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Tomáš Zdechovský

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Tomáš Zdechovský
MEP
Member of the European Parliament for Czech Republic
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 July 2014
ConstituencyCzech Republic
Personal details
Born (1979-11-02) 2 November 1979 (age 45)
Havlíčkův Brod, Czechoslovakia
NationalityCzech
Political partyNational:
Christian and Democratic Union-Czechoslovak People's Party
European: EPP
Alma materMasaryk University, University of South Bohemia
ProfessionCrisis manager, media analyst, author
Websitezdechovsky.eu

Tomáš Zdechovský (born 2 November 1979)[1] is a Czech politician and businessperson. Since 2014 he has been a Member of the European Parliament with KDU-ČSL, which is part of the European Peoples Party.

Early life and education

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Tomáš Zdechovský grew up in the village of Kožlí and graduated from the gymnasium in Ledeč nad Sázavou. Zdechovský has earned three master's degrees. Two of them at the University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice (Pastoral Assistant and Educator of Free Time). The third he made at the Masaryk University in Media studies.[2] He also holds a bachelor's degree in Political Communication which he earned at the Salesian Pontifical University.[2]

In September 2024 he completed his doctoral studies at the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences of the University of South Bohemia in the field of Rehabilitation.

Political career

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Zdechovský is a member of the KDU-ČSL and served as its regional manager in the Pardubice region from 2007 until 2008. He ran for the 2009 European Parliament election on the 14th place of party list, however he was not elected.[3]

Zdechovský received much appraisal and great response for his nomination speech at the Congress of KDU-ČSL, held in June 2013 in Olomouc. During the 2009 European Parliament election, he finished third place as a candidate of KDU-ČSL was elected MEP for the eighth legislature of the house.[4] In 2019, he ran for the European Parliament for the third time and was re-elected.[5]

Zdechovský announced his intention to run for chairman of KDU-ČSL on 2 December 2019.[6] However, at a party conference, he decided to withdraw his candidacy and ran for the deputy chairman of the party instead.[7][8]

He was elected for the third time in the European Parliament elections in 2024.[9]

Political views

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Italy

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Zdechovský has also explained on the European migrant crisis several times, having visited a couple of refugee camps in Sicily in July 2015. He said most of the people in local refugee camps were actually economic migrants.[10][11] Furthermore, his criticism is aimed at Greece, which according to his words has neglected the border controls and registration of newcomers.[12][13][14]

Norway

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Zdechovský has been dealing the Michalák Case since 2014.[15][16] He criticises the practice of the Norwegian Barnevernet and Norwegian child protection policy entirely and demands its modification.[17][18] In late 2014, together with his fellow MEP Petr Mach, he began to actively engage in a campaign to return of Eva Michaláková's two sons, who had been taken away by Norwegian local Child Welfare Service. Both MEPs organized money collection for counsel in mother's litigation.[19] Zdechovský also initiated an open letter to the Norwegian authorities, which was signed by nearly 50 MEPs from different countries and factions in the European Parliament.[20]

Zdechovský is also the author of the introduction to the book Stolen Childhood: The Truth About Norway's Child Welfare System. The book was published in 2019 and deals with the issue of taking children away from their parents by Norwegian child protection service Barnevernet, the causes of the great influence of this institution and the reasons of the frequent criticism of Barnevernet for alleged human rights violations.[21][22]

Criticism

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Zdechovský also called for further investigation of Andrej Babiš on the grounds of alleged fraud in obtaining EU subsidies, which were designated for small businesses and where actual ownership of a farm and convention center called Stork Nest by Babiš was allegedly concealed.[23] He also referred to alleged conflict of interest of Babiš in receiving EU subsidies for the Agrofert group due to suspicion that the latter was still actual owner even when a member of the Czech government.[24]

