In 2020, Fiala led the initiative for a centre-right electoral alliance with KDU-ČSL and TOP 09, known as Spolu. He 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. The alliance outperformed initial opinion polls and finished first in the election, though with one less seat in the Chamber of Deputies than second-place ANO 2011.
Under Fiala's leadership, Spolu formed a coalition agreement with the Pirates and Mayors alliance, with a majority of 108 of 200 seats. He was appointed Prime Minister by President Miloš 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.
Under Fiala's leadership, Czech Republic experienced a recession since the start of 2023, with the GDP decreasing in every quarter [2], and is the only country in the European Union that has failed to recover economically from the Covid-19 pandemic as of 2023[3]. Additionally, Czechia has been experiencing high debt growth and decrease in real wages[4], even as the average indebtness of EU countries decreased at the same time[5], as well as suffering the highest inflation rate in the entire EU during the 2021–2023 inflation surge[6]. With an approval rating of 16%, Fiala is one of the most unpopular leaders in the world[7], as well as the most unpopular Czech Prime Minister since Petr Nečas[8].
Early life
Petr Fiala was born in Brno to a conservative Catholic family.[9] His father, who was partly of Jewish origin, was a Holocaust survivor.[9][10] 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 Kroměříž.[11]
In 1996, he became a docent at Charles University in Prague, and in 2002 was named as the first professor of political science in the Czech Republic.[12] In 2004, he became dean of the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University, and in the same year was elected as rector of the university, defeating Jan Wechsler in the third round.[13] Fiala was reelected in 2008 and remained in the position until 2011.[12] While Fiala was rector, Masaryk University increased its enrollment to around 45,000 students, became the most popular Czech university in terms of applications, and created a nationwide system for detecting academic plagiarism.[14] During this period, Masaryk University built a new €220 million campus for biomedicine, opened a research station in Antarctica, and established the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC) using CZK 5.3 billion from the European Structural and Investment Funds. CEITEC launched in 2011.[15]
Career
Public activism
In the 1980s, Fiala was involved in independent civic activism. Between 1984 and 1989 he participated in the so-called underground university, hosting seminars in Brno focused on political philosophy.[16] He was involved in unofficial Christian activities, especially in the circle of secretly consecrated Bishop Stanislav Krátký.[17] Along with other Brno students, he founded the samizdat university magazine Revue 88, published in 1988–1989.[18]
After November 1989, he continued his publishing and civic activism, working as an editor for magazines such as Proglas, Revue Politika and Kontexty. In 1993, he founded the Centre for the Study of Democracy and Culture (CDK), a civic think-tank. Fiala was criticized for his activities during the 2021 election campaign because the centre was accepting state subsidies.[19]
Fiala has been active for a long time in institutions and bodies related to higher education and research in the Czech Republic and abroad. He served as Vice-Chair (2005–2009) and Chair (2009–2011) of the Czech Rectors' Conference, and at the international level he was a member of the Council of the European University Association (2009–2011). In 2007, he was elected by the Parliament to the council of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, where he served for five years. He is a member of many scientific and academic councils of public and private universities and research institutions in the Czech Republic and abroad. He 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.[citation needed]
In 2005 he was part of the commission in the competition of Czech and Moravian wines, TOP 77.[20]
In September 2011 Fiala served as chief aide for science to Prime Minister Petr Nečas, and on 2 May 2012 was appointed as Minister of Education, Youth and Sports in Nečas's government,[21] remaining in that post until Nečas resigned in 2013.
