Commission-companion-full

VICE-PRESIDENT
Maroš Sefčovič ˇ
Energy union
Country Slovakia
Born Bratislava, 24 July 1966
Political affiliation PES
Twitter
@MarosSefcovic
Maroš Šefčovič’s competence in his
first term as a European
commissioner made him a
respected member of Jean­Claude Juncker’s
team. After being given the transport and
space portfolio, and impressing the
European Parliament’s transport committee
during his hearing, he was moved to the
role of vice­president for energy union
when Jean­Claude Juncker was forced to
shuffle the pack after Alenka Bratušek’s
disastrous performance in front of MEPs.
The transport committee was so upset at
the thought of losing Šefčovič that it wrote
to Juncker asking that he be kept on. The
committee did not get its way, and Šefčovič
impressed in his second parliamentary
hearing despite having just four days to
swot up on EU energy policy. It helped that
in the previous Commission his
responsibilities included relations with the
European Parliament.
Fate has repeatedly placed Šefčovič in
dramatic situations and his rise is all the
more remarkable because he comes from
the wrong side of the tracks. His mother
worked in the post office and his father
was, he says, a tough and self­made man
from a background devoid of privilege. But
his parents had high expectations of their
son, and he responded. He overcame his
childhood shyness as his sporting talents
emerged: he used to run the 100 metres in
less than 11 seconds and still enjoys tennis,
jogging and skiing.
He won such high grades in economics
and journalism in his first undergraduate
year in Bratislava that he was selected for
fast­track training as a diplomat. Sent to
Prague and then to Moscow, a new world
opened up to him. At the prestigious State
Institute of International Relations he
studied the works of British and American
politicians, learnt English and French,
attended lectures from visiting Western
professors and diplomats and had access to
material about the events of 1968 that he
was still unable to see when he returned to
Czechoslovakia.
With a doctorate in law to his credit, he
entered the ministry of foreign affairs as an
adviser, and was selected for a scholarship
at Stanford, where his teachers included
Milton Friedman, Condoleezza Rice and
20
George Schultz. His first foreign posting was
to Zimbabwe, followed by a promotion to
Ottawa – at which point, as Czechoslovakia
split, in 1993, he had to decide which
foreign service he wanted to stay with.
He chose Slovakia (“the more adventurous
option”), and within five years had risen to
the position of director of the foreign
minister’s office. In 1998, he came to
Brussels for a year as deputy head of his
country’s mission. After a brief spell as
ambassador to Israel and another swift
promotion in the foreign ministry, he
returned to Brussels to head Slovakia’s
mission, and – when Slovakia at last joined
the EU – as his country’s permanent
representative. In September 2009 he was
appointed to the Commission as a stop­gap
replacement for his departing compatriot
Ján Figel’, and spent three months in charge
CV
2010-14 European commissioner for
inter-institutional relations and
administration
2009-10 European commissioner for
education, training, culture and youth
2004-09 Slovakia’s permanent
representative to the EU
2003 Director-general of European
affairs section, Slovak foreign ministry
2002 Director-general of bilateral cooperation
section, Slovak foreign ministry
2000 PhD in international and European
law, Comenius University
1999 Slovak ambassador to Israel
1998 Deputy head, Slovak mission to the
EU
1996-98 Director and deputy director at
the Slovak foreign minister’s office
1992 Deputy chief of mission, Czech and
Slovak embassy in Canada
1991-92 Official, Czech and Slovak
embassy in Zimbabwe
1990 Adviser to the first deputy foreign
minister, Czech and Slovak ministry of
foreign affairs
1990 Doctorate in law, Comenius
University, Bratislava
of education and culture.
Educated among the elite in the dying
years of the Soviet regime, he was a
stagiaire in the foreign ministry in Prague
during the Velvet Revolution. He was
supposed, as a diplomat of a Soviet
satellite, to be a member of the Communist
Party, but the system collapsed before he
received his membership card.
Šefčovič has, therefore, packed an awful
lot into his life – he was born in 1966 – and
has made a significant mark in the
European Commission. Completion of the
European Union’s internal energy market is
a priority of the Juncker Commission and
Šefčovič could be just the man for the job.
Cabinet
Head of cabinet
Juraj Nociar
Deputy head of cabinet
Bernd Biervert
Cabinet members
Gabriela Kečkéšová
Christian Linder
Dagmara Maria Koska
Peter Van Kemseke
Manuel Szapiro
L’ubomíra Hromková
Šefčovič has kept on the majority of his
team from when he was vice-president
for inter-institutional relations and
administrative affairs. Juraj Nociar,
continues as head of his private office.
Bernd Bievert, a German who was his
deputy in the premanent representation,
continues as his deputy head. Other
members of the previous team include
Gabriela Kečkéšová, a Slovak, and
Christian Linder, a German official.