Peter Pellegrini

Peter Pellegrini ([ˈpɛtɛr ˈpɛlːɛɡriɲi]; born 6 October 1975) is a Slovak politician who has been Prime Minister of Slovakia since 2018. He previously served as Deputy Prime Minister and as Minister for Education and Science, as well as spending two years as Speaker of the National Council.

His great-grandfather was Italian. He studied at the Faculty of Economics of Matej Bel University and the Technical University of Košice, focusing on banking, investment and finance at the latter. Between 2002 and 2006 he worked as economist and later as advisor to National Council member for Privatization and EconomyĽubomír Vážny , supported by ĽS-HZDS, SNS and Smer-SD.

In the 2006 parliamentary elections he was elected to the National Council for Direction – Social Democracy (Smer-SD). In the 2010 elections he was reelected, and once again in the 2012 elections.

Between 2012 and 3 July 2014 he was State Secretary for Finance. He later briefly became Minister for Education and Science. On 25 November 2014, he was elected Speaker of the National Council, succeeding Pavol Paška. In 2015, he was appointed Digital Champion of Slovakia, a European Union appointed position to promote the benefits of an inclusive digital society. Pellegrini was subsequently made Deputy Prime Minister for Investments in 2016, during the third government of Robert Fico.

Pellegrini meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House

Pellegrini was sworn in as Prime Minister after his predecessor, Robert Fico, resigned on 15 March 2018 in the wake of the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak. President Andrej Kiska approved of Pellegrini's Cabinet on 21 March 2018, and 81 members of the National Council voted in favor of approving the Cabinet the next week.

In 2019, Pellegrini temporarily took on the role of finance minister when Peter Kažimír left to become governor of the National Bank of Slovakia.

Pellegrini has Italian roots. His great-grandfather Leopoldo Pellegrini came to the Austro-Hungarian Empire to participate in the construction of the railway between Levice and Zvolen. He then decided to settle in Lehôtka pod Brehmi, in the district of Žiar nad Hronom, after falling in love with a local girl, Maria Kunovská.