Ivan Gašparovič

Biography

Ivan Gašparovič was born in Poltár, near Lučenec and Banská Bystrica in present-day south-central Slovakia, which was at that time the first Slovak Republic. His father, Vladimir Gašparović, emigrated to Czechoslovakia from Rijeka in modern-day Croatia at the end of World War I and was a teacher at a secondary school in Bratislava, and at one point its Headmaster. Gašparovič studied at the law faculty of the Comenius University in Bratislava, which is the main university in Slovakia, from 1959 to 1964. He worked in the District Prosecutor's Office of the district of Martin (1965–66), then became a Prosecutor at the Municipal Prosecutor's Office of Bratislava (1966–68). In 1968, he joined the Communist Party of Slovakia, supposedly to support Alexander Dubček's reforms, but he was expelled from the party after the Warsaw Pact invasion in Czechoslovakia in August 1968.

Early career

However, in spite of his expulsion, Gašparovič was able to continue his legal career and from 1968 to July 1990, he was a teacher at the Department of Criminal Law, Criminology and Criminological Practice at the law faculty of the Comenius University in Bratislava. In February 1990, he became the prorector (deputy vice-chancellor) of Comenius University.

After the Velvet Revolution and the subsequent fall of the Communist regime, Gašparovič was chosen by the newly elected democratic president Václav Havel to become the country's federal Prosecutor-General. After March 1992, he was briefly the vice-president of the Legislative Council of Czechoslovakia, before the federal Czechoslovakia split into two independent states in January 1993. Gašparovič temporarily returned to the Comenius University law faculty. He was a member of the Scientific Council of the Comenius University and of the Scientific Council of the law faculty of the same university. In late 1992, he was one of the authors of the Constitution of Slovakia.

In 1992 Gašparovič joined the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS, Hnutie za demokratické Slovensko), led by Vladimír Mečiar. Gašparovič was one of the central figures of Prime Minister Mečiar's administration. He became Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic (NRSR) after the victory of the HZDS in the June 1992 elections. When a scandal erupted over the discovery of microphones in the U.S. Consulate in November 1992, Gašparovič was asked by Mečiar to head a commission to investigate the background of the affair, but the results were inconclusive. Later that year, when Mečiar's government attempted to close down the opposition-led Trnava University, Gašparovič sided with the Prime Minister, echoing his argument that its opening was "illegal." The West viewed Mečiar's government as untrustworthy, and the country was excluded from the EU and NATO expansion talks that went on at the time at the neighbouring central European countries.

The period of the HZDS rule was among other things marked by persistent animosity between the HZDS-led government and the country's President Michal Kováč, a vocal opponent of Mečiar. The conflict had gotten to the point where the Slovak Secret Service SIS was alleged to have kidnapped the president's son, Michal Jr., plying him with alcohol, and dropping him in front of a police station in Hainburg in Austria, a country where he was wanted on suspicion of financial fraud.

President of Slovakia

Gašparovič's toned down and non-confrontational approach to presidency has increased his popularity with many voters, and he is a generally popular president now. However, to date he has remained unapologetic about his role in the Mečiar's regime, which is generally perceived to have set back Slovakia's post-communist political and economic progress and development. Gašparovič was supported by the Direction – Social Democracy of Prime Minister Robert Fico and the Slovak National Party a nationalist and populist party led by Jan Slota.

Controversies

In a 23 August 2011 statement, Gašparovič opposed erecting a sculpture in memory of controversial Hungarian minority politician János Esterházy in Kosice, saying that the one-time deputy had been a follower of Hitler and fascism. He also opposed Ferdinand Ďurčanský's sculpture for similar reasons. According to Hungarian President Pál Schmitt, Esterházy rejected both fascism and communism, suffered in the Gulag and died in a Moravian prison in 1957.

Marek Trubac, the Slovak president's spokesman, told MTI that Esterházy is considered a war criminal in Slovakia, "for supporting fascist ideology". Though Esterházy did vote against the law about deportations of Jews, he also welcomed (former Hungarian regent) Horthy's "fascist troops" that occupied Kosice, the spokesman added.

He has also become well known for his misspeaks that are often topics of conversations and jokes among Slovak public (e.g. referring to a letter by "white on black" instead of "black on white" or referring to United Nations (Slovak translation is "Organization of connected nations" Slovak: Organizácia spojených národov) as "Organization of connected tumors" Slovak: Organizácia spojených nádorov).

Political controversy followed him by his non-decision on naming new attorney general that had been elected by Slovak parliament as the president did not respect the vote and declined to name the attorney general into the function and caused on-going (July 2013) political crisis in Slovakia.

Private life

In 1964, Gašparovič married Silvia Beníková, with whom he has two children. His favorite sport is ice hockey.

Honours and awards

Slovakia: Order of Andrej Hlinka (2004)

Slovakia: Order of Ľudovít Štúr (2004)

Slovakia: Milan Rastislav Štefánik Cross (2004)

Slovakia: Pribina Cross (2004)

Foreign honours

Austria: Grand Star of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (2014)

Lithuania: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great (24 February 2005)

Luxembourg: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau (2005)

Cyprus: Grand Collar of the Order of Makarios III (2007)

Italy: Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (20 February 2007)

Netherlands: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion (21 May 2007)

Spain: Collar of Order of Isabella the Catholic (22 October 2007)

Croatia: Grand Order of King Tomislav (27 October 2008)

Greece: Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer (2007)

Poland: Knight of the Order of the White Eagle (21 February 2009)

Poland: Order of Polonia Restituta (2014)

Norway: Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav (26 October 2010)

Latvia: Order of the Three Stars (28 February 2005)

Estonia: Collar of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana (2005)

Portugal: Grand Collar of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword (4 September 2008)