Ján Figeľ

Ján Figeľ
Special Envoy for the Promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief outside the European Union
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 Mai 2016
European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth
In office 1 January 2007 – 1 October 2009
European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism
In office 22 November 2004 – 1 January 2007

Ján Figeľ (born 20 January 1960 in Čaklov, Slovakia) is a Special Envoy^[1] for Promotion of Freedom of Religion outside the EU^[2] appointed by the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker on 6 May 2016. As a Special Envoy, he serves as a Special Adviser to the Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica. This mandate was renewed by the European Commission until 5 May 2019.^[3]

Figeľ was European Commissioner for Education, Training & Culture from 2004 to 2009.^[4] His area of responsibility also covered sport, youth, and relations with civil society. He was also the First Deputy-Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic from 2010 to 2012.

Figeľ was chairman of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) from 19 September 2009 until 15 March 2016, when he resigned as party leader following unsuccessful general elections when KDH took just 4.96 percent of the vote and, as a result, Christian Democrats did not win any seats in the parliament for the first time since they were established in 1990 and paid the price for not passing the baton to a new generation.^[5]

Early career

Born in Čaklov, Figeľ studied power electronics at the Technical University of Košice for five years, beginning in 1978. During his studies, he was Faculty chairman of the Socialist Youth Union, a youth Marxist-Leninist organization of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. From 1983 he worked as a research and development scientist for ZPA Prešov. He joined the conservative Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) in 1990 and was elected to the National Council of the Slovak Republic in 1992, serving on its Foreign Affairs Committee and becoming a member of Slovakia's delegation to the Council of Europe a year later.

In 1998 Figeľ left his parliamentary seat and was appointed State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Unlike most of his colleagues in the European Commission, he never rose to a cabinet-level position, but led Slovakia's accession negotiations with the European Union until 2003. He also represented the Slovak government in the European Convention which drafted the European Constitution. He returned to the National Council in 2002 where he chaired its Foreign Affairs Committee, stepping down in 2004 to take up his Commission post.

From 1995 to 2000 Figeľ lectured in international relations at Trnava University. He is married with four children.

European Commission

Figeľ served briefly in the Prodi Commission. From Slovakia's accession to the European Union on 1 May 2004 to the confirmation of the Barroso Commission later that year he jointly held the Enterprise and Information Society portfolio, sharing his role for most of that period with the Finnish appointee Olli Rehn, also new to the job. The Slovak government nominated Figeľ for the incoming Barroso Commission which took office on 22 November 2004. His appointment to the Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism portfolio was regarded as something of a disappointment. Figeľ himself said that the role was not his "primary choice", but he accepted it "as a challenge".

From 1 January 2007, in the enlarged Barroso Commission after the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union, responsibility for multilingualism is transferred to Commissioner for Multilingualism, Romanian Leonard Orban.

Legitimacy of his Ph.D.

On 24 August 2012 Science Insider reported that he "is facing an official inquiry into the legitimacy of his Ph.D., awarded while he was in office."^[8]

Figeľ received a Ph.D. title in the field of social work at St Elizabeth’s School of Medicine and Social Work in Bratislava, a university-level private academic institution, in 2007. The majority of the thesis was copied from a publication he edited in 2003 with Slovak diplomat Miroslav Adamiš, “Slovakia on the Road to the European Union – Chapters and Contexts”, in which they described the country’s EU accession process. The rector of St Elizabeth’s School, Vladimír Krčméry, said that they took into consideration Figeľ’s position and had granted Figeľ a Ph.D. mainly due to the fact that he was at the time serving as a European commissioner.^[9]

Current career

Figeľ was appointed^[10] the first Special Envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the European Union by president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker on May 6 2016. The European Parliament supported and had called for this initiative in its Resolution^[11] of 4 February 2016. Given the importance of promoting and protecting freedom of religion or belief outside the EU in the context of the European Union's dialogue and assistance programmes with third countries, the Special Envoy serves as Special Adviser to the Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica.

References

External links

• Personal blog
• European Commission