Danijel Kastelic was elected to the National Council as a representative of non-commercial fields for the field of social care.
In the National Council, he is:
- member of the Interest Group of Non-Commercial Fields,
- president of the Commission for Social Care, Labour, Health and the Disabled,
- member of the Commission for Economy, Trade, Tourism and Finance.
About the member of the National Council
Danijel Kastelic was born on 25 September 1965 in Ljubljana. He lives in Veliki Kal, Šentvid pri Stični, in the Municipality of Ivančna Gorica. He is married and his two children enjoy family life in their own households.
He is president of the Slovenian Paraplegic Association, head of the Council for Persons with Disabilities of the Republic of Slovenia and was vice-president of the National Council of Disabled People’s Organisations of Slovenia for two terms, which he also led for a shorter period of time.
Before the onset of his disability – paraplegia, which confined him to a wheelchair – he was employed in the business sector. He then retired on account of his disability in accordance with the former employment policy and the nature of his work. Until the onset of his disability, he played the trumpet in the Stična brass band. He completed studies in metallurgical engineering and, soon after his rehabilitation, at the age of 25, became actively involved in the work of the Association of Paraplegics of the Ljubljana Region and the Slovenian Paraplegic Association. His participation in wheelchair basketball began in 1995 when he was an active member of the Slovene national team and the head of wheelchair basketball within the Slovenian Paraplegic Association, but concluded in 2002 when the national team achieved its best results since Slovenia’s independence. Within the Leonardo da Vinci project "Training for Life," he and his colleagues from four European countries assisted in the preparation of a manual for young players of wheelchair basketball and were co-organisers for the 1st European Wheelchair Basketball Conference in Athens in 2003. That same year, he concluded his rich and active sports career by heading the Slovene national team at the European wheelchair basketball championship in Sardinia. In 2002, an international basketball league was established on his initiative with the purpose of bringing together teams from neighbouring countries in the Southeast European region. In 2006, he co-founded the European Spinal Cord Injury Federation (ESCIF) and served as the head of the Slovene delegation at its founding congress in Switzerland. In 2013, he organised the first meeting of presidents and secretaries general of paraplegic associations from eight countries of Southeast Europe at “Dom paraplegikov Pacug”, where he became the leader of an informal movement they founded at that time. Simultaneously, on his initiative and under the aegis of the President of the Republic and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, they signed a protocol on mutual cooperation of all listed countries in the field of disability and social care, as well as sports competitions for those with paraplegia and tetraplegia.
While working in disabled people’s organisations, he continuously worked on expanding his knowledge and was actively engaged in the fields of protection of disabled persons and social protection. As a member of various working groups, he participated and still participates in drafting legislation in this field, including the Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities Act (ZIMI), the law on the Foundation for Funding Disability and Humanitarian Organisations of Slovenia (FIHO) and the Foundation for Financing of Sports Organisations (FŠO), the law on the Council for Persons with Disabilities of the Republic of Slovenia, and the Personal Assistance Act (the ZOA). As an expert with broad experience, he has given lectures and chaired various workshops on disability and social inclusion. Compliance with the Code of Ethics in the field of social protection has always been the guiding principle in his work. He also participates in the management bodies of the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (ZZZS). He continuously strives to improve his knowledge in various areas; he is a lay judge at the Ljubljana Labour and Social Court and a certified internal evaluator of SIQ processes for NGOs, a member of the Slovenian Directors’ Association, and has completed a programme to be a qualified member of an expert committee under the Personal Assistance Act.
He advocates for the maintenance and further development or reasonable modification of the welfare state, to which the Republic of Slovenia is committed under the provisions in Article 2 of the Constitution. As many social rights of various social groups have been curtailed in recent years due to the financial crisis, he plans to make additional efforts to preserve and restore such rights because they provide social security for many, thus enabling them to meet their fundamental needs and attain a basic quality of life.
He takes an active approach to the specific needs of distinct socially disadvantaged and discriminated-against groups that are pushed to the margins of society for various reasons. Since the quality of life of these groups also depends on the economic and social efficiency of the most productive part of the population, he has a positive attitude to the general regulation of working conditions for the economic and social life of the entire population. He views regulation of issues such as childcare, living conditions of young families, and the economic/social regulatory framework, which may or may not encourage births, as immensely important.