Alexandr Vondra

Alexandr Vondra (Czech pronunciation: [ˈalɛksandr̩ ˈvondra]; born 17 August 1961) is a Czech politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic from 2010 to 2012 under Prime Minister Petr Nečas and has been Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019.

Alexandr Vondra

MEP
Minister of Defence
In office
13 July 2010 – 7 December 2012
Prime MinisterPetr Nečas
Preceded byMartin Barták
Succeeded byKarolína Peake
Member of the European Parliament for the Czech Republic
Assumed office
1 July 2019
Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs
In office
9 January 2007 – 8 May 2009
Prime MinisterMirek Topolánek
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byŠtefan Füle (as Minister)
Senator from Litoměřice
In office
28 October 2006 – 28 October 2012
Preceded byZdeněk Bárta
Succeeded byHassan Mezian
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
4 September 2006 – 9 January 2007
Prime MinisterMirek Topolánek
Preceded byCyril Svoboda
Succeeded byKarel Schwarzenberg
Czech Republic Ambassador
to the United States
In office
14 May 1997 – 10 October 2001
PresidentVáclav Havel
Preceded byMichael Žantovský
Succeeded byMartin Palouš
Personal details
Born (1961-08-17) 17 August 1961
Prague, Czech Republic
Political partyODS
Alma materUniverzita Karlova
ProfessionPolitician

Vondra also served as Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs between 2007 and 2009, as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2007, both in cabinets of Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek. Vondra is also former Senator from Litoměřice (2006—2012) and Czech Ambassador to the United States (1997—2001).

He was candidate for the European Parliament seat in the 2019 election and received 29,536 preferential votes and was elected Member of the European Parliament representing the Civic Democratic Party (ODS).

Life

He was born in Prague.[1] He graduated in geography from Charles University in Prague in 1984, receiving a Doctor in Natural Sciences degree one year later.[1] In the mid-1980s he was a dissident and Charter 77 signatory.[2] After organizing a demonstration in January 1989, Vondra was imprisoned for two months.[2] In November 1989, while the Velvet Revolution was underway, he co-founded the Civic Forum.[1]

Politics

In 1990-1992, Vondra was foreign policy advisor to President Václav Havel.[1] When Havel stepped down from his office during dissolution of Czechoslovakia and at the same time independent Czech foreign service began to be formed, Vondra became Czech Republic's First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in August 1992, responsible i. a. for negotiating the division of Czechoslovak diplomacy.[3] In 1996 he was a chief negotiator for the Czech-German Declaration on the Mutual Relations and their Future Development.[2] In March 1997 Vondra left to become the Czech Ambassador to the United States, staying there until July 2001.[3] From March 2001 to January 2003, Vondra was the Czech Government Commissioner responsible for preparation of 2002 Prague summit of the NATO.[3] From January to July 2003 Vondra was a Deputy Foreign Minister.[3]

He became an ODS member only after his ministerial appointment and the victory in Senate elections in October 2006. He is generally perceived as pro-United States[4] and wary of European integration though less than ODS eurosceptic hardliners, and had good connections to Havel (his announced return to politics in spring 2006 was taken as a sign of ODS trying to appease the political centre) .

Vondra was mentioned as a possible nominee to serve as European Commissioner in 2009.[5]

He participated at the international conference European Conscience and Communism, which took place under his patronage at the Czech Senate in Prague in June 2008.[6]

In November 2012, he decided to step down from politics, due to the loss of credibility following several corruption accusations and his previous relentless effort to pursue an installation of a US military missile radar, despite the prevailing opposition of his fellow Czech citizens.


In 2019 Vondra returned to politics when the Civic Democratic Party nominated him in European Parliament election. He was on 15th place on party's list.[7] He received 29,536 preferential votes and was elected.[8]

Vondra then ran for the position of Vice-Chairman of ODS. He received 443 votes of 502 which was more than any other candidate and was elected.[9]

Teaching

Since his exit from politics, Vondra has served as director of the Prague Centre for Transatlantic Relations at the CEVRO Institute in Prague, as well as an instructor for both Bachelor and Master level courses at the university.[10]

Family

He is married and has 3 children with his wife Martina: Vojtěch (1991), Anna (1993) and Marie (1996).[1] He has another child, Jáchym (1992), with Veronika Vrecionová.

Trivia
Alexandr Vondra in 2018

In 2014, he rejected Noam Chomsky's statements about dissidents in the East European communist countries, and remarked that "at the time when people like Havel were in Communist jails over their fight for freedom, Chomsky advocated Pol Pot's genocide in Cambodia from the Boston cafes" and he warned that if the world listens to "rubbish from these people" it will once again lead to concentration camps and gulags.[11][12][13]

References
  1. "RNDr. Alexandr Vondra". Government of the Czech Republic. Archived from the original on 2008-02-06. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  2. Lenka Ponikelská. "'Saša' Vondra: dissident minister". Czech Business Weekly. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  3. "Dr. Alexandr Vondra". Alexandr Vondra official website. Archived from the original on 21 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  4. Jana Mlčochová. "Russian crude, Aero's deal and the ČSA trap". Czech Business Weekly. Retrieved 2008-02-11. [Vondra is] Known for his pro-Western and especially pro-U.S. stance
  5. "Czech running mates?". POLITICO. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  6. "Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism - Press Release". Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. 9 June 2008. Archived from the original on 2010-03-16. Retrieved 2011-05-10.
  7. "Vondra se vrací do politiky, za ODS kandiduje v eurovolbách. Jedničkou je Zahradil". Aktuálně.cz - Víte, co se právě děje (in Czech). 21 January 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  8. "Eurovolby: „Skokan" Vondra uspěl z 15. místa. Uspěl i generál Hynek Blaško". Blesk.cz. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  9. "Havloid se hlásí, řekl Vondra ODS. Chce, ať Češi vyberou národního ptáka". iDNES.cz. 18 January 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  10. "Prague Centre for Transatlantic Relations (PCTR) - CEVRO INSTITUTE". cevroinstitut.cz. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  11. http://www.praguepost.com/czech-news/39448-chomsky-east-european-dissidents-did-not-suffer-much#ixzz3dy5kMQZy
  12. "Východoevropští disidenti moc netrpěli, otřel se Chomsky o Havla a spol. - Domov - Lidovky.cz". Lidovky.cz. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  13. Martin Hekrdla. "Lesk a bída drzých čel". Literární noviny. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
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