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Zdeněk Hřib

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Zdeněk Hřib
Hřib in 2019
Mayor of Prague
In office
15 November 2018 – 16 February 2023
Preceded byAdriana Krnáčová
Succeeded byBohuslav Svoboda
Leader of the Czech Pirate Party
Incumbent
Assumed office
9 November 2024
Preceded byIvan Bartoš
Member of the Prague City Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 October 2018
Personal details
Born (1981-05-21) 21 May 1981 (age 43)
Slavičín, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic)
Political partyCzech Pirate Party
Alma materCharles University
Occupation
  • Manager
  • physician
Websitewww.pirati.cz/lide/zdenek-hrib/

Zdeněk Hřib (born 21 May 1981) is a Czech healthcare manager and politician, who has served as chair of the Czech Pirate Party since November 2024, and served as the Mayor of Prague from November 2018 to February 2023.[1]

Initially a physician, Hřib held managerial and consulting positions in state, corporate and non-profit healthcare entities dedicated to digitization, quality control, and consumer protection. He ran unsuccessfully in the 2014 Prague municipal election, but assumed office following the 2018 municipal election, where the Pirates finished second and formed a governing coalition with the third- and fourth-placed parties that held 39 out of 65 seats in the Prague City Assembly.

Early life and career

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Zdeněk Hřib was born on 21 May 1981 in Slavičín, near Zlín in the south-east of the Czech Republic. He studied medicine at Charles University in Prague and participated in a student exchange program in Taiwan.[2]

Subsequently, Hřib held managerial positions in the healthcare industry, focusing on digitization of healthcare services.[3] Since 2012, he has been the founding director of a non-profit organization that provides quality control, efficiency assessment and consulting for healthcare providers, as well as consumer protection for healthcare customers.[4]

In 2013, Hřib became a registered supporter of the Czech Pirate Party,[5] and ran unsuccessfully in the 2014 Prague municipal election.[6]

Political career

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Mayor of Prague (2018–2023)

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Hřib (left) at a 2018 press conference with party vice-chair Jakub Michálek, chair Ivan Bartoš, and vice-chair Olga Richterová
Hřib in Prague in February 2020 during the ceremonial renaming of a plaza after assassinated Russian dissident Boris Nemtsov

The Pirates finished second in the 2018 Prague municipal election, winning 13 out of 65 seats in the Prague City Assembly, and formed a governing coalition with the third- and fourth-placed lists which held 39 out of 65 seats. Hřib, as the leading Pirate candidate with 75,082 votes,[7] was elected the Mayor of Prague on 15 November 2018 by the Prague City Assembly, taking over the office from Adriana Krnáčová.[1][8]

Hřib and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan Joseph Wu in April 2019

In 2018, during a meeting with foreign diplomats in Prague, Hřib was asked by the Chinese ambassador to the Czech Republic to expel the representative of Taiwan, but refused to do so.[9] He criticized a clause of the sister city agreement between Prague and Beijing that contained references to the One-China principle, stating that the policy is "a complicated matter of foreign politics between two countries" and therefore "has no place in the sister cities agreement".[10] Hřib also subsequently criticized the retaliatory decision by the Chinese government to cancel a planned tour of China by the Prague Philharmonia as a politicization of culture. According to The Guardian, Hřib was responsible for restoring the "Czech Republic's image as a champion of human rights".[10] Hřib visited Taiwan twice as the Mayor of Prague, first in 2019 and again in 2020.[11][12]

On 17 January 2019, Hřib appealed to the city council to name a street in Prague in honor of Paweł Adamowicz, the former mayor of Gdańsk in Poland who was assassinated on 13 January 2019.[13] On 5 June 2019, the street in Riegrovy Sady park named after Adamowicz was officially inaugurated.[14] He renamed the square in front of the Russian embassy "Boris Nemtsov Square" in February 2020.[15] In April 2020, Hřib oversaw the removal of a statue dedicated to Soviet marshal Ivan Konev, who is viewed by some in the Czech Republic as a symbol of Soviet-era oppression.[16]

In December 2019, Hřib was among the four mayors of Visegrád Group capitals Prague, Warsaw, Bratislava and Budapest, who signed the Pact of Free Cities, agreeing to protect "common values of freedom, human dignity, democracy, equality, rule of law, social justice, tolerance and cultural diversity".[17]

In April 2020, Hřib was put under police protection after Czech intelligence received evidence of a planned poisoning attack by the Russian secret service.[18]

Leader of the Pirate Party (2024–present)

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In November 2024, Hřib was elected as leader of the Pirate Party.[19]

References

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  1. ^ a b Nuc, Jan; Lederer, Benedikt (25 October 2018). "Primátorem Prahy bude Pirát Hřib. Další koaliční lídři jsou mimo radu". Mladá fronta Dnes (in Czech). Mafra. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  2. ^ "Zdenek Hrib" (in Czech). Archived from the original on 28 October 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  3. ^ Guryčová, Kristýna (4 June 2018). "Ministerstvo vnímá eRecept jako nástroj k šikaně lidí, říká jeho tvůrce a kandidát Pirátů na primátora Hřib". Czech Radio (in Czech). Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  4. ^ "Úplný výpis z rejstříku obecně prospěšných společností Institut pro aplikovaný výzkum, edukaci a řízení ve zdravotnictví". Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic (in Czech). Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  5. ^ "Pražským primátorem bude Pirát Hřib. Čižinský ani Pospíšil v radě nebudou". Lidové noviny (in Czech). Mafra. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  6. ^ "Volby do zastupitelstev obcí 2014" (in Czech). Czech Statistical Office. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  7. ^ "Volby do zastupitelstev obcí 2018 | Obec Praha hl.m. – výběr kandidátní listiny" (in Czech). Czech Statistical Office. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  8. ^ "Zdeněk Hřib se stal primátorem Prahy. Opoziční ANO a ODS ho nepodpořily". Aktuálně.cz (in Czech). Economia. 15 November 2018.
  9. ^ Hsu, Stacy (30 March 2019). "Prague mayor condemns treatment of diplomat". Taipei Times. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  10. ^ a b Tait, Robert (3 July 2019). "Zdeněk Hřib: the Czech mayor who defied China". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  11. ^ Liao, Xiuyu (31 March 2019). 帥哥市長賀吉普談智慧城市：布拉格將建立AI超級樞紐 打造透明市政、促進民眾參與. storm.mg (in Chinese). Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  12. ^ Wu, Yan (31 August 2020). 布拉格市長賀吉普秀卡片 曝光訪台行程滿檔. Mirror Media (in Chinese). Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  13. ^ "Praga: burmistrz Zdeněk Hřib chce stworzyć ulicę im. Pawła Adamowicza". Onel Wiadomości (in Polish). 17 January 2019.
  14. ^ "Prague officially inaugurates street in honour of slain Polish mayor". Kafkadesk. 8 June 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  15. ^ Kottasová, Ivana (24 February 2020). "Prague renames square in front of Russian embassy after slain Putin critic Boris Nemtsov". CNN. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  16. ^ "Prague mayor under protection after reports of Russian plot". Times of Israel. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  17. ^ Walker, Shaun (16 December 2019). "Islands in the illiberal storm: European cities vow to stand together". The Guardian.
  18. ^ "Police protecting Prague mayor after "murder plot"". BBC News. BBC. 29 April 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  19. ^ Kopecký, Josef (9 November 2024). "Novým předsedou Pirátů je Hřib, Bartoše odměnili ovacemi vestoje". iDNES.cz (in Czech). Mafra. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
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Political offices
Preceded by Mayor of Prague
2018–2023 		Succeeded by
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