Birth Date: | 17 July 1979 |
Birth Place: | Bratislava, Czechoslovakia |
Office1: | Minister of Transport and Construction |
Primeminister1: | Robert Fico |
Termstart1: | 25 October 2023 |
Predecessor1: | Pavol Lančarič |
Children: | 2 |
Jozef Ráž (born 17 July 1979) is a Slovak politician. He currently serves as the minister of Transport and Construction.
Jozef Ráž was born on 17 July 1979 in Bratislava. His father is the singer Jozef Ráž.[1] He studied international business at the University of Economics in Bratislava and law at the Bratislava University of Law.[2]
After graduation, Ráž had a career in civil service. Between 2005 and 2010 he was at the minister of defense. In 2010 he joined the Slovenská pošta, where he became a board member. In 2016 the director of Slovenská pošta Tomáš Drucker became the health minister and made Ráž his chief of staff. Ráž held the position until 2018, when his name was put forward by the prime minister Peter Pellegrini for the position of the interior affair minister. Nonetheless, the president Andrej Kiska refused the nomination over Ráž's links to the former minister Robert Kaliňák accused of power abuse and ties to organized crime.[3]
Following his rejection, Ráž withdrew from public life and focused on running his catering business.
In 2023, Ráž became the minister of transportation.[4]
Ráž is married with two daughters.