Zdechovský has also pointed out the problem of mileage fraud, which concerns the second-hand car market in the Czech Republic in particular as well as other Central and Eastern Europe in general. He argues that the introduction of the Car-Pass System which has been applied in Belgium since 2006 is an effective way to tackle and prevent such fraud throughout Europe.[25][26][27][28][29]

Zdechovský has also long been involved in the cases of Czech truck drivers in England and France, who got into trouble when their vehicle checks revealed that illegal migrants had got into the cargo area without consciousness of drivers.[30][31]

Literature career

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Zdechovský co-found of the group of poets called Friends of the Silent Poetic Touch (Czech: Přátelé tichého dotyku) and the author of its manifesto protesting against the cultural decline of Czech society. He has published four collections of poems: Ze zahrady mé milé (lit. 'From the Garden of my Beloved One'),[32] Odpusť mým rtům (lit. 'Forgive My Lips'), Intimní doteky (lit. 'Intimate Touches'),[33] and Kapka (The Drop).[34]

In 2013, Zdechovský published his first novel titled Nekonečné ticho (lit. 'Infinite Silence'), which is about the relationship between a young man with an older woman. The book was illustrated by painter and graphic artist Klára Klose.[35]

Other Activities

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Zdechovský was one of the founders of an initiative called Save Baby Jesus (Czech: Zachraňte Ježíška) in 2008 which aims at defending Czech Christmas traditions against Santa Claus.[36] Together with Roman Celý, Christian Democratic Member of the Czech parliament, he criticised the replacement of the "peaceful" Czech All Souls Day (dušičky) in local schools with that "crazy" Halloween.[37]

In 2012, Zdechovský was the main organiser of the proposal for the establishment of a bishopric for the region of Vysočina. The signature initiative was supported by former chairman of KDU-ČSL Jan Kasal, regional chairman TOP 09 Jiři Blazek, and regional councillor Tomáš Škaryd (ČSSD). However, the Roman Catholic parish in Jihlava distanced itself from the suggestion and dubbed these initiative rather ridiculous.[38]

Tomáš Zdechovský also participated in negotiations for the release of Czech nationals detained or imprisoned abroad,such as the Czech reporter Radan Šprongl, detained in Thailand in 2017[39] or later in the case of Tereza Hlůšková, imprisoned in Pakistan for drug smuggling.[40] He was also involved in the negotiations for the release of two Czechs, Miroslav Farkas and Markéta Všelichová, who were imprisoned in Turkey for collaborating with the Kurdish YPG militia, considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, and were finally released in July 2020.[41]

