Štefan Füle (born 24 May 1962) is a former 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 Enlargement of the European Union, accession process of prospective new member states and European Neighbourhood Policy, rela ...

from February 2010 until October 2014.

Early life and education

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

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. He studied at the Charles University in Prague (1980–1981, two semesters at the Faculty of Philosophy) and the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (1981–1986).

Diplomatic career

He has held several positions within the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

. 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 ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

until 1998. Then he served as the Czech Ambassador to

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

(1998–2001), also being the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

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 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, also known as a caretaker regime, 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 co ...

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 of the European Commission, president was José Durão Barroso, who presided over 27 other commissioners (one from Member sta ...

since February 2010.

Nomination

Fischer's government waited for

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

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 social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

nominated Vladimír Špidla and Civic Democrats endorsed Alexandr Vondra; Jan Švejnar and Pavel Svoboda were candidates of the minority Green Party and Christian Democrats, 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, also known as president of the College of Commissioners is the Head of government, head of the European Commission, the Executive (government), executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president ...

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

Southeastern Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...

'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">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 unanimously vote (123-0, 27 abstained) to ratify its association agreement. Before the vote, Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili told Füle his country had formulated a "Georgia 2020 social-democratic development strategy", aimed at easing European integration. On

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

's accession, Füle was, in 2013, 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 union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

who are not allowed to enter the country. From the year 2016 Füle is a member of Prague Society for International Cooperation, a 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 Living people Czech European commissioners Czech diplomats Czechoslovak diplomats Government ministers of the Czech Republic Permanent representatives of the Czech Republic to NATO Ambassadors of the Czech Republic to the United Kingdom Ambassadors of the Czech Republic to Lithuania Moscow State Institute of International Relations alumni Charles University alumni Czech Social Democratic Party Government ministers People from Sokolov Communist Party of Czechoslovakia members