Tomáš Zdechovský
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Tomáš Zdechovský (born 2 November 1979) is a Czech politician and businessperson. In 2004, he founded Commservis.com, a communications and PR agency, of which he was CEO until his election as a Member of the European Parliament in 2014. Since 2014 he has been a Member of 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 ...
with
KDU-ČSL KDU-ČSL (In Czech language, Czech, the initials of the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party; ), often shortened to ("the populars"), is a Christian democracy, Christian democratic list of political parties in the Czec ...
, which is part of the European Peoples Party.


Early life and education

Tomáš Zdechovský grew up in the village of Kožlí and graduated from the gymnasium in
Ledeč nad Sázavou Ledeč nad Sázavou (; until 1921 Ledeč) is a town in Havlíčkův Brod District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,700 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Cz ...
. Zdechovský has earned three master's degrees. Two of them at the University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice (Pastoral Assistant and Educator of Free Time). The third he made at the
Masaryk University Masaryk University (MU) (; ) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno, it now consists of ten faculties and 35,115 students. It is named after To ...
in Media studies. He also holds a bachelor's degree in Political Communication which he earned at the
Salesian Pontifical University The Salesian Pontifical University (; ) is a pontifical university in Italy run by the Salesians of Don Bosco. It has three campuses, one in Rome, one in Turin, and one in Jerusalem. The Salesian Pontifical University is an ordinary member of ...
. In September 2024 he completed his doctoral studies at the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences of the University of South Bohemia in the field of Rehabilitation.


Political career

Zdechovský is a member of the
KDU-ČSL KDU-ČSL (In Czech language, Czech, the initials of the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party; ), often shortened to ("the populars"), is a Christian democracy, Christian democratic list of political parties in the Czec ...
and served as its regional manager in the Pardubice region from 2007 until 2008. He ran for the
2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Member of the European Parliament, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent s ...
on the 14th place of party list, however he was not elected. Zdechovský received much appraisal and great response for his nomination speech at the Congress of KDU-ČSL, held in June 2013 in Olomouc. During the
2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Member of the European Parliament, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent s ...
, he finished third place as a candidate of KDU-ČSL was elected MEP for the eighth legislature of the house. In 2019, he ran for the European Parliament for the third time and was re-elected. Zdechovský announced his intention to run for chairman of
KDU-ČSL KDU-ČSL (In Czech language, Czech, the initials of the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party; ), often shortened to ("the populars"), is a Christian democracy, Christian democratic list of political parties in the Czec ...
on 2 December 2019. However, at a party conference, he decided to withdraw his candidacy and ran for the deputy chairman of the party instead. He was elected for the third time in the
European Parliament elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by Universal suffrage, universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are the second largest democratic elections in the world after Electio ...
in 2024.


Political views


Migrant Crisis in Italy and Greece

Zdechovský has also explained on the
European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and Human migration, migrants into Europe, mostly from the Middle East. An estimated 1.3 million people came to the continent to request Right of asyl ...
several times, having visited a couple of refugee camps in Sicily in July 2015. He said most of the people in local refugee camps were actually economic migrants. Furthermore, his criticism is aimed at Greece, which according to his words has neglected the border controls and registration of newcomers.


Child Protection Service in Norway

Zdechovský has been dealing the Michalák Case since 2014. He criticises the practice of the Norwegian Barnevernet and Norwegian child protection policy entirely and demands its modification. In late 2014, together with his fellow MEP
Petr Mach Petr Mach (born 6 May 1975) is a Czech economist and former Member of the European Parliament. Mach is the founder of the Party of Free Citizens, which he led until 2017 when he was replaced by Tomáš Pajonk. Early career Mach worked as an e ...
, he began to actively engage in a campaign to return of Eva Michaláková's two sons, who had been taken away by Norwegian local Child Welfare Service. Both MEPs organized money collection for counsel in mother's litigation. Zdechovský also initiated an open letter to the Norwegian authorities, which was signed by nearly 50 MEPs from different countries and factions in the European Parliament. Zdechovský is also the author of the introduction to the book ''Stolen Childhood: The Truth About Norway's Child Welfare System''. The book was published in 2019 and deals with the issue of taking children away from their parents by Norwegian child protection service Barnevernet, the causes of the great influence of this institution and the reasons of the frequent criticism of Barnevernet for alleged human rights violations.


