Jiří Šedivý (born 20 August 1963) is a

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, ...

politician and diplomat. Although not member of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), Šedivý has served in various ministerial positions in ODS-led governments. Specifically, he served as Minister of Defence (September 2006 - January 2007) and as Deputy Minister for European Affairs (January 2007 - August 2007) under Prime Minister

Mirek Topolánek Mirek Topolánek (, born 15 May 1956) is a Czech politician and business manager who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic from 2006 to 2009 and the leader of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) from 2002 to 2010. Between 2006 and 2 ...

, and again as Deputy Minister of Defence (November 2010 to August 2012) under Prime Minister

Petr Nečas Petr Nečas (; born 19 November 1964) is a Czech former politician who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic and leader of the Civic Democratic Party from 2010 to 2013, and as Member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP) from 1993 to 2013 ...

. In September 2007, he became the highest-ranking Czech in NATO's history when he became the Assistant Secretary General for Defence Policy and Planning. Šedivý also served as Permanent Representative of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. 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 ...

, between September 2012 and July 2019. On 1 September 2019, Šedivý was appointed by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs as special envoy for resilience and new threats in the fight against misinformation and hostile influence of foreign powers. He was educated at

Jan Neruda Grammar School Jan Neruda Grammar School ( cz, Gymnázium Jana Nerudy) is a Czech public secondary school situated in Prague. It is named after the writer, Jan Neruda. The school ranks as the second best secondary (high) school, and the best public secondary sc ...

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 ...

and

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

(MA War Studies, 1994). From 2004 to 2006, Šedivý taught in

security studies __NOTOC__ Security studies, also known as international security studies, is an academic sub-field within the wider discipline of international relations that studies organized violence, military conflict, national security, and international s ...

at the

George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies The George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies is a bi-national United States Department of Defense and Federal Ministry of Defence (Germany) security and defense studies institute. When the Marshall Center was founded in 1993, its mi ...

. Between 1999 and 2004, he was Director of the Institute of International Relations in Prague. On 5 March 2020 the Steering Board of the

European Defence Agency The European Defence Agency (EDA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) that promotes and facilitates integration between member states within the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The EDA is headed by the High Representative ...

appointed Jiří Šedivý as new EDA Chief Executive upon recommendation of the Head of the European Defence Agency

Josep Borrell Josep Borrell Fontelles (; born 24 April 1947) is a Spanish politician serving as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy since 1 December 2019. A member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), he served ...

. He will take office in April 2020. Born 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 ...

, he is the son of historian and politician Jaroslav Šedivý who served as Foreign Affairs Minister under Prime Ministers

Václav Klaus Václav Klaus (; born 19 June 1941) is a Czech economist and politician who served as the second president of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. From July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, he served as the secon ...

and

Josef Tošovský Josef Tošovský () (born 28 September 1950) is a Czech economist and former governor of Czech National Bank (from 1993 to 2000). From 17 December 1997 to 22 July 1998 he was the prime minister of the Czech Republic in a caretaker government. ...

. He and his wife, Lucie, have a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sedivy, Jiri Defence ministers of the Czech Republic 1963 births Living people Charles University alumni Alumni of King's College London Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic) Government ministers Politicians from Prague Permanent Representatives of the Czech Republic to NATO