Ján Budaj

{{short description|Slovak politician}}

{{BLP sources|date=August 2020}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Ján Budaj

| honorific_suffix =

| image = Ján Budaj.jpg

| image_size =

| image_upright =

| smallimage =

| smallimage_alt =

| alt =

| caption = Budaj in 2010

| order =

| office = Minister of the Environment

| status =

| primeminister = Igor Matovič{{-}}Eduard Heger

| term_start = 21 March 2020

| term_end = 15 May 2023

| predecessor = Árpád Érsek

| successor = Milan Chrenko

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1952|02|10}}

| birth_place = Bratislava, Czechoslovakia

| party = VPN (1989–1991){{-}}DEÚS (1994–1995){{-}}DÚ (1995–2000){{-}}Change from Below (2000–present)

| otherparty = SDK (1998–2002){{-}}OĽaNO (2016–2022){{-}}Democrats (2023–present)

}}Ján Budaj (born 10 February 1952) is a Slovak politician and environmental activist. He is mostly known by his participation in the Velvet Revolution. He served as the Minister of Environment from 21 March 2020, in the cabinets of Igor Matovič and Eduard Heger until the dissolution of the Heger Cabinet on 15 May 2023.{{Cite web|date=2020-03-21|title=Nový minister životného prostredia J. Budaj si prevzal svoj rezort|url=https://www.teraz.sk/slovensko/novy-minister-zivotneho-prostredia-j/454437-clanok.html|access-date=2020-08-11|website=Teraz.sk|language=sk}}

At the end of the 1970s, he founded the Temporary Society of Intensive Experience (DISP) with one of the first signatories of Charter 77 in Slovakia, Tomáš Petřivý, and the poet Vladimír Archleb. Within the framework of DISP, they created various events in the streets of Bratislava: happenings, unauthorized musical events, unofficial exhibitions, etc. In the 1980s, he worked as an ecological and civic activist, and was the compiler of the samizdat publication Bratislava/voice, published in 1987.{{Cite web |title=Bratislava/nahlas|url=https://www.17november1989.sk/sk/bratislavanahlas/ |access-date=2022-11-13 |website=17. november 1989|language=sk}}