Jan Hamáček

Czech politician

Jan Hamáček


Leader of the Social Democratic Party
In office 18 February 2018 – 25 October 2021
Preceded by	Milan Chovanec
Succeeded by	Michal Šmarda
First Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
In office 27 June 2018 – 17 December 2021
Prime Minister	Andrej Babiš
Preceded by	Richard Brabec (2017)
Succeeded by	Vít Rakušan
Minister of the Interior
In office 27 June 2018 – 17 December 2021
Prime Minister	Andrej Babiš
Preceded by	Lubomír Metnar
Succeeded by	Vít Rakušan
Minister of Foreign Affairs Acting
In office 12 April 2021 – 21 April 2021
Prime Minister	Andrej Babiš
Preceded by	Tomáš Petříček
Succeeded by	Jakub Kulhánek
In office 27 June 2018 – 16 October 2018
Prime Minister	Andrej Babiš
Preceded by	Martin Stropnický
Succeeded by	Tomáš Petříček
President of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 27 November 2013 – 22 November 2017
Preceded by	Miroslava Němcová
Succeeded by	Radek Vondráček
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 3 June 2006 – 21 October 2021

Personal details
Born	(1978-11-04) 4 November 1978 (age 45) Mladá Boleslav, Czechoslovakia
Political party	Social Democracy
Children	Lukáš Matyáš
Website	hamacek.cz

Jan Hamáček (born 4 November 1978) is a Czech politician who was leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) from February 2018 until October 2021, and minister of the Interior from June 2018 to December 2021. He also served as the President of the Chamber of Deputies from 2013 to 2017,^[1] and was acting minister of Foreign Affairs from June to October 2018 and from 12 to 21 April 2021. Hamáček was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2006 to 2021.

Political career

Prior to his election to parliament, Hamáček worked as an adviser to two prime ministers,^[which?] and as his party's International Secretary.

Hamáček was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the 2006 elections. During his time in parliament, he has held the position of Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, headed the Czech delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and served on the Committee on European Affairs.^[2]

Hamáček became the leader of ČSSD in March 2018. In Andrej Babis' Second Cabinet, sworn in during June 2018, he was named Minister of the Interior, and also served as acting Minister of Foreign Affairs from June to October 2018. Miroslav Poche was originally nominated to be the minister, but due to President Miloš Zeman's refusal to swear him in, Hamáček was made acting foreign minister until the situation could be resolved. On 16 October 2018, Tomáš Petříček was named the new Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In August 2018, Hamáček helped negotiate the release of two workers from a German humanitarian group in Syria, and traveled to Damascus for the handover of the workers; the Czech Republic is the only country in Europe that maintains diplomatic relations with Syria.^[3]

In 2021, Seznam Zprávy [cs] reported that Hamáček was considering negotiating with Russia not to disclose evidence of Russia's involvement in the 2014 Vrbětice ammunition warehouses explosions in exchange for 1 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine. Hamáček denied the accusation and said that he intended to sue the media outlet. The journalist, Janek Kroupa [cs], said that he had an audio recording.^[4]

After ČSSD's poor performance in the 2021 Czech legislative election, in which the party failed to meet the 5% voting threshold, Hamáček resigned as leader of the party.^[5]

Other activities

He is a Senior Network Member at the European Leadership Network (ELN).^[6]

References

^ "Jan Hamacek". Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
^ Jan Hamáček Aspen Institute Central Europe.
^ Hovet, Jason (11 August 2018). "Czech diplomats secure release of German NGO workers in Syria". Reuters.
^ Plevák, Ondřej (6 May 2021). "Czech Deputy PM files civil suit against article accusing him of Russia collusion". euractiv.com. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
^ "Končím, prohlásil Hamáček po propadu ČSSD ve volbách". iDNES.cz (in Czech). 2021-10-09. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
^ "Senior Network". europeanleadershipnetwork.org. Retrieved 2020-09-21.

