Pavel Telička (born 21 August 1965) is a Czech lobbyist, politician and

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) from 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 ...

. He previously served as European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection from May 2004 to November 2004. He was a member of

ANO 2011 ANO 2011, often shortened to simply ANO ("Yes" in English), the initials meaning Action of Dissatisfied Citizens ( cs, Akce nespokojených občanů), is a populist political party in the Czech Republic. The party was founded by Andrej Babiš. Hi ...

, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, until 2017 when he quit amid disagreements with leader Andrej Babiš. He served as a

Vice President of the European Parliament There are fourteen vice-presidents of the European Parliament who sit in for the president in presiding over the plenary of the European Parliament. Role Vice-presidents are members of the Bureau and chair the plenary when the president is not ...

from January 2017 until 2019.

Early life

Telička was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 1965, the son of a communist diplomat. As a young man, he was a member of the

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Comint ...

. He graduated from the Faculty of Law,

Charles University in Prague ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , undergr ...

, in 1986, and began working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the following years, he held various positions in the ministry, including as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and in the Czech Mission to 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 de ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. From 1998 onwards, he served as chief negotiator for the

accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union The largest expansion of the European Union (EU), in terms of territory, number of states, and population took place on 1 May 2004. The simultaneous accessions concerned the following countries (sometimes referred to as the "A10" countries): ...

European Union

In February 2004, the Czech government nominated Miloš Kužvart, the former Czech Environment Minister, as a candidate for the EU commissioner. Kužvart, however, stepped down after his first visit as a candidate to Brussels, and Telička was drafted in to replace him. When the Czech Republic entered the EU on 1 May 2004, Telička became a commissioner in the

Prodi Commission The Prodi Commission was the European Commission in office between 1999 and 2004. The administration was led by former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. History The commission took office on 16 September 1999 following the scandal and sub ...

, sharing the portfolio of Health and Consumer Protection with David Byrne. He held this post only until November 2004, and did not continue in the following

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 Uni ...

due to a Czech government crisis in summer 2004. He was succeeded as the Czech Republic's commissioner by Vladimír Špidla, the former Prime Minister who resigned during the crisis. In December 2004, Telička co-founded BXL Consulting with offices in Prague and Brussels, providing consultancy in EU affairs. As of 2014, the company is no longer active. In 2013, he supported

, led by Andrej Babiš, in the Czech parliament elections; he was the party's candidate in the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

. Since his election in July 2014, he was a vice-chair of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe until the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peop ...

. In June 2019, he was elected the first leader of the HLAS party. He was also elected president of the

Czech Rugby Union The Czech Rugby Union ( cz, Česká rugbyová unie) is the governing body for rugby union in the Czech Republic. It was founded in 1926 and became affiliated to the International Rugby Board in 1988 while still the governing body for Czechoslovaki ...

in November 2009.

References

External links

A Biography in English. Archived.
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Telicka, Pavel 1965 births Living people Politicians from Washington, D.C. Czech diplomats Czech European Commissioners MEPs for the Czech Republic 2014–2019 ANO 2011 MEPs Charles University alumni