Ljubljana - The government has released the names of all 22 official spokespersons or press contacts for the country's coming EU presidency. Domen Petelin has been appointed the government's EU presidency spokesman.

The official spokespersons should not be mistaken with chief or political spokespersons of Slovenia's EU presidency, that is Prime Minister Janez Janša, ministers or in some cases state secretaries, and the head of Slovenia's Permanent Representation in Brussels Iztok Jarc and his deputy Tamara Weingerl-Požar.

Political spokespersons express political views in interviews, press statements or at press conferences, whereas official spokespersons plan and run various communication activities related to the presidency, prepare PR content, manage press conferences, field questions from reporters or hold informal briefings.

The government's EU presidency spokesperson is meanwhile a press contact for government horizontal priorities and high-level presidency events. They also lead the communications strategy of the presidency.

Petelin is not a known public figure. Since September last year he has been a foreign affairs and EU affairs advisor for Igor Senčar, state secretary for coordination of international and EU affairs in the prime minister's office, the newspaper Delo recently reported.

Prior to this position Petelin worked at the Slovenian embassy in Skopje, North Macedonia and Slovenia's Permanent Representation in Brussels where his area of expertise was EU enlargement and Western Balkans.

Current Foreign Minister Anže Logar was the government's official spokesman during Slovenia's first presidency of the Council of the EU 13 years ago.

Other official spokespersons of Slovenia's second stint at the helm of the Council of the EU meanwhile include, among others, Nataša Kos, who will represent the Foreign Ministry during the presidency, and Damijan Fišer and Špela Horjak, who will be the spokespersons for Slovenia's Permanent Representation in Brussels.