Profile of Presidential Candidate Maros Sefcovic

Profile of Presidential Candidate Maros Sefcovic

Bratislava, March 17 (TASR) – TASR is publishing the profile of Maros Sefcovic, the runner-up in the first round of 2019 presidential election. He will head to a runoff, scheduled for Saturday, March 30, to square off against first-round winner Zuzana Caputova.

Maros SEFCOVIC

European Commission Vice-president for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic announced his candidacy in January, with the support of the Smer-SD party.

Born in Bratislava on July 24, 1966, Sefcovic studied at the University of Economics in Bratislava and at Moscow State Institute of International Affairs between 1985-1990. He also studied for a PhD in international and European law at Comenius University’s Law Faculty between 1996-2000.

Sefcovic began his professional career as advisor to the Czechoslovak Foreign Affairs Ministry’s first secretary in 1990. He moved on to various diplomatic posts, including Slovak ambassador to Israel between 1999-2002.

In 2004-09, Sefcovic served as head of the Permanent Representation of the Slovak Republic to the EU and then as European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth in the administration headed by Jose Manuel Barroso in 2009.

In February 2010, Sefcovic became European Commission Vice-president for Interinstitutional Relations and Administration. He held this post until 2014, when he took up his current role as Vice-president for Energy Union in the European Commission headed by Jean-Claude Juncker.