Štefan Füle (born 24 May 1962 in Sokolov) is a former

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

diplomat who served as the

European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy The Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement is the member of the European Commission in charge of overseeing the accession process of prospective new member states and relations with those bordering the European Union (EU). The present ...

from February 2010 until October 2014.

Early life and education

Füle was born on 24 May 1962 in Sokolov, then in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. He studied at the

Charles University in Prague Charles University ( cs, Univerzita Karlova, UK; la, Universitas Carolina; german: Karls-Universität), also known as Charles University in Prague or historically as the University of Prague ( la, Universitas Pragensis, links=no), is the oldest an ...

(1980–1981, two semesters at the Faculty of Philosophy) and the

Moscow State Institute of International Relations Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) (russian: Московский государственный институт международных отношений (МГИМО), also known as MGIMO University) is an institute of ...

(1981–1986).

Diplomatic career

He has held several positions within the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

. Füle served as First Secretary of Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic (until 1993 Czechoslovakia) to the UN in New York City from 1990 to 1995. His next assignment was at the headquarters of the Ministry in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

until 1998. Then he served as the Czech Ambassador to

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

(1998–2001), also being the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

contact point there. In 2000, Füle accepted the position of the First Deputy Minister of Defense but later returned to diplomatic work. He had served as the nation's Ambassador to the United Kingdom (2003–2005) before being appointed as the

Permanent Representative A permanent representative is a diplomat who is the head of a country’s diplomatic mission to an international organisation. Organizations that receive permanent representatives from their member states include the United Nations, the World Tr ...

of his country to NATO (11 July 2005 – 7 May 2009).

European Commissioner

Füle served as the Minister for European Affairs in the

caretaker government A caretaker government is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it usually consists of either randomly se ...

of Jan Fischer in 2009, and has served as the Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy under the second

Barroso Commission The Barroso Commission was the European Commission in office from 22 November 2004 until 31 October 2014. Its president was José Manuel Barroso, who presided over 27 other commissioners (one from each of the states composing the European Union ...

since February 2010.

Nomination

Fischer Fischer is a German occupational surname, meaning fisherman. The name Fischer is the fourth most common German surname. The English version is Fisher. People with the surname A * Abraham Fischer (1850–1913) South African public official * Ad ...

's government waited for

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

to agree on one candidate to become the next European Commissioner for the Czech Republic, but they were not able to agree on one name.

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

nominated

Vladimír Špidla Vladimír Špidla () (born 22 April 1951) is a Czech politician who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic from July 2002 to August 2004 and as European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities from Novemb ...

and Civic Democrats endorsed

Alexandr Vondra Alexandr Vondra (; born 17 August 1961) is a Czech politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic from 2010 to 2012 under Prime Minister Petr Nečas and has been Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019 ...

;

Jan Švejnar Jan Švejnar (born October 2, 1952) is a United States-based, Czech-born economist. He was a candidate for the 2008 election of the President of the Czech Republic. Professor Švejnar is director of the Center on Global Economic Governance an ...

and Pavel Svoboda were candidates of the minority

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

and

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...

, respectively. The Czech Republic was urged to announce a person's name by the

President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The President of the Commission leads a Cabinet of Commissioners, referred to as the College, collectively account ...

José Barroso. Prime Minister Jan Fischer was also offered the post but refused. There were rumors about Vladimír Dlouhý and

Zdeněk Tůma Zdeněk Tůma (born 19 October 1960) is a Czech economist, who was the Governor of the Czech National Bank from 1 December 2000 to 30 June 2010. He had previously served as Vice Governor of the Bank from 13 February 1999 to 30 November 2000. Care ...

being offered the post. Dlouhý was willing to accept the nomination and Tůma refused it. On 10 November 2009, the Cabinet made the decision of approving Füle's nomination.

Issues

Füle has argued that " enlargement is the most important transformation instrument the EU has" and attributes the "difficult reforms" that brought about

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and

Southeastern Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (al ...

's political and economic transformations to the fact that they were "tak He_has_been_working_hard_to_bring_six_of_the_EU's_neighbors,_Armenia.html" ;"title="ng[ place within the wider enlargement strategy". He has been working hard to bring six of the EU's neighbors, Armenia">ng[ place within the wider enlargement strategy". He has been working hard to bring six of the EU's neighbors, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia (country), Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, under its wing, but the anticipated summit in Vilnius,

in November 2013 only saw Georgia and Moldova initial association agreements, with Ukraine's last-minute cold feet a major disappointment. On 18 July 2014, Füle was present to hear the

Parliament of Georgia The Parliament of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს პარლამენტი, tr) is the supreme national legislature of Georgia. It is a unicameral parliament, currently consisting of 150 members; of these, 120 are proportio ...

unanimously vote (123-0, 27 abstained) to ratify its association agreement. Before the vote, Prime Minister

Irakli Gharibashvili Irakli Garibashvili ( ka, ირაკლი ღარიბაშვილი, also transliterated as Gharibashvili; born 28 June 1982) is a Georgian politician and a former business executive who serves as the prime minister of Georgia since 2 ...

told Füle his country had formulated a "Georgia 2020 social-democratic development strategy", aimed at easing European integration. On

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

's accession, Füle is optimistic in a long-term way: "Whenever I am asked if I could imagine Turkey in the EU, my answer is 'Yes, absolutely.' But it will be a different Turkey and it will be a different European Union". In 2015, news media reported that Füle was included in a Russian blacklist of prominent people from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

who are not allowed to enter the country. From the year 2016 Füle is a member of

Prague Society for International Cooperation The Prague Society for International Cooperation is a Prague-based non-governmental organization that originated in communist Central Europe, when political dissidents joined forces to oppose their respective regimes. Though several of its membe ...

, a respected NGO whose main goals are networking and the development of a new generation of responsible, well-informed leaders and thinkers.

References

External links

Štefan Füle
Official Media Gallery
@StefanFuleEU
Verified Twitter account , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Fule, Stefan 1962 births Czech diplomats Czech European Commissioners Government ministers of the Czech Republic Living people Moscow State Institute of International Relations alumni Charles University alumni Czech Social Democratic Party Government ministers People from Sokolov Communist Party of Czechoslovakia members