Jože Smole was elected to the National Council as a representative of employers.
In the National Council, he is:
- head of the Interest Group of Employers,
- president of the Mandate and Immunity Commission,
- member of the Commission for Economy, Trade, Tourism and Finance,
- member of the Commission for Social Care, Labour, Health and the Disabled.
About the member of the National Council
Jože Smole is an expert in the field of social partnership and employers’ organisations. He graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in the field of textile design technologies at the University in Maribor, where he also completed his postgraduate specialisation in computerised information systems in textile production. He began his professional path in 1982 with the company Svila, where he was promoted and was also the general director during his last 5 years with the company. For 4 years, he was a senior lecturer at the textiles department of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. At the first multi-party parliamentary elections in 1990, he was elected as a deputy in the National Assembly. In 1997, he became the secretary for small industries of the Ministry for Small Industries and Tourism. In 2000, he was employed at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (CCIS) as the secretary of the association for the textiles, clothing and leather sectors, and was promoted two years later to the position of adviser to the president of CCIS for regional development. During this time, he continued to work as a senior lecturer at GEA College. From 2003 until 2007, he was the head of the CCIS negotiating group for social dialogue. In January 2008, he was appointed secretary general of the Employers’ Association of Slovenia and currently performs this function in his third mandate. During his first mandate, he carried out a one-year term of presiding over the Economic and Social Council. And in 2013 he was elected president of the assembly of the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia. In 2015, he was appointed to the European Economic and Social Council as a representative of Slovene employers.