Robert Ljoljo, former CEO of the Swiss-owned pharma company Lek, has been confirmed to take over as director general of the Slovenian public health insurance institute, which manages roughly €6 billion in funds.

The 52-year-old executive was endorsed as the new boss of the public insurer by the National Assembly on 30 January after being elected by the assembly of the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (ZZZS) in December.

Ljoljo served as CEO of Lek and Sandoz Slovenia president until September 2024. Most recently he has been in charge of Biotech Hills, a biotech accelerator set up at the initiative of Novartis, Lek, Labena Lab, AmCham Slovenia and the consultancy Herman & Partnerji.

As ZZZS director general he will succeed Tatjana Mlakar after her four-year term runs out in March.

Presenting his goals to the public insurer's assembly, he listed financial sustainability, universal access and fairness, as well as the inclusion of all stakeholders.

He also identified digital transformation, development of human resources and organisation, as well as modern management methods as key priorities.

Ljoljo said he would aim for all stakeholders in the public health system to reduce expenditure by 10% by the end of his term. He hopes the set of services covered by public insurance will not be cut.

He rejected allegations that his appointment would open the ZZZS to the pharma lobby, saying such claims could only be made by people who did not understand the medicines funding system in the ZZZS.

The 90-member legislature voted 49 to 2 in favour of his appointment with the the ruling coalition Freedom Movement and Social Democrats and the opposition New Slovenia (NSi) voting in favour and the MPs of the opposition Democratic Party (SDS) and the junior coalition Left abstaining.

The no votes came from independent left-wing MPs Mojca Šetinc Pašek and Miha Kordiš, with the latter saying that "no smart policy would hand these common public resources to the lobby of private corporate capital".

He argued that Biotech Hills "lobbies for reducing administrative burdens, which means cutting taxes on the rich and reducing workers' rights".