Petr Mach

Czech economist

Petr Mach


Member of the European Parliament for Czech Republic
In office 1 July 2014 – 31 August 2017^[1]

Personal details
Born	(1975-05-06) 6 May 1975 (age 48) Prague, Czechoslovakia
Nationality	Czech
Political party	Freedom and Direct Democracy (2023–present)
Other political affiliations	Civic Democratic Party (1997–2008) Party of Free Citizens (2009–2019) Tricolour (2019) Independent (2019–2023)
Spouse	Andrea Holopová (m. 2014)
Children	2
Occupation	economist, politician
Website	http://petrmach.cz/

Petr Mach (born 6 May 1975) is a Czech economist and former Member of the European Parliament. He is the founder of the Party of Free Citizens which he led until 2017 when he was replaced by Tomáš Pajonk.

Early career

In 1997, Mach became chairman of the Young Conservatives, the youth wing of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS). In 2003 he earned a PhD from the Department of Monetary Theory and Policy of the University of Economics, Prague.

Mach worked as an executive director of the Center for Economics and Politics in Prague from 1999 to 2009, and as an external economic adviser to Czech President Václav Klaus from 2003 to 2007, with whom he shares enthusiasm for the free market economy and euroscepticism. Since 1998 he has been the publisher and editor of the Laissez-Faire newsletter.

Party of Free Citizens

Mach left ODS at the end of 2007, and after the party moved to a position of support for the Treaty of Lisbon, on 4 December 2008, Mach decided to form a new party, founding the Party of Free Citizens in 2009. In September 2010, he addressed the UK Independence Party Annual Conference and praised Václav Klaus for his opposition to the Lisbon Treaty. He addressed the party's conference again in 2014, following their victory in the 2014 European elections in the UK. Mach resigned as party leader in October 2017 after a poor showing in the 2017 Czech parliamentary election. He finished second behind Tomáš Pajonk in the subsequent leadership election.^[2]

Later career

In 2019, Mach was announced as a member of the Tricolour Citizens' Movement, and addressed their party conference in Brno in September 2019.^[3]

In 2023, Mach joined Freedom and Direct Democracy, and subsequently became the lead candidate on the party's electoral list in the 2024 European Parliament election.^[4]

References

^ "Mach odchází z europarlamentu". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 29 August 2017.
^ "Svobodné nově povede Tomáš Pajonk". Novinky.cz (in Czech). 19 November 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
^ "Klaus starší, Mach a mažoretky. Trikolóra svolala ustavující sněm". echo24.cz (in Czech). 10 September 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
^ https://www.seznamzpravy.cz/clanek/domaci-kandidatku-spd-a-trikolory-povede-do-eurovoleb-byvaly-europoslanec-mach-240873