Daniel Lipšic

Daniel Lipšic
Member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic
Assumed office
4 April 2012
Constituency Slovak Republic at large
In office
7 February 2006 – 8 July 2010
10th Minister of Interior of Slovakia
In office
8 July 2010 – 4 April 2012
Preceded by Robert Kaliňák
Succeeded by Robert Kaliňák
5th Minister of Justice of Slovakia
In office
15 October 2002 – 7 February 2006
Preceded by Ján Čarnogurský
Succeeded by Lucia Žitňanská
Personal details
Born (1973-07-08) 8 July 1973
Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
Political party Christian Democratic Movement (1998-2012)
Nová väčšina – Dohoda (2012-)
Spouse(s) Beáta Oravcová
Children Alexander
Peter
Alma mater Comenius University in Bratislava
University of Minnesota
Georgetown University
Harvard Law School
Religion Roman Catholic
Website www.lipsic.sk

Daniel Lipšic (born 8 July 1973) is a Slovak politician and Jurist. He is a former Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and former Minister of Interior. Until 28 May 2012 he was a member of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), in which he served as Vice-President and a Member of Parliament.[1] Through his legal and political career, he is noted for his hard-line stance regarding officials from the former communist Czechoslovak regime, as well as crimes committed during this period. A public anti-corruption activist, he as outspoken against perceived corruption in the political or financial sphere.[2][3]

In May 2012, in the aftermath of the electoral defeat of the Radičová cabinet, Lipšic together with Jana Žitňanský and Gabor Grendel, left the KDH and formed a new political party called NOVA (Slovak: Nová väčšina – Dohoda). He currently serves as its president.[4] Daniel Lipšic has been consistently been ranked as the most trusted politicians in Slovakia.[5][6][7][8]

Early life

Daniel Lipšic was born on 8 July 1973 in Bratislava into a family of physicians and doctors. Both his parents, along with his twin brother Erik and all of his cousins are medical doctors, and Lipšic grew up aspiring to be a doctor, saying:"I always thought I would be a doctor too, since during communism a career in law was restricted. But after the Velvet revolution things changed."[9]

Education

He attended secondary school (Slovak: Gymnazium) at the Grösslingová 18 Upper Secondary School.[10] He enrolled at the Law Faculty at the Comenius University in Bratislava in 1991, graduating in 1996.

During his time in University he also spent time at the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis and Georgetown University Law Center in Washington DC. In 1997 he received his PhD from the Comenius University, and the following year he attended Harvard Law School on a Fulbright scholarship, graduating in 2000 with a Master of Laws or LL.M.

During his mandatory military service between 1997 and 1998 he served at the District Military Prosecutor's Office in Prešov. After his military service, he was employed at the Law Firm Valko & Partners, as an expert in bankruptcy law.[11] In 1999, he was appointed as Head of the Legal Office at the Ministry of Justice by then Minister Jan Carnogursky, where he was tasked with documenting and investigating crimes from the former Czechoslovak communist regime, which contained over 70.0000 individual cases.[12] He was an outspoken proponent of the prosecuting the Slovak politicians responsible for the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, which he called "the greatest crime in the past 50 years of Slovak history." Specifically he targeted former hardline communist leader Vasiľ Biľak, who was accused of signing the official document "inviting" soviet forces to invade. Bil'ak, died in 2014 aged 94, his trial stopped due to lack of witnesses.[13]

He was also tasked with authoring laws, enabling the government to effectively combat organized crime,[14] as well as legislation introducing stiffer penalties for violent criminals, including a Three-strikes law system which will send people convicted of three violent crimes to jail for life without parole. Commenting on this, Lipsic stated that some developed western countries had given up trying to re-educate violent criminals, and were concentrating instead on "protecting society from serious criminals."[15] In addition, Lipšic authored anti-corruption legislation which gave tougher penalties on graft and outlawed bribery for the first time in Slovakia.[16]

On 1 April 2002, Daniel Lipšic resigned from his post as the head of the Legal Office at the Justice Ministry. This was due to a revised State Service Law which took effect that day, banning state bureaucrats below the level of deputy minister from being members of political parties. Lipšic, a member of the ruling coalition Christian Democrats (KDH), chose to remain with the party, and resigned.[17]

Political career

While still studying law at the university, he served as the President of the right-wing youth organization Civic Democratic Youth, which was established in 1991. As chairman of the CDY, he was also present at the 6th National Congress of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), which took place on 23–24 October 1993 in Ruzomberok. On 1998, he became a member of the party.