References

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  1. ^ "Tomáš Zdechovský". European Parliament. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Tomáš Zdechovský". Naši Politici (in Czech). Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  3. ^ "Přednostní hlasy pro kandidáty" (in Czech). Czech Statistical Office. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  4. ^ "Volby do Evropského parlamentu konané na území České republiky ve dnech 2014". Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  5. ^ "Volby do Evropského parlamentu konané na území České republiky ve dnech 2019" (in Czech). Czech Statistical Office. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  6. ^ "Europoslanec Tomáš Zdechovský bude kandidovat na předsedu KDU-ČSL". Deník N (in Czech). N Media. 2 December 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  7. ^ "The Christian Democrats elected Jurečka as chairman. The congress was unusually green". engnews24h.com. 25 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  8. ^ "Novým předsedou KDU-ČSL je Marian Jurečka, první místopředsedkyní zůstává Šárka Jelínková". KDU-ČSL Official Website (in Czech). 25 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  9. ^ "Preferential votes for candidates". volby.cz. Czech Statistical Office. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  10. ^ "Europoslanec Zdechovský navštívil uprchlické tábory na Sicílii". Deník. Vltave Labe Media. 1 August 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  11. ^ "Europoslanec objel uprchlické tábory. "Neutíkají před válkou," říká" (in Czech). Czech Television. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  12. ^ Zdechovský, Tomáš. "Sháním cestu do Evropy, zn. levně a bezpečně". Mladá fronta Dnes (in Czech). Mafra. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  13. ^ "KDU-ČSL – On-line chat" (in Czech). Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  14. ^ "Jak Evropa zvládá nápor uprchlíků? Co si o nás myslí Evropa?". Týden (in Czech). Empresa Media. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  15. ^ "Zdechovský (KDU-ČSL) se zastal matky, které byly v Norsku odebrány děti". Parlamentní Listy (in Czech). 13 November 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  16. ^ "Čeští europoslanci zahájili sbírku na návrat českých dětí zadržovaných v Norsku". Reflex.cz (in Czech). 12 November 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  17. ^ "Zdechovský (KDU-ČSL): V Oslu se uskuteční demonstrace proti Barnevernetu". Parlamentní Listy (in Czech). 7 February 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  18. ^ Cremer, Justin (15 February 2017). "Europe issues "serious warning" to Norway over child welfare service". The Local. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  19. ^ "Čeští europoslanci zahájili sbírku na návrat českých dětí zadržovaných v Norsku". Reflex.cz (in Czech). 12 November 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  20. ^ Cápová, Michaela (6 December 2014). "Naštvaní europoslanci píší do Norska. Kvůli českým dětem". Echo24 (in Czech). Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  21. ^ "Nová kniha jde tvrdě po Barnevernetu. Už toho bylo víc než dost, vzkazují autoři". Echo24.cz. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  22. ^ "Stolen childhood | en viktig bok om norsk barnevern av Steven Bennet. Forord av Gro Hillestad Thune". Irene Hov (in Norwegian). Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  23. ^ Rankin, Jennifer (5 January 2018). "EU antifraud office finds 'irregularities' in payments allegedly obtained by Czech PM". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  24. ^ Vaverková, Karolína (11 September 2018). "'Babiš stále vede Agrofert.' Evropská komise musí říct, zda je Babiš ve střetu zájmů". Echo24 (in Czech). Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  25. ^ "Mileage fraud resonates across the EU" (PDF). E15 (in Czech). Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  26. ^ "Musíme skoncovat s podvody při nákupu ojetých aut". Echo24 (in Czech). 6 February 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  27. ^ "Written Declaration 0030/2016". European Parliament. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  28. ^ "Europe needs to tackle widespread mileage fraud in cars" (PDF). Car-Pass. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  29. ^ "Odometer fraud resonates across the whole European Union". Euractiv. Mediahuis. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  30. ^ Vaverková, Karolína (6 October 2018). "Propusťte řidiče Sagana z vězení, píše český europoslanec Macronovi". Echo24 (in Czech). Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  31. ^ Vaverková, Karolína (8 October 2018). "Czech MEP tells Macron to release innocent driver from prison". Remix News. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  32. ^ "Zdechovského básně jsou přeloženy do hebrejštiny". Vysocina News (in Czech). Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  33. ^ "Intimní doteky". ikarmel.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  34. ^ "Kapka (Tomáš Zdechovský) | Diskuze o knize". ČBDB.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  35. ^ Nekonečné ticho (in Czech). Kosmas. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  36. ^ "Anketa: Zachraňte Ježíška! vyzývá petice". Deník (in Czech). 10 December 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  37. ^ Haas, Elizabeth (5 November 2015). "Christian Dems to Fight Halloween in Czech Schools". Expats.cz. Archived from the original on 13 February 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  38. ^ "Chceme vlastní biskupství, napsali katolíci z Vysočiny papeži". Mladá fronta Dnes (in Czech). Mafra. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  39. ^ Králová, Lenka (26 June 2024). "Thajci propustili zadrženého českého novináře Šprongla". Denik.cz. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  40. ^ "Zdechovský: Za propuštěním Terezy jsou i tajné služby. Ukrývá se na bezpečném místě". CNN Prima NEWS. 20 November 2021. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  41. ^ "Turecko propustilo Čechy odsouzené za terorismus. Angažoval se i Zdechovský, Babiš děkuje BIS". No. 24 July 2020. Eurozpravy.cz. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
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