Branko Tomažič was elected to the National Council as a representative of the Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry of Slovenia.
In the National Council, he is:
- member of the Interest Group of Farmers, Crafts and Trade, and Independent Professions,
- president of the Commission for Agriculture, Forestry and Food,
- member of the Mandate and Immunity Commission,
- member of the Commission for Economy, Trade, Tourism and Finance.
About the member of the National Council
Branko Tomažič was born in Postojna in 1961 to a large farming family. He currently lives in Vrhpolje near Vipava.
After graduating from the Secondary School for Agriculture in Maribor, he completed his studies at the Department for Livestock Production at the Biotech Faculty of the University of Ljubljana.
In 1984, he started working as an adviser at the agricultural cooperative Vipava. Soon thereafter, he took over the leadership of the Vipava farm and successfully made it competitive with the best farms in Slovenia. He became active in the local community of Vrhpolje and also as president of the executive council in the Assembly of the Municipality of Ajdovščina. In 1988, he actively participated in the democratisation process and became a member of SLS. During YNA’s aggression towards Slovenia, he organised barricades to stop tanks in his home village of Vrhpolje, which demonstrated to the Slovenian leadership that the Slovenian nation will not surrender. He then led the secretariat of the newly founded Municipality of Vipava. In 1996, he was elected as a deputy in the National Assembly.
After the end of his term, he led the agricultural cooperative Vipava. Since 2000, he has been farming on his own farm. Because of the challenges facing the agricultural field, he devotes most of his time to the subject of farming, for two terms also as vice-president of the Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry of Slovenia.
He was first elected to the National Council as a representative of farmers in 2017 and focused his work on the resolution of problems facing agriculture and Slovenian farmers. He advocated for the rights and status of farmers, as well as warned about poor food security and even organised a consultation on this issue. He proposed an amendment to the Constitution which would obligate the state to ensure food security. He is an advocate for greater control of tracking and correct food labelling. He was one of the few individuals who, at the time of adopting the Common Agricultural Policy, warned the public that it is not oriented towards increasing self-reliance but towards decreasing it. He continuously tries to educate the Slovene public that populations of carnivores should be limited so that the Slovene space will facilitate a safe coexistence between carnivores and humans.
Most recently, he has warned that the European Agricultural Policy is not progressing on a suitable path and pays too much attention to environmentalist concerns, which is reducing food production through various restrictions and may lead the EU into a food crisis or dependence on imports of food produced in conditions that do not ensure the same high standards as locally produced food and may be limited in quality and health. He warns that agriculture is facing too many barriers, measures, separations and bureaucracy, as well as controls. As a result, as well as due to poor income, the youth do not decide to take over farms.