Minister of Justice

In the Slovak parliamentary election, 2002 he was placed 6th on the party list and received 42,727 preferential votes (18.01% share ), that placed fourth behind Pavol Hrusovsky, Ján Figel 'and Vladimír Palko. His mandate did not apply because he became a member of the Government as a cabinet minister following the election. From 15 October 2002 he held the post of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice.

Continuing anti-communist policies of his predecessor, Lipsic unsuccessfully attempted to introduce a law, banning Judges who had worked under the former communist regime from the judiciary. He also attempted to prosecute members of the judiciary who had ruled in political trials under the communist regime. The plan was unequivocally rejected by Slovakia's top judicial authorities, who argued that the law, if passed, would come much too late.[18]

In connection with the withdrawal of KDH from the ruling coalition on 7 February 2006, all KDH cabinet ministers resigned. Subsequently, on 8 February he was replaced as of Minister of Justice by Lucia Zitnanska from the SDKU.[19] This political move KDH was associated with disapproval of the draft contract between the Slovak Republic and the Holy See regarding the right to objection of conscience, which concerns the armed forces, health, education and training, legal services and labor relations. In early parliamentary elections, held on 17 June 2006, the KDH became part of the opposition. Lipšic in these elections received the second highest number of preferential votes - 86,536 (45.20%).

Minister of the Interior

After the parliamentary elections in 2010, and the resignation of the Fico Cabinet on 9 July. Lipšic became a member of the cabinet of Iveta Radičová as Minister of the Interior. After the Slovak parliamentary election, 2012 which saw the governing coalition fell, Lipšic resigned.[20]

Personal life

He currently resides in Bratislava with his family.[21] Along with his native Slovak, Lipšic speaks English, German and Russian.[22]

Family

He is married to television presenter Beata Lipšicová (née Oravcová).[23] Together they have sons Alexander, and Peter.[24] He has a twin brother named Erik, who is a specialist in internal medicine and is currently working as a cardiologist in Groningen in the Netherlands.[25]

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ (22 June 2005). Vindication Nears for Reluctant Free-Speech Crusader, The New York Times
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ "Lipšic becomes anti-corruption head". Slovak Spectator. 12 December 2002. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  4. ↑ (6 September 2012). NOVA - Slovak word of the week, The Slovak Spectator
  5. ↑ "Fico most trusted Slovak politician". Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  6. ↑ "Poll: Distrust in politicians rises; Fico remains most popular". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  7. ↑ "Poll finds Fico, Radičová and Gašparovič are the three most trusted politicians". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  8. ↑ "Polis Poll: Fico the most and least trusted politician in Slovakia". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  9. ↑ Reynolds, Matthew. "From Massachusetts to a ministry post". Slovakspectator.sk. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  10. ↑ "Významné osobnosti, ktoré študovali na našej škole". Gamca.sk. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  11. ↑ Nicholson, Tom. "Slovakia's repudiation of loan leads to arbitration". slovakspectator.sk. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  12. ↑ Remias, Ivan. "Communist crimes untried". Slovakspectator.sk. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  13. ↑ Pisarova, Martina (17 April 2000). "Communist charged with treason". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  14. ↑ Domanovsky, Daniel. "Mob boss Černák gets 15 years". Slovakspectator.sk. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  15. ↑ Pisarova, Martina (25 March 2000). "Tougher sentences urged for repeat offenders Justice Ministry Wants 'Three Strikes' System To Jail Dangerous Criminals For Life Without Parole". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  16. ↑ Pisarova, Martina. "Tougher criminal code passes parliament". Slovakspectator.sk. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  17. ↑ "No more political bureaucrats". Slovak Spectator. 8 April 2002. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  18. ↑ Pisarova, Martina. "Minister wants communist judges thrown out". Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  19. ↑ Matko, Martin. SDKÚ-DS : Strana reforiem a modernízácie Slovenska. Inštitút pre moderné Slovensko. p. 74.
  20. ↑ Balogova, Beata. "Lipšic breaks with KDH". Slovakspectator.sk. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  21. ↑ (14 July 2010). Daniel Lipšic - Minister of Interior, The Slovak Spectator
  22. ↑ "Zivotopis" (PDF). Lipsic.sk. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  23. ↑ Sefcikova, Veronika. "Lipšic bol pri pôrode syna: Je to tá najsilnejšia emócia!". Cas.sk. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  24. ↑ "Daniel Lipšic ukázal malého synčeka: Toto je môj Peťko!". Cas.sk. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  25. ↑ "Žijú v tieni súrodencov: Čím sa živia bratia našich politikov?". Retrieved 30 January 2014.
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