Fiala led ODS into the 2017 legislative election, in which the party finished second with 11% of the vote. Fiala refused to negotiate with ANO 2011 about joining the subsequent government, and ODS remained in opposition.[23] Fiala was reelected leader of ODS in 2018. On 28 November 2017 Fiala was elected Deputy President of the Chamber of Deputies, receiving 116 of 183 votes.[24]
Ahead of the election, opinion polls suggested that ANO 2011 would win, but in an electoral upset Spolu won the highest number of votes, and opposition parties won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies.[31] The opposition parties signed a memorandum agreeing to nominate Fiala for the position of Prime Minister.[32] On 8 November, five Czech parties, ranging from the liberal-conservativeCivic Democrats to the centre-left liberal Pirate Party, signed a pact to form a new centre-right coalition government and pledged to cut budget deficits.[33] On 9 November, President Miloš Zeman formally asked Fiala to form a new government.[34] On 17 November 2021 Fiala introduced Zeman to his proposed cabinet and Zeman agreed to appoint Fiala the new Prime Minister on 26 November 2021.[35] In November 2021, Fiala confirmed that he would like to continue with the Spolu coalition into the 2022 Senate and municipal elections.[36]
On 28 November 2021, President Miloš Zeman appointed Petr Fiala as the 13th Prime Minister of the Czech Republic.[37] Following his appointment, Fiala said he believed his government would bring change and improve the lives of people in the Czech Republic, but that the next year would be difficult for many citizens and the Czech Republic itself.[38] His appointment took effect upon his Cabinet being sworn in, on 17 December 2021. Fiala's government won a confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic on 13 January 2022 by 106–86.[39]
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Petr Fiala and his government took a tough stance on Russia, pushing for the toughest sanctions against Russia and supporting Ukraine's accession to the European Union. After the invasion, the Czech Republic immediately began supplying weapons and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. On 15 March 2022, Fiala, together with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša, visited Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a display of support for Ukraine.[40] The train journey, described by the media as a "risky mission",[41] as well as an "extraordinary attempt to demonstrate support",[42] was the first visit by foreign leaders to Kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion,[43] and was hailed by President Zelenskyy as a "great, brave, correct and sincere step" after the meeting.[44]
10 countries, including the Czech Republic and Israel, opposed the resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza that was overwhelmingly passed by the UN General Assembly on 12 December 2023
In October 2023, Fiala condemned Hamas' attack on Israel, and expressed his support for Israel's right to self-defence and actions during the subsequent Israel–Hamas war.[50] He said that Israel was "the only functioning democracy in the Middle East and is the key to stability in the region."[51] On 25 October 2023, Fiala visited Israel to express solidarity with the country.[52]Nigeria cancelled a planned visit by Fiala on 8 November 2023.[53]
Fiala and his government encountered deeply negative ratings from the Czech public.[54] As of December 2023, Fiala had an approval rating of 16%.[55]
In August 2016, Fiala stated that "radical Islam is at war with Europe" and that the European Union should not accept migrants who pose a risk.[67] He opposed the withdrawal of Czech soldiers from the war in Afghanistan.[68] Fiala expressed opposition to Russian and Chinese involvement in the construction of the new unit of the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant.[69] He also claimed that human impact on climate change is "not entirely clear", which was met with criticism and accusations of populism from environmental experts.[70]
At the beginning of June 2020, a statue in Prague of the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in Winston Churchill Square in Žižkov, was spray-painted with the inscription "He was a racist. Black Lives Matter," referring to a wave of protests against police brutality and racism triggered by the murder of George Floyd in the United States. Fiala condemned the vandalism of Churchill's statue, describing Churchill as "the great democratic politician ... who contributed to the defeat of Adolf Hitler," and criticised the graffiti as "stupid and shameful."[71]
Prior to the 2021 election, Fiala criticised the European Green Deal, a political initiative of the European Commission to promote the transition to a green economy.[72][73] However, he wrote in May 2021, "The Green Deal is reality. There is no point in speculating how it could be otherwise. Now we must seize the opportunity to modernize the Czech economy and improve the quality of life by investing in sustainable development, renewable resources and the circular economy."[74]
Fiala also serves as the chairman of the board of directors of the independent liberal-conservative think tank Pravý břeh.
Petr Fiala with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Prague, 3 February 2022Petr Fiala with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, 15 March 2022
In October 2015, Fiala called for a military invasion by Western ground forces in the Middle East, stating, "We will not solve the problem of migration and destabilization of the Middle East and North Africa unless we take military action." On the other hand, he opposed Russian involvement in the war against Islamic State.[75]
In June 2018, commemorating displaced peoples and refugees, German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia and other Central and Eastern European countries after World War II, arguing that there was no moral and political justification for the expulsion. Fiala responded that "pulling things out of the past with a one-sided interpretation certainly does not help the development of mutual relations."[76]
In October 2019, he condemned the military aggression of Turkey, a NATO member state, against the Kurds in Rojava in northern Syria, stating that "the situation in the Middle East has deteriorated significantly since this Turkish military operation in northern Syria."[77]
He 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.[78] He also stated that he would limit the negative impacts of mining on Czech territory in the Polish Turów brown coal mine near the Czech border.[79]
In 2020, he supported the official visit of Czech Senate President Miloš Vystrčil and other Czech senators to Taiwan to express support for the country and its democracy.[81]
In January 2024, it emerged that Fiala had omitted to declare an ownership stake of almost 1 million crowns in the Podnikatelska Druzstevni Zalozna credit union.[84]
28 January 2011: Rector of Masaryk University Mikuláš Bek awarded Fiala the Golden Medal of Masaryk University for Fiala's previous work as the University's Rector.[86]
26 August 2011: Václav Klaus awarded Fiala the Golden Plaque of the President of the Republic for his work as a Rector of Masaryk University. Fiala was the first Rector to receive the award.[87]
Fiala, P. – Foral, J. – Konečný, K. – Marek, P. – Pehr, M. – Trapl, M. (eds.): Český politický katolicismus 1848–2005. Brno 2008. ISBN978-80-7325-155-0.
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