Maroš Šefčovič
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Maroš Šefčovič (; born 24 July 1966) is a Slovak diplomat and politician serving as European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security; Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency (2024–2029) in the
Von der Leyen Commission II The second von der Leyen Commission is the current European Commission, in office since 1 December 2024. It consists of one commissioner from each of the member states of the European Union – including Ursula von der Leyen, its President of t ...
. Prior to that, he was the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal from 2023 to 2024, as well as Vice-President of the European Commission for Interinstitutional Relations since 2019, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2014. He has been a member of the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
since 2009. Šefčovič also stood for office in the 2019 Slovak presidential election, which he lost to Zuzana Čaputová. Šefčovič served as European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth from 2009 to 2010 and
Vice-President of the European Commission A Vice-President of the European Commission is a member of the European Commission who leads the commission's work in particular focus areas in which multiple European Commissioners participate. Currently, the European Commission has a total of ...
for Interinstitutional Relations and Administration from 2010 to 2014. He served as European Commissioner for Energy from 2014 to 2019. In 2019, Šefčovič was appointed Vice-President for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight.


Early life and studies

Born in
Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...
, Šefčovič originally enrolled at the University of Economics in his hometown in 1984, but left the university after one year to pursue a degree in Russia at
Moscow State Institute of International Relations Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) (, also known as MGIMO University) is an higher education, institute of higher education located in Moscow, Russia. The institute is run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Russian ...
, where he studied from 1985 to 1990. In June 1987, Šefčovič became a candidate for membership 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 Com ...
. After the two-year candidacy period, during which he had to secure three approvals from other party members and undertook to "deepen his knowledge of
Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism () is a communist ideology that became the largest faction of the History of communism, communist movement in the world in the years following the October Revolution. It was the predominant ideology of most communist gov ...
", he filed an application for party membership in May 1989. The party approved his application on 1 June 1989 and he became an official member. In 2000, he obtained a PhD in international law at Comenius University in Bratislava. The subject of his dissertation thesis was ''Sources of the EU law and respective legislative procedures''.


Diplomatic career

Šefčovič is a former diplomat, having served in Zimbabwe, Canada, as well as the Slovak ambassador to Israel (1999–2002). He was also the Permanent Representative of the Slovak Republic to the European Union (2004–2009).


Political career


European Commission


2009–2010: European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth

Šefčovič replaced
Ján Figeľ Ján Figeľ (born 20 January 1960) is a Slovak politician who served as European Commissioner from 2004 to 2009, then as Slovak Minister of Transport from 2010 to 2012. From 2016 to 2019, Figeľ was European Commission special envoy for the pr ...
as European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth on 1 October 2009.


2010–2014: Vice-President for Interinstitutional Relations and Administration

Šefčovič's responsibilities included the administration of the Commission and management of some of the Commission's Internal Services; in particular consolidation of administrative reform, personnel and administration, European Schools and security. From 19 April 2014 to 25 May 2014,
José Manuel Barroso José Manuel Durão Barroso (; born 23 March 1956) is a Portuguese politician and law professor. He previously served from 2002 to 2004 as the List of Prime Ministers of Portugal, 114th prime minister of Portugal and from 2004–2014 as the 11 ...
was an Acting Commissioner in Šefčovič's stead while he was on electoral campaign leave for the 2014 elections to the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
.


2014–2019: European Commissioner for Energy

Šefčovič was appointed
Vice-President of the European Commission A Vice-President of the European Commission is a member of the European Commission who leads the commission's work in particular focus areas in which multiple European Commissioners participate. Currently, the European Commission has a total of ...
for Energy Union in 2014. In July 2015, he brokered an agreement between fifteen countries from central, eastern and southeast Europe to speed up the building of gas links, improve security of supply, reduce their reliance on Russia and develop a fully integrated energy market. When digital single market Andrus Ansip stepped down from the European Commission to take up his seat in the European Parliament following the
2019 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2019. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems has a calendar of upcoming elections around the world, and the National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections in cou ...
, the Commission's President
Jean-Claude Juncker Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who was List of prime ministers of Luxembourg, prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also was List ...
announced that Ansip's portfolio would be transferred to Šefčovič.


2019–2024: Vice-President for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight

In September 2019, newly-elected
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 ...
Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...
named Šefčovič as vice-president for interinstitutional relations and foresight. From 2021, he served as co-chairman and represented the European Union in the Partnership Council established by the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. In 2023, von der Leyen appointed Šefčovič to replace Frans Timmermans as European Commissioner for Climate Action.


