Petr Fiala
Petr Fiala (born 1 September 1964) is a Czech politician and political scientist who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic from 2021 to 2025 and leader of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) from 2014 to 2026. He previously served as the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports from 2012 to 2013. Prior to entering politics, he was the rector of Masaryk University. Fiala was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies as a non-partisan in the 2013 election. In 2020, Fiala led the initiative for a centre-right electoral alliance with KDU-ČSL and TOP 09, known as Spolu. He was appointed prime minister by President Miloš Zeman on 28 November 2021 and Petr Fiala\'s Cabinet took power on 17 December, 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.
Fiala came into office promising to reform and stabilize the government\'s growing national debt; however, the early months of his premiership saw the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the provision of aid to Ukraine, and the opening of the Czech Republic\'s borders to the highest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita in the ensuing Ukrainian refugee crisis. Fiala imposed sanctions on Russia and pushed to block Russian citizens from travelling to the European Union. He expressed strong support for Israel during the Gaza war. In 2022, the Czech Republic held the presidency of the Council of the European Union. Fiala\'s administration also faced rising inflation and resulting decline of real wages, wider concerns about the economy and the ongoing global energy crisis. Throughout his term, Fiala\'s government has seen approval ratings in the low 20s. He led the Spolu alliance into the 2025 election in which his governing coalition lost its majority. He was succeeded by his predecessor, Andrej Babiš, on 15 December.
