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 *Czech (surnam ...

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–August 2007) under Prime Minister

Mirek Topolánek Mirek Topolánek (, born 15 May 1956) is a Czech Republic, 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 (Czech Republic), Civic Democr ...

, and again as Deputy Minister of Defence (November 2010 – 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 20 ...

. 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, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

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 ...

, 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 () is a Czech state 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 (state, i.e. attended for free) secondar ...

Charles University in Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

and

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

(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 ...

. 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 EU High Represent ...

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 who served as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission from 2019 to 2024. A member of the Spani ...

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

, he is the son of historian and politician

Jaroslav Šedivý Jaroslav Šedivý (12 November 1929 – 28 January 2023) was a Czech politician who served as the second Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, from 8 November 1997 until 17 July 1998.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 second ...

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. C ...

. 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