43 Facts About Petr Fiala

Petr Fiala is a Czech politician and political scientist who has been the prime minister of the Czech Republic since November 2021 and leader of the Civic Democratic Party since 2014.

Petr Fiala previously served as the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports from 2012 to 2013.

Petr Fiala won the 2014 Civic Democratic Party leadership election, promising to reform the party and regain public trust after the a corruption scandal involving Prime Minister Petr Necas.

Petr Fiala's party finished a distant second place in the 2017 legislative election, and remained in opposition despite multiple offers from the incoming Prime Minister Andrej Babis to participate in his governing coalition.

In 2020, Petr Fiala led the initiative for a centre-right electoral alliance with KDU-CSL and TOP 09, known as Spolu.

Petr Fiala became its candidate for the premiership in the 2021 Czech legislative election, running on a pro-Western and pro-European centre-right platform, focused on fiscal responsibility and closer relations with NATO as part of Atlanticism.

Petr Fiala was appointed Prime Minister by President Milos Zeman on 28 November 2021 and Petr Fiala's Cabinet took power on 17 December 2021, making him the third oldest person to hold the office, as well as the first with a political science background and the first from Brno.

Petr Fiala came into office promising to reform and stabilize the government's growing national debt; however, he was forced to respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, providing aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War, and opening the Czech Republic's borders to highest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita in the ensuing Ukrainian refugee crisis.

Petr Fiala imposed sanctions against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine and pushed to block Russian citizens from travelling to the European Union.

Petr Fiala's administration contended with the ongoing inflation surge, concerns about the economy, and the ongoing global energy crisis.

Petr Fiala was born in Brno to a conservative Catholic family.

Petr Fiala's father, who was partly of Jewish origin, was a Holocaust survivor.

Petr Fiala studied history and Czech language at the Faculty of Literature of Masaryk University between 1983 and 1988, and after graduating he worked as a historian in a local museum in Kromeriz.

Petr Fiala was reelected in 2008 and remained in the position until 2011.

Petr Fiala was involved in unofficial Christian activities, especially in the circle of secretly consecrated Bishop Stanislav Kratky.

Petr Fiala was criticized for his activities during the 2021 election campaign because the centre was accepting state subsidies.

Petr Fiala has been active for a long time in institutions and bodies related to higher education and research in the Czech Republic and abroad.

Petr Fiala served as Vice-Chair and Chair of the Czech Rectors' Conference, and at the international level he was a member of the Council of the European University Association.

Petr Fiala is a member of many scientific and academic councils of public and private universities and research institutions in the Czech Republic and abroad.

Petr Fiala has received a number of awards for his scientific and academic work; in 2011 he was awarded the Golden Plaque of the President of the Republic.

The Civic Democratic Party was defeated in the election and Petr Fiala joined the party in November 2013.

In 2014 Petr Fiala announced his candidacy for the leadership of ODS, and on 18 January 2014 he was elected as the party's fourth leader.

Petr Fiala refused to negotiate with ANO 2011 about joining the subsequent government, and ODS remained in opposition.

On 28 November 2017 Petr Fiala was elected Deputy Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, receiving 116 of 183 votes.

Petr Fiala then started negotiating with KDU-CSL and TOP 09 about forming an electoral alliance for the legislative election in 2021.

Petr Fiala became the alliance's candidate for the post of Prime Minister.

On 17 November 2021 Petr Fiala introduced Zeman to his proposed cabinet and Zeman agreed to appoint Petr Fiala the new Prime Minister on 26 November 2021.

In November 2021, Petr Fiala confirmed that he would like to continue with the Spolu coalition into the 2022 Senate and municipal elections.

Petr Fiala's appointment took effect upon his Cabinet being sworn in, on 17 December 2021.

Petr Fiala delivered a speech on the floor of the European Parliament, in which he called for the defense of European values, continuing support for Ukraine, and the inclusion of nuclear energy as a renewable resource.

The Presidency of the Council under Petr Fiala was considered to have "achieved historic results", as stated by the First Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans.

On 6 October 2022, Petr Fiala chaired the 1st European Political Community Summit in Prague.

Petr Fiala opposes same-sex marriage as he stated in his book.

Petr Fiala opposed the withdrawal of Czech soldiers from the war in Afghanistan.

Petr Fiala expressed opposition to Russian and Chinese involvement in the construction of the new unit of the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant.

Petr Fiala claimed that human impact on climate change is "not entirely clear", which was met with criticism and accusations of populism from environmental experts.

Petr Fiala serves as the chairman of the board of directors of the independent liberal-conservative think tank Pravy breh.

Petr Fiala welcomed the victory of the ruling Law and Justice in the Polish parliamentary elections in October 2019, noting that ODS and PiS had been cooperating for a long time in a common European Parliament group.

Petr Fiala stated that he would limit the negative impacts of mining on Czech territory in the Polish Turow brown coal mine near the Czech border.

Petr Fiala criticized Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek, Minister of Culture Lubomir Zaoralek and former Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg for their joint statement on 23 May 2020 condemning the planned Israeli annexation of Jewish settlements that Israel had built in the occupied West Bank since 1967.

Petr Fiala is married to biologist Jana Fialova, whom he met as a student during the Velvet Revolution.

Petr Fiala is a Roman Catholic and was baptized in 1986.

Petr Fiala played football until the age of 40 and enjoys tennis, shooting, skiing, swimming, jazz music and James Bond movies.