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Petr Fiala
Also Known As Fiala
Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
Petr Fiala is a Czech politician and political scientist who has been the prime minister of the Czech Republic since November 2021 and leader of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) since 2014. He previously served as the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports from 2012 to 2013. Prior to entering politics, he was the rector of Masaryk University.
Fiala was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies as a non-partisan in the 2013 election. He won the 2014 Civic Democratic Party leadership election, promising to reform the party and regain public trust after a corruption scandal involving Prime Minister Petr Nečas. Fiala's party finished a distant second place in the 2017 legislative election, and remained in opposition despite multiple offers from the incoming Prime Minister Andrej Babiš to participate in his governing coalition.
In 2020, Fiala led the initiative for a centre-right electoral alliance with KDU-ČSL and TOP 09, known as Spolu. He became its candidate for the premiership in the 2021 Czech legislative election, running on a pro-Western and pro-European centre-right platform, focused on fiscal responsibility and closer relations with NATO as part of Atlanticism. The alliance outperformed initial opinion polls and finished first in the election, though with one less seat in the Chamber of Deputies than second-place ANO 2011.
Under Fiala's leadership, Spolu formed a coalition agreement with the Pirates and Mayors alliance, with a majority of 108 of 200 seats. He was appointed Prime Minister by President Miloš Zeman on 28 November 2021 and Petr Fiala's Cabinet took power on 17 December 2021, making him the third oldest person to hold the office, as well as the first with a political science background and the first from Brno.
Fiala came into office promising to reform and stabilize the government's growing national debt; however, he was forced to respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, providing aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War, and opening the Czech Republic's borders to the highest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita in the ensuing Ukrainian refugee crisis. Fiala imposed sanctions against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine and pushed to block Russian citizens from travelling to the European Union. His administration also contended with rising inflation, concerns about the economy, and the ongoing global energy crisis. In 2022, the Czech Republic held the presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Early Life
Petr Fiala was born 1 September 1964 in Brno to a conservative Catholic family. His father, who was partly of Jewish origin, was a Holocaust survivor. Fiala studied history and Czech language at the Faculty of Literature of Masaryk University between 1983 and 1988, and after graduating he worked as a historian in a local museum in Kroměříž.
In 1996, he became a docent at Charles University in Prague, and in 2002 was named as the first professor of political science in the Czech Republic. In 2004, he became dean of the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University, and in the same year was elected as rector of the university, defeating Jan Wechsler in the third round. Fiala was reelected in 2008 and remained in the position until 2011. While Fiala was rector, Masaryk University increased its enrollment to around 45,000 students, became the most popular Czech university in terms of applications, and created a nationwide system for detecting academic plagiarism. During this period, Masaryk University built a new €220 million campus for biomedicine, opened a research station in Antarctica, and established the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC) using CZK 5.3 billion from the European Structural and Investment Funds. CEITEC launched in 2011.
Education
- Graduated - degree in Czech language and history - University of Brno
Career
- Czech Republic - Prime Minister
Recognition
Czech Republic:
2010: Brno University of Technology awarded Fiala the Golden Medal of VUT for his cooperation with the university.
28 January 2011: Rector of Masaryk University Mikuláš Bek awarded Fiala the Golden Medal of Masaryk University for Fiala's previous work as the University's Rector.
26 August 2011: Václav Klaus awarded Fiala the Golden Plaque of the President of the Republic for his work as a Rector of Masaryk University. Fiala was the first Rector to receive the award.
2022: Fiala was awarded the University of Ostrava Award for Freedom, Democracy, Bravery and Humanity after his visit to Kyiv during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
European Union:
2002: Fiala was awarded the Jean Monnet Chair in European Political Integration.
Poland:
2022 Fiala was awarded the Man of the Year Award at the opening of the 31st Economic Forum in Karpacz
Ukraine:
2022 Fiala was awarded the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise I degree by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.