Maroš Šefčovič

Maroš Šefčovič (born 24 July 1966) is a Slovak diplomat and politician serving as Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal since 2023, as well as Vice-President of the European Commission for Interinstitutional Relations since 2019, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2014.

Born in Bratislava, 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, where he studied from 1985 to 1990.

In June 1987, Šefčovič became a candidate for membership in the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.

After the two-year candidacy period during which he had to secure three approvals from other party members and which he embraced to "deepen his knowledge of Marxism–Leninism", 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.

Šefčovič is a former diplomat, who served in Zimbabwe, Canada, as well as the Slovak ambassador to Israel (1999–2002).

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.

He was also the Permanent Representative of the Slovak Republic to the European Union (2004–2009).

He has been member of the European Commission since 2009.

He served as European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth from 2009 to 2010 and Vice-President of the European Commission for Interinstitutional Relations and Administration from 2010 to 2014.

Šefčovič replaced Ján Figeľ as European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth on 1 October 2009.

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.

He also served as European Commissioner for Energy from 2014 to 2019.

From 19 April 2014 to 25 May 2014, José Manuel Barroso was an Acting Commissioner in Šefčovič's stead while he was on electoral campaign leave for the 2014 elections to the European Parliament.

Šefčovič was appointed Vice-President of the European Commission 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.

Šefčovič also stood for office in the 2019 Slovak presidential election, which he lost against Zuzana Čaputová.

In 2019, he was again nominated to become Vice President for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight.

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 Commission's President Jean-Claude Juncker announced that Ansip's portfolio would be transferred to Šefčovič.

In September 2019 newly elected president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen nominated Šefčovič as vice president for interinstitutional relations and foresight.

From 2021, he co-chaired 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 fill in for Frans Timmermans as European Commissioner for Climate Action.

On 22 August 2023, after Frans Timmermans resigned from the European Commission to run in the 2023 Dutch general election for the GroenLinks–PvdA 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.

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.

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 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 can not 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 (aimed against violence against women and domestic violence), citing his concerns about so-called "gender ideology".

Refusal to ratify the convention in his opinion confirmed that "Slovakia is built on respect to traditional values".

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's actions in this area, labeling her "latest decisions which opened door to mass migration" as something that was not "thought-out very well".

Šefčovič criticised the then-current president of Slovakia Andrej Kiska and said that he has caused "international isolation of Slovakia".