Michal Šimečka | |
|---|---|
 Šimečka in 2023 | |
| Deputy Speaker of theNational Council | |
| In office 25 October 2023 – 17 September 2024 | |
| Speaker | Peter Pellegrini Peter Žiga (acting) |
| Member of theNational Council | |
| Assumed office 25 October 2023 | |
| Vice-President of the European Parliament | |
| In office 18 January 2022 – 17 October 2023 Serving with See List | |
| President | Roberta Metsola |
| Succeeded by | Martin Hojsík |
| Member of the European Parliament forSlovakia | |
| In office 2 July 2019 – 24 October 2023 | |
| Chairman ofProgressive Slovakia | |
| Assumed office 7 May 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Irena Bihariová |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1984-05-10)10 May 1984 (age 41) |
| Political party | Progressive Slovakia (2017–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (2019–present) |
| Education | Charles University (BA) St Antony's College, Oxford (MPhil) Nuffield College, Oxford (DPhil) |
Michal Šimečka (born 10 May 1984) is aSlovak politician, journalist, and researcher, who served as aVice-President of the European Parliament between 2022 and 2023. He also became aMember of the European Parliament between 2019 and 2023.[1] In 2020, Šimečka was elected vice-president of theEuropean political groupRenew Europe.[2] He is a co-founder of the social-liberalProgressive Slovakia party, leading it from 2022. He is currently an opposition leader against the Fico government.
Šimečka earned a bachelor's degree in political sciences and international relations from theCharles University inPrague in 2006. He obtained anMPhil in Russian and East European Studies atSt Antony's College at theUniversity of Oxford in 2008, before moving toNuffield College, where he received aDPhil in Politics and International Relations in 2012.[3]
Šimečka is a member of theEuropean Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights[4] and European Parliament Intergroup on Traditional Minorities, National Communities and Languages.[5]
During the European Parliament elections in May 2019, Šimečka was the leader of the coalition candidate Progressive Slovakia andDemocrats, which won with a profit of 20.11%.[6] He was elected MEP with 81,735 preferential votes.[7] Later that November, Šimečka was electedrapporteur on the establishment of an EU Mechanism on Democracy, the Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights.[8]
In October 2020, Šimečka presented his proposal for a mechanism combining several tools which monitor the respect of rule of law and European values, which received majority support in theEuropean Parliament.[9] He explained that the EU should do more to address the abuse of EU funding, writing that "an implicit bargain between net contributors and net recipients" should end.[10]
From 2020 until 2021, Šimečka served as deputy chair of theRenew Europe parliamentary group, under the leadership of chairDacian Cioloș.[11]
In the2023 Slovak parliamentary election, Šimečka ran as the leader of theProgressive Slovakia list, which won 32 mandates in the National Council. He personally received over 300,000preferential votes, the third highest number afterRobert Fico andPeter Pellegrini.[12] Immediately after the election, he gave up vice-presidency of the EP as well as his MEP mandate to focus on leading the opposition in Slovakia.[13]
As the leader of the second strongest faction, Šimečka unsuccessfully tried to prevent theSMER party from coming back to power by forming a coalition government withVoice – Social Democracy,Freedom and Solidarity andChristian Democratic Movement.[14] Nonetheless, this effort failed because Peter Pellegrini, the leader of Voice, decided to form a coalition government with SMER and theSlovak National Party instead.[15]
On 25 October 2023, Šimečka was elected vice-president of the National Council. He received 92 votes, 29 MPs voted against and 21 abstained.[16] Nonetheless, in September 2024, the prime minister Robert Fico demanded his removal, accousing Šimečka's family of profiting from over a million euro in public subsidy.[17] Šimečka rejected the allegations, arguing his relatives active in cultural and NGO sphere legitimately applied for grant funding which he could no influence in any way because Progressive Slovakia was never a part of government. Moreover, a major part of the funding was approved during previous governments of Robert Fico. Progressive Slovakia published a list of dozens of coalition MPs, whose relatives received public subsidies, arguing its a common and legitimate situation.[18] Nonetheless, on 17 September 2024, Šimečka lost a non-confidence vote with the slightest possible majority of 76, with three government MPs, all from the Voice party, rebelling and not voting for Šimečka's removal.[19]
Following the vote, Šimečka stated the vote was an "unprecedented political revenge" targeting him as the leader of the opposition.[20] The vote resulted in international condemnation as well.Valérie Hayer, the leader ofRenew Europe fraction in the European Parliament strongly condemned the removal of Šimečka at a plenary meeting of the European Parliament, stating its was "another step towards undermining democracy in Slovakia by the regime of Robert Fico".[21] 20 Czech prominent personalities, including the former PM of CzechiaPetr Pithart called for the speaker of the Czech ParliamentMarkéta Pekarová Adamová to suspend any contacts with the Slovak parliament.[22]
In January 2025,large anti-government protests organised by a protest group Mier Ukrajine (lit. 'Peace to Ukraine') broke out in Slovakia.[23] The same year on 31 January, prime minister of SlovakiaRobert Fico together withSlovak Information Service showed photographs ofMamuka Mamulashvili, a leader of theGeorgian National Legion (designated as a terrorist group by the Russian government)[24] with opposition activist Lucia Štasselová (2023 photograph from public debate in Bratislava[25]) and online news commentator Martin M. Šimečka, the father of opposition leader Michal Šimečka (photo from the handover of humanitarian aid purchased from a fundraising for Mamulashvili's unit in November 2023[26]). Despite the age and circumstances of both photos, Fico used them to accuse the activists and the government opposition of plotting acoup d'état in the country, which they denied.[25]
Šimečka supports the LGBT community, voicing support for the Rainbow Ribbon campaign in 2021.[27]
Šimečka is the son of journalistsMartin Milan Šimečka and Marta Šimečková (née Frišová).[28] He lives in Bratislava with his partner Soňa Ferienčíková and their daughter Táňa (b. 2020).[29]
  Currentmembers of the European Parliament fromSlovakia (2019–2024) | |
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