Party political offices
Preceded by Milan Chovanec	Leader of the Social Democratic Party 2018–2021	Succeeded by Michal Šmarda

Jan Hamáček

7th President of the Chamber of Deputies (2013–2017)

Early years

President of the Chamber of Deputies

Leader of ČSSD

Minister of Internal Affairs

v t e Cabinets of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (2017–2021)
Finance Minister	Alena Schillerová
Minister of the Interior	Lubomír Metnar Jan Hamáček (June 2018–December 2021)
Minister of Labour and Social Affairs	Jaroslava Němcová Petr Krčál (June 2018–July 2018) Jana Maláčová (July 2018–December 2021)
Minister of the Environment	Richard Brabec
Minister for Regional Development	Klára Dostálová
Minister of Defence	Karla Šlechtová Lubomír Metnar (June 2018–December 2021)
Minister of Industry and Trade	Tomáš Hüner Marta Nováková (June 2018–April 2019) Karel Havlíček (April 2019–December 2021)
Minister of Health	Adam Vojtěch Roman Prymula (September 2020–October 2020) Jan Blatný (October 2020–April 2021) Petr Arenberger (April 2021–May 2021) Adam Vojtěch (May 2021–December 2021)
Minister of Foreign Affairs	Martin Stropnický Jan Hamáček (June 2018–October 2018) Tomáš Petříček (October 2018–April 2021) Jan Hamáček (April 2021) Jakub Kulhánek (April 2021–December 2021)
Minister of Justice Chairperson of the Government Legislative Council	Robert Pelikán Taťána Malá (June 2018–July 2018) Jan Kněžínek (June 2018–April 2019) Marie Benešová (April 2019–December 2021)
Minister of Transport	Dan Ťok Vladimír Kremlík (April 2019–January 2020) Karel Havlíček (January 2020–December 2021)
Minister of Education, Youth and Sport	Robert Plaga
Minister of Culture	Ilja Šmíd Antonín Staněk (June 2018–July 2019) Lubomír Zaorálek (July 2019–December 2021)
Minister of Agriculture	Jiří Milek Miroslav Toman (June 2018–December 2021)
Minister without Portfolio State Secretary for European Affairs	Aleš Chmelař

v t e Ministers of the Interior of the Czech Republic
Ruml Vodička Svoboda Grulich Gross Bublan Langer Pecina John Kubice Pecina Chovanec Metnar Hamáček Rakušan

v t e Social Democracy (Czech Republic)
Leaders [cs]	Antonín Němec Bohumír Šmeral Antonín Němec Antonín Hampl Zdeněk Fierlinger Bohumil Laušman Blažej Vilím Václav Majer Vilém Bernard Karel Hrubý Jiří Horák Miloš Zeman Vladimír Špidla Stanislav Gross Bohuslav Sobotka (interim) Jiří Paroubek Bohuslav Sobotka Milan Chovanec (interim) Jan Hamáček Roman Onderka (interim) Michal Šmarda
Leadership elections	1990 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2006 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2018 2019 2021 (April) 2021 (December) 2023
Presidential candidates	Tomáš Masaryk Edvard Beneš Klement Gottwald Václav Havel Jaroslav Bureš Miloš Zeman Jan Sokol Jan Švejnar Jiří Dienstbier Jr. Josef Středula
Presidential election primaries	2002 2012
Governments	Kramář Tusar I Tusar II Beneš Švehla I Švehla II Udržal II Malypetr I Malypetr II Malypetr III Hodža I Hodža II Hodža III Fierlinger Gottwald I Gottwald II Zeman Špidla Gross Paroubek Fischer Sobotka Babiš II
Organisation	Chamber of Deputies Caucus Cíl Association of Patients Social Democratic Women Christian Social Platform Idealists.cz Masaryk Democratic Academy Mayors and Governors Club Orange Club Senate Caucus Senior Club Union of Workers' Sports' Unities Young Social Democrats Zvonečník
Alliances	Current Party of European Socialists Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Socialist International Progressive Alliance Former SDAPÖ Second International Labour and Socialist International Socialist Council Pětka National Front
History and related topics	2014 Referendum 2017 Czech government crisis 2018 Government referendum Independent Radical Social Democratic Party Opposition Agreement Socialist Party of the Czechoslovak Working People

v t e Chairmen of Czech Social Democratic Party
Horák Zeman Špidla Gross Paroubek Sobotka Hamáček Šmarda

v t e President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic
Elections	1992 1996 1998 2002 2006 2010 2013 2017 2021
Presidents	Milan Uhde (ODS) Miloš Zeman (ČSSD) Václav Klaus (ODS) Lubomír Zaorálek (ČSSD) Miloslav Vlček (ČSSD) Miroslava Němcová (ODS) Jan Hamáček (ČSSD) Radek Vondráček (ANO) Markéta Pekarová Adamová (TOP 09)