Jan Hamáček

Jan Hamáček (born 4 November 1978) is a Czech politician who was leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) from February 2018 until October 2021, and minister of the Interior from June 2018 to December 2021. He also served as the President of the Chamber of Deputies from 2013 to 2017,[1] and was acting minister of Foreign Affairs from June to October 2018 and from 12 to 21 April 2021. Hamáček was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2006 to 2021.

Jan Hamáček
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
In office
18 February 2018 – 25 October 2021
Preceded byMilan Chovanec
Succeeded byMichal Šmarda
First Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
In office
27 June 2018 – 17 December 2021
Prime MinisterAndrej Babiš
Preceded byRichard Brabec (2017)
Succeeded byVít Rakušan
Minister of the Interior
In office
27 June 2018 – 17 December 2021
Prime MinisterAndrej Babiš
Preceded byLubomír Metnar
Succeeded byVít Rakušan
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Acting
In office
12 April 2021 – 21 April 2021
Prime MinisterAndrej Babiš
Preceded byTomáš Petříček
Succeeded byJakub Kulhánek
In office
27 June 2018 – 16 October 2018
Prime MinisterAndrej Babiš
Preceded byMartin Stropnický
Succeeded byTomáš Petříček
President of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
27 November 2013 – 22 November 2017
Preceded byMiroslava Němcová
Succeeded byRadek Vondráček
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
3 June 2006 – 21 October 2021
Personal details
Born (1978-11-04) 4 November 1978
Mladá Boleslav, Czechoslovakia
Political partySocial Democracy
ChildrenLukáš
Matyáš
Websitehamacek.cz

Political career

Prior to his election to parliament, Hamáček worked as an adviser to two prime ministers, and as his party's International Secretary.

Hamáček was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the 2006 elections. During his time in parliament, he has held the position of Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, headed the Czech delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and served on the Committee on European Affairs.[2]

Hamáček became the leader of ČSSD in March 2018. In Andrej Babis' Second Cabinet, sworn in during June 2018, he was named Minister of the Interior, and also served as acting Minister of Foreign Affairs from June to October 2018. Miroslav Poche was originally nominated to be the minister, but due to President Miloš Zeman's refusal to swear him in, Hamáček was made acting foreign minister until the situation could be resolved. On 16 October 2018, Tomáš Petříček was named the new Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In August 2018, Hamáček helped negotiate the release of two workers from a German humanitarian group in Syria, and traveled to Damascus for the handover of the workers; the Czech Republic is the only country in Europe that maintains diplomatic relations with Syria.[3]

In 2021, Seznam Zprávy reported that Hamáček was considering negotiating with Russia not to disclose evidence of Russia's involvement in the 2014 Vrbětice ammunition warehouses explosions in exchange for 1 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine. Hamáček denied the accusation and said that he intended to sue the media outlet. The journalist, Janek Kroupa, said that he had an audio recording.[4]

After ČSSD's poor performance in the 2021 Czech legislative election, in which the party failed to meet the 5% voting threshold, Hamáček resigned as leader of the party.[5]

Other activities

He is a Senior Network Member at the European Leadership Network (ELN).[6]

References
  1. "Jan Hamacek". Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  2. Jan Hamáček Aspen Institute Central Europe.
  3. Hovet, Jason (11 August 2018). "Czech diplomats secure release of German NGO workers in Syria". Reuters.
  4. Plevák, Ondřej (6 May 2021). "Czech Deputy PM files civil suit against article accusing him of Russia collusion". euractiv.com. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  5. "Končím, prohlásil Hamáček po propadu ČSSD ve volbách". iDNES.cz (in Czech). 2021-10-09. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  6. "Senior Network". europeanleadershipnetwork.org. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
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