Jozef Banáš (born 27 September 1948) is a Slovak

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, diplomat and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Professional career

* 1972 - graduated at the University of Economics in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

with major in foreign trade * 1973-1976 - business consultant at Chirana Export

Piešťany Piešťany (; german: Pistyan, hu, Pöstyén, pl, Pieszczany , cs, Píšťany ) is a town in Slovakia. It is located in the western part of the country within the Trnava Region and is the seat of its own district. It is the biggest and best kno ...

* 1977-1992 -

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 ...

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 ...

* 1983-1988 - embassy in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

NDR NDR may refer to: Computing * Non delivery report, a return email message to a sender indicating failed message delivery * Network Data Representation, an implementation of the OSI model presentation layer Science and technology * Negative differ ...

, press attaché * 1990-1992 - embassy in

Wien en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, deputy chief of mission * 1992 - Raiffeisenleasing Wien * 1993-1994 - Tatraleasing Bratislava,

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

* 1994-2001 - Slovak International Tabak, industrial politics management

Works

* 1978 – Nebráňme vtákom lietať (''Don't stop the birds from flying''), TV staging, scenario * 1979 – Čisté vody (''Clear waters''), TV staging * 1982 – Mimoriadny rýchlik (''Extraordinary express''), TV staging, scenario * 1983 – Kirchhoffov zákon (''Kirchoff's Law''), TV staging, scenario * 1985 – Začiatok sezóny (''Start of the season''), movie scenario * 1990 – Tréning na štátnika (''Training for statesman''), theatre comedy * 1996 – No Comment, theatre comedy * 2001 – Lepší ako včera (''Better than yesterday''), book of short stories * 2006 – Politicum tremens (co-author Bohumil Hanzel), humorous book about National Council of Slovakia * 2007 – Idioti v politike (''Idiots in politics''), satiric book about politics * 2007 – Delírium P. (''Delirium P.''), theatre comedy * 2008 – Zóna nadšenia (''Zone of enthusiasm''), political thriller * 2009 – Zastavte Dubčeka! (''Stop Dubček !''), novel * 2010 – Deň do večnosti (''A day to eternity''), poetry collection * 2010Kód 9 (''Code 9''), novel * 2011 – Sezóna potkanov (''Rat season''), novel * 2013 – Kód 1 (''Code 1''), novel * 2015 – Dementi (''Morons''), novel about Banáš's readers * 2020 - Nádherná Smrť v Altaji ("Amazing Death in Altay mountains"), novel Besides his literal ventures, he is known as a political journalist and essayist. His essays and thoughts gained international acclaim.

Political career

* 1976 - entered Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) * 2001-2002 - general secretary of the ''Aliancia nového občana'' (ANO) party * 2002-2006 - elected deputy of National Council as ANO candidate. He was the vice-chairman of the Committee on European Integration; member of the Safety and Defence Committee and of the Permanent Delegation of the National Council of Slovakia to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council and leader of the Permanent Delegation of the National Council at the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO. * 2003 - vice-chairman of The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe * 2004 - after he did not become the lead candidate for ANO in the European Parliament elections, he announced that he was leaving ANO and to become an independent deputy in the National Council * 2004 - joined the deputies club of The Slovak Democratic and Christian Union party (SDKÚ) * 2004 - joined SDKÚ * 11.11.2004 - elected in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

as a vice-chairman of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, making him the first Slovak elected to this position

Personal life

He is married and has two daughters. His younger daughter,

Adela Vinczeová Adela Vinczeová (; born 12 October 1980) is a Slovakia, Slovak radio and television presenter. She has presented television shows such as Česko Slovenská SuperStar 2009, the Anděl Awards and the Czech Lion Awards. She is a daughter of Slovak w ...

, is a prominent moderator and entertainer in Slovakia. According to his daughter Adela, Banáš is a lapsed Catholic.

References

Slaboch aj veľký politik. Názory na symbol Pražskej jari sa líšia
(in Slovak)
Josef Banáš at the Berlin International Literature Festival 2010
1948 births Living people Writers from Bratislava Slovak journalists Diplomats from Bratislava Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2002-2006 Politicians from Bratislava Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party politicians {{Slovakia-writer-stub