995, and remained at this position until 1997 when he was appointed ambassador to the United States. Rupel returned to the post of the foreign minister of Slovenia in 2000. He remained at this position until July 2004, when Prime Minister Anton Rop replaced him with Ivo Vajgl. He left LDS and joined the oppositional Slovenian Democratic Party. In October 2004, this party won the election and Rupel became foreign minister in their government when it was approved by Parliament on 3 December, 2004. Due to his changing alliegences to different parties, he has been frequently criticised as a politician interested more in power than in principle. In June 2004, he resigned from his post as the minister of foreign affairs and returned to his seat in parliament. During 2005 he was the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE. Dr. Rupel is a member of PEN, AAASS, the Slovenian Writer's Association and the Association of Sociologists. He speaks English, German, Italian and French to varying degrees of competence. His niece is Slovenian pop-singer, Anja Rupel.
| Preceded by Luís Amado Portugal |
103rd President of the European Council 1H 2008 |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