Criticism

Zdechovský also called for further investigation of
Andrej Babiš Andrej Babiš (; born 2 September 1954) is a Czech businessman and politician who served as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, prime minister of the Czech Republic from 2017 to 2021. He previously served as the Finance Minister of the Cze ...
on the grounds of alleged fraud in obtaining EU subsidies, which were designated for small businesses and where actual ownership of a farm and convention center called Stork Nest by Babiš was allegedly concealed. He also referred to alleged conflict of interest of Babiš in receiving EU subsidies for the Agrofert group due to suspicion that the latter was still actual owner even when a member of the Czech government. Zdechovský has also pointed out the problem of mileage fraud, which concerns the second-hand car market in the Czech Republic in particular as well as other Central and Eastern Europe in general. He argues that the introduction of the Car-Pass System which has been applied in Belgium since 2006 is an effective way to tackle and prevent such fraud throughout Europe.


Literature career

Zdechovský co-found of the group of poets called Friends of the Silent Poetic Touch () and the author of its manifesto protesting against the cultural decline of Czech society. He has published four collections of poems: ''Ze zahrady mé milé'' (), ''Odpusť mým rtům'' (), ''Intimní doteky'' (), and ''Kapka'' (The Drop). In 2013, Zdechovský published his first novel titled ''Nekonečné ticho'' (), which is about the relationship between a young man with an older woman. The book was illustrated by painter and graphic artist Klára Klose.


Other Activities

Zdechovský was one of the founders of an initiative called Save Baby Jesus () in 2008 which aims at defending Czech Christmas traditions against Santa Claus. Together with Roman Celý, Christian Democratic Member of the Czech parliament, he criticised the replacement of the "peaceful" Czech All Souls Day (dušičky) in local schools with that "crazy" Halloween. In 2012, Zdechovský was the main organiser of the proposal for the establishment of a bishopric for the region of Vysočina. The signature initiative was supported by former chairman of KDU-ČSL Jan Kasal, regional chairman TOP 09 Jiři Blazek, and regional councillor Tomáš Škaryd (ČSSD). However, the Roman Catholic parish in
Jihlava Jihlava (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 55,000 inhabitants. Jihlava is the capital of the Vysočina Region, situated on the Jihlava (river), Jihlava River on the historical border between Moravia and Bohemia. Historically, Jihla ...
distanced itself from the suggestion and dubbed these initiative rather ridiculous. Zdechovský has also long been involved in the cases of Czech truck drivers in England and France, who got into trouble when their vehicle checks revealed that illegal migrants had got into the cargo area without consciousness of drivers. Zdechovský has also long been involved in the cases of Czech truck drivers in England and France, who got into trouble when their vehicle checks revealed that illegal migrants had got into the cargo area without consciousness of drivers. Tomáš Zdechovský also participated in negotiations for the release of Czech nationals detained or imprisoned abroad,such as the Czech reporter Radan Šprongl, detained in Thailand in 2017 or later in the case of Tereza Hlůšková, imprisoned in Pakistan for drug smuggling. He was also involved in the negotiations for the release of two Czechs, Miroslav Farkas and Markéta Všelichová, who were imprisoned in Turkey for collaborating with the Kurdish YPG militia, considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, and were finally released in July 2020.


References


External links


Articles by Tomáš Zdechovský on Euractiv.com

MEP Ranking

Tomáš Zdechovský website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zdechovsky, Tomas 1979 births Living people KDU-ČSL MEPs Czech poets Czech male poets MEPs for the Czech Republic 2014–2019 Masaryk University alumni University of South Bohemia alumni MEPs for the Czech Republic 2019–2024 Politicians from Havlíčkův Brod MEPs for the Czech Republic 2024–2029