Tomáš Zdechovský
MEP
Member of the European Parliament for Czech Republic
Assumed office
1 July 2014
ConstituencyCzech Republic
Personal details
Born (1979-11-02) 2 November 1979
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
Websitehttp://zdechovsky.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.

Background

Tomáš 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]

2004 he founded the PR and communication company Commservis.com, which he ran in a position of Chief Executive until he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament MEP. He also managed its subsidiary company WIFI Czech republic.

He is a member of the KDU-ČSL and in 2007–2008 served as its regional manager in the Pardubice region. He ran for the European Parliament for the first time in 2009 on the 14th place of party list, however he was not elected.[3] He received much appraisal and great response for his nomination speech at the Congress of KDU-ČSL, held in June 2013 in Olomouc. In European Parliament Elections 2014 he ran for the KDU-ČSL for the second time. He was placed on the 3rd place of the party list and was elected a Member of the European Parliament for the 8th legislature of the house.[4] In 2019 he ran for the European Parliament for the third time and was reelected.[5]

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

Member of the European Parliament

Since 2014 Tomáš Zdechovský has been dealing the Michalák Case.[9][10] He criticises the practice of the Norwegian Barnevernet and Norwegian child protection policy as a whole, and demands its change.[11][12] 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.[13] He 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.[14] He 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 human rights violations.[15][16]

Several times Tomáš Zdechovský has also commented on the European migrant crisis and in July 2015, he visited a couple of refugee camps in Sicily. He said, most of the people in local refugee camps were actually economic migrants.[17][18] Furthermore, his criticism is aimed at Greece, which according to his words has neglected the border controls and registration of newcomers.[19][20][21] In this respect he also published an article in a renowned scientific publication by the Potomac Institute in Washington D.C.

As an MEP, Tomáš 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 Mr. Babiš was allegedly concealed.[22] Mr. Zdechovský also referred to alleged conflict of interest of Andrej Babiš in receiving EU subsidies for the Agrofert group, due to suspicion, that Babiš is still actual owner even when a member of the Czech government.[23]

As an MEP, he has also pointed out the problem of mileage fraud, which concerns the second-hand car market in the Czech Republic in particular and other EU countries in Central and Eastern Europe in general. Tomáš Zdechovský argues, that the introduction of the Car-Pass System, which is being applied in Belgium since 2006, throughout the EU is an effective way to tackle and prevent such fraud, (illicit manipulations with odometers) throughout the EU.[24][25] [26][27] [28]

Tomáš Zdechovský has also long been involved in the cases of Czech truck drivers in England and France, who have gotten into trouble when their vehicle checks revealed that illegal migrants had got into the cargo area without consciousness of drivers.[29][30]

Poet and author

Tomáš Zdechovský is co-founder of the group of poets called Friends of the Silent Poetic Touch (Přátelé tichého dotyku) and the author of its manifesto protesting against the cultural decline of Czech society. Literary critics count him among the representatives of the contemporary Catholic modern poetry. Zdechovský, however, considers himself a representative of the "dotekysmus" (from Czech dotek = touch), which emphasises the playfulness and simplicity of the verses that have human touch and emotion, which is built on the emotional experience of verses. He has published four collections of poems: Ze zahrady mé milé (From the Garden of my Beloved One), which was translated into Hebrew,[31] some poems have also been translated into English, German, Italian, French, Russian and Ukrainian), Odpusť mým rtům (Forgive My Lips), Intimní doteky (Intimate Touches)[32] and the most recent one is Kapka (The Drop).[33]

In 2013, he published his first novel Nekonečné ticho (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.[34]

Other Activities

In late 2008 Tomáš Zdechovský was one of the founders of an initiative called Save Baby Jesus (in Czech Zachraňte Ježíška) which aims at defending Czech Christmas traditions against Santa Claus.[35][36] Similarly, together with Roman Celý, Christian Democratic Member of the Czech parliament, both criticised the replacement of the "peaceful" Czech All Souls Day (dušičky) in local schools with that "crazy" American holiday, Halloween.[37]

In 2012, he 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 chair of the KDU-ČSL Jan Kasal, regional chairman TOP 09, Jiři Blazek and the Regional Councillor, Tomáš Škaryd (ČSSD). However the Roman Catholic parish in Jihlava, distanced itself from the suggestion and dubbed these initiative rather ridiculous.[38]

Since December 2017 he has also been a member of the Advisory Board of the Inter-Parliamentary Council to Combat Terrorism.[39]

