Member of the European Parliament, 2009–2022 In the
2009 European Parliament elections in Slovenia, Fajon was elected as a member of the
Social Democrats (SD). During her first term, she served as vice-chairwoman of the European Parliament delegation for Croatia until the country joined the European Union. She was also a member of the Committee on Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering (CRIM),
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), and the Delegation for relations with the United States. Fajon was reelected in
2014, receiving more votes than the list leader,
Igor Lukšič. She was proposed as Slovenia’s nominee for the
European Commission under
Jean-Claude Juncker, but the Slovenian government ultimately nominated
Violeta Bulc. In her second term she served on LIBE, Delegation to the
Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, and the Delegation for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo (DSEE). Fajon also served as Vice-Chair of the
S&D during this term. By 2016, she was considered one of Slovenia’s most popular political figures according to national opinion polls. Following the
2019 European elections, Fajon played a central role in EP-mediated interparty dialogue in Serbia, serving as chair of the delegation for relations with Serbia. She was also a member of the
Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and participated in a cross-party working group tasked with drafting the European Parliament’s five-year work program on the
rule of law, borders, and migration. Throughout her EP career, Fajon acted as rapporteur for the visa liberalisation process for the
Western Balkans. She played a key role in enabling citizens of
Albania to travel freely within the
Schengen Area, marking a major step toward
Albania’s EU accession. In recognition of her efforts, a café in
Tirana was named in her honor in 2010. She also contributed to visa liberalisation for
Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Moldova. On May 5, a delegation of the Social Democrats, with then-vice president Tanja Fajon, paid homage to the monument to
Boris Kidrič in Ljubljana, as they wrote, in memory of the founding of the then-composed Kidrič government and pledged to "secure freedom, peace, and justice." The act aroused disapproval in part of the public, as the delegation was thereby paying homage to Kidrič, who during and after World War II was involved in committing crimes, including extrajudicial killings of Slovenes and the persecution of the German minority.
Party politics Tanja Fajon served for several years as vice-chairwoman of the Social Democrats (SD) and as chair of the SD Council for Foreign Policy. On 28 May 2020, following the resignation of
Dejan Židan as party president, Fajon assumed the role of acting president. During the handover, Židan publicly endorsed Fajon, calling on the party council to formally appoint her as president and stating that he viewed her as a potential future prime minister. In the
2022 parliamentary elections, the party experienced a decline, reducing its number of seats from ten to seven. Fajon herself was elected as a member of parliament, which led to the end of her term in the European Parliament on 13 May 2022, succeeded by
Matjaž Nemec. Two days after the elections, SD vice-president Jernej Pikalo resigned. in 2022At the party congress on 8 October 2022 in
Ptuj, Fajon was confirmed as the party president, running unopposed. She remained in this role until 13 April 2024, when
Matjaž Han was elected as the new leader. On 14 October 2022, she was also elected vice-president of the
Party of European Socialists at its congress in
Berlin.
Foreign minister, 2022–present Following the formation of the
15th Government of Slovenia, Prime Minister
Robert Golob allowed coalition party leaders to choose their ministries. Tanja Fajon selected the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was confirmed by the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs on 30 May 2022, receiving nine votes in favor and six against. She officially assumed office on 1 June 2022. Among her early priorities, she proposed renaming the ministry to the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and emphasized returning to a focus on core EU states. Shortly after taking office, Fajon named one of the ministry’s conference halls after Slovenian writer
Boris Pahor. She also intervened regarding a potential reduction of RTV Slovenia correspondents, sending a letter to Director-general Andrej Grah Whatmough, which the opposition party
SDS criticized as political pressure. Early in her term, Fajon received three open letters regarding Slovenia’s stance on the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, advocating different approaches from peace negotiations to firm support for Ukrainian defense. She invited the authors to the first meeting of the Strategic Council for Foreign Policy. In September 2022, the ministry faced controversy when a
diplomatic cable supporting the presidential candidacy of
Nataša Pirc Musar was leaked by the ambassador in the U.S., prompting SDS to file a motion of no confidence against Fajon, which failed (22 votes in favor, 52 against). On 24 January 2023, the ministry was officially renamed the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs during a government reconstruction. Fajon also continued Slovenia’s campaign for a non-permanent seat on the
UN Security Council, appointing special envoy Franc But to support the effort. Slovenia was elected with 153 votes in the
UN General Assembly. in
Manila in 2025On 4 June 2024, Slovenia
recognized the
State of Palestine as an independent and sovereign state, becoming the 147th UN member to do so. Diplomatic relations were formally established the following day through the delivery of a verbal note to the Palestinian ambassador in
Vienna. This decision followed similar actions by
Spain,
Ireland, and
Norway. On 15 July 2025, the EU's top diplomat
Kaja Kallas and the foreign ministers of the EU member states decided not to take any action against Israel over alleged
Israeli war crimes in the Gaza war and
settler violence in the
West Bank. Fajon posted on social media: "It is disappointing that there is no EU consensus to act on the June determination that Israel is violating Article 2 of the [EU-Israel Association Agreement], concerning human rights." ==Personal life==