2023–2024: Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal

On 22 August 2023, after Frans Timmermans resigned from the European Commission to run in the
2023 Dutch general election Early general elections were held in the Netherlands on 22 November 2023 to elect the members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of Representatives. The elections had been expected to be held in 2025, but a snap election was ca ...
for the
GroenLinks–PvdA GroenLinks–PvdA (), alternatively PvdA–GroenLinks, or GreenLeft–Labour in English, is an alliance between GroenLinks (GL) and the Labour Party (Netherlands), Labour Party (PvdA) in the Netherlands. The Electoral alliance, political allian ...
alliance, Šefčovič succeeded him as Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal. The position of European Commissioner for Climate Action was also assigned to Šefčovič on a temporary basis until a permanent successor has been chosen by the Netherlands.


2019 Slovak presidential campaign

On 18 January 2019, Šefčovič announced that he would stand as a candidate in the 2019 Slovak presidential race, with support of the Smer–SD party. In the first round of the election held on 16 March, Šefčovič received 18.66% of the vote and came in second place after Zuzana Čaputová, who received 40.57% of votes. They both qualified for the second round run-off, which took place on 30 March. Šefčovič was defeated by Čaputová, receiving 41.59% of the vote versus 58.41% of votes for his opponent.


Other activities

* GLOBSEC, Member of the International Advisory Council


Political positions


LGBT stance and other social issues

During his presidential campaign, Šefčovič repeatedly spoke against legislative changes which would improve the status of LGBT rights in Slovakia, strongly opposing both
civil partnerships A civil union (also known as a Civil partnership in the United Kingdom, civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for Same-sex relationship, same-sex couples. Civi ...
and same-sex adoptions. He dubbed his opponent Čaputová (who is in favour of both) as a candidate who is forcing a "new ultraliberal agenda" on Slovakia, comparing the second round of elections to a referendum on such an agenda, which he considered to be "in exact contradiction to traditional Christian values". He also stated that "we cannot support any further steps towards civil unions or same-sex adoptions because these would go precisely against our traditional Christian values", calling this stance as his "very natural position" due to his Christianity. According to his opinion, discussions about "such experiments bring great unrest to society". Šefčovič supported and welcomed the position of the Slovak parliament and government not to ratify the
Istanbul Convention The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, is a International human rights instruments, human rights treaty of the Council of Europe oppos ...
(aimed against
violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence (GBV) or sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), violent, violence primarily committed by Man, men or boys against woman, women or girls. Such violence is often considered hat ...
and
domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...
), citing his concerns about so-called " gender ideology".


International relations and foreign policy

Šefčovič also criticised his opponent Čaputová for her opinions on the migrant crisis and related policies. He emphasised the importance of a speedy deportation policy, so that "people who do not have any business here are sent to their home countries as quickly as possible". Furthermore, he pointed out that "it has to be Slovaks who decide who comes to our country". Šefčovič has criticized
Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...
's actions in this area, labeling her "latest decisions which opened door to mass migration" as something that was not "thought-out very well". In the matter of Russia–EU relations, Šefčovič emphasised that he does not consider Russia to be any kind of threat. He also criticised imposed sanctions, stating that people are suffering from them. When asked about the Venezuelan presidential crisis, Šefčovič refused to identify either
Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and former union leader serving as the 53rd president of Venezuela since 2013. Previously, he was the 24th Vice President of Venezuela, vice president from 2012 to 20 ...
or Juan Guaidó as legitimate president, stating that "leaning on one or the other side might worsen the situation".


European Union

Šefčovič rejects the idea of EU federalization, saying he is "against creating a European superstate", and considers
tax policy Tax policy refers to the guidelines and principles established by a government for the imposition and collection of taxes. It encompasses both microeconomic and macroeconomic aspects. The former focuses on issues of fairness and efficiency in ta ...
, autonomous migration policy, and
family law Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations. Overview Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include: * Marriag ...
issues to be "red lines" which should not be crossed by the European Union.


Personal life

Šefčovič is married to Helena Šefčovičová, with whom he has three children: Helena, Martina, and Maroš.


References


External links


Official Media Gallery

Official website
, - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sefcovic, Maros 1966 births 20th-century Slovak people 21st-century Slovak people Ambassadors of Slovakia to Israel Direction – Social Democracy politicians Living people Slovak Christians Diplomats from Bratislava Permanent representatives of Slovakia to the European Union Slovak European commissioners University of Economics in Bratislava alumni Moscow State Institute of International Relations alumni Comenius University alumni European commissioners (2014–2019) European commissioners (2019–2024) European commissioners (2024–2029) Politicians from Bratislava Recipients of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 2nd class