References

  1. ↑ "Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ – Životopis – Poslanci EP – Európsky parlament". Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Mgr. et Mgr. et Mgr. Tomáš Zdechovský – životopis – Naši Politici". Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  3. ↑ "Přednostní hlasy pro kandidáty – volby.cz". Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  4. ↑ "Přednostní hlasy pro kandidáty – volby.cz". Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  5. ↑ "Jmenné seznamy | volby.cz". www.volby.cz.
  6. ↑ "Europoslanec Tomáš Zdechovský bude kandidovat na předsedu KDU-ČSL". Deník N. 2 December 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  7. ↑ "The Christian Democrats elected Jurečka as chairman. The congress was unusually green". 25 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  8. ↑ "Novým předsedou KDU-ČSL je Marian Jurečka, první místopředsedkyní zůstává Šárka Jelínková". KDU-ČSL – official website. 25 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  9. ↑ "Zdechovský (KDU-ČSL) se zastal matky, které byly v Norsku odebrány děti". Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  10. ↑ "Čeští europoslanci zahájili sbírku na návrat českých dětí zadržovaných v Norsku". Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  11. ↑ "Zdechovský (KDU-ČSL): V Oslu se uskuteční demonstrace proti Barnevernetu". Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  12. ↑ Cremer, Justin (15 February 2017). "Europe issues 'serious warning' to Norway over child welfare service". The Local. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  13. ↑ "Čeští europoslanci zahájili sbírku na návrat českých dětí zadržovaných v Norsku". Reflex.cz. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  14. ↑ Cápová, Michaela (6 December 2014). "Naštvaní europoslanci píší do Norska. Kvůli českým dětem". Echo24. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  15. ↑ "Nová kniha jde tvrdě po Barnevernetu. Už toho bylo víc než dost, vzkazují autoři". Echo24.cz. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  16. ↑ "Stolen childhood – en viktig bok om norsk barnevern av Steven Bennet. Forord av Gro Hillestad Thune". Irene How. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  17. ↑ "Europoslanec Zdechovský navštívil uprchlické tábory na Sicílii". Hradecký Deník. 1 August 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  18. ↑ "Europoslanec objel uprchlické tábory. "Neutíkají před válkou," říká". Česká televize. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  19. ↑ Tomáš, Zdechovský. "Sháním cestu do Evropy, zn. levně a bezpečně – Blog iDNES.cz". idnes.cz. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  20. ↑ "KDU-ČSL – On-line chat". Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  21. ↑ "Jak Evropa zvládá nápor uprchlíků? Co si o nás myslí Evropa?". tyden.cz. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  22. ↑ Rankin, Jennifer (5 January 2018). "EU antifraud office finds 'irregularities' in payments allegedly obtained by Czech PM". Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  23. ↑ Vaverková, Karolína (11 September 2018). "'Babiš stále vede Agrofert.' Evropská komise musí říct, zda je Babiš ve střetu zájmů". Echo24. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  24. ↑ "Mileage fraud resonates across the EU" (PDF). E15 weekly. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  25. ↑ "Musíme skoncovat s podvody při nákupu ojetých aut". Echo24.cz. 6 February 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  26. ↑ "WRITTEN DECLARATION 0030/2016". European Parliament. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  27. ↑ "Europe needs to tackle widespread mileage fraud in cars" (PDF). Car-Pass. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  28. ↑ "Odometer fraud resonates across the whole European Union". Euractiv. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  29. ↑ Vaverková, Karolína (6 October 2018). "Propusťte řidiče Sagana z vězení, píše český europoslanec Macronovi". Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  30. ↑ Vaverková, Karolína. "Czech MEP tells Macron to release innocent driver from prison". Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  31. ↑ REGIONVYSOCINA.CZ. "Zdechovského básně jsou přeloženy do hebrejštiny". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  32. ↑ "Intimní doteky". ikarmel.cz. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  33. ↑ "Kapka (Tomáš Zdechovský) | Diskuze o knize | ČBDB.cz". www.cbdb.cz.
  34. ↑ Nekonečné ticho – Tomáš Zdechovský – Kosmas.cz – internetové knihkupectví. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  35. ↑ "Kdo stojí za akcí Zachraňte Ježíška a proč jí dělá". Retrieved 12 February 2017.[self-published]
  36. ↑ "ANKETA: Zachraňte Ježíška! vyzývá petice". 10 December 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  37. ↑ "Christian Dems to Fight Halloween in Czech Schools". Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  38. ↑ "Chceme vlastní biskupství, napsali katolíci z Vysočiny papeži". 16 July 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  39. ↑ eu40 (16 December 2017). "Good that our @TomZdechovskyEP joined the Advisory Board of the Inter-Parliamentary Council to Combat Terrorism. After successfully having terrorists banned from the EP together with @EP_President & @ManfredWeber , he can now better help similar bans in MS around the EU". @eu40. Retrieved 16 May 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)[self-published]

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