Jan Hamáček


Jan Hamáček is a Czech politician who has been Leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party since March 2018 and Minister of the Interior since June 2018. He also served as Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies from 2013 to 2017, and was acting Minister of Foreign Affairs from June to October 2018. Hamáček has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2006.

Political career

Prior to his election to parliament, Hamáček worked as an adviser to two Prime Ministers, and as his party's International Secretary.
Hamáček has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies since the 2006 elections. During his time in parliament, he has held the position of Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, headed the Czech delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and served on the Committee on European Affairs.
Hamáček became the leader of CSSD in March 2018. In Andrej Babis' Second Cabinet, sworn in in June 2018, he was named Minister of the Interior, and also served as acting Minister of Foreign Affairs from June to October 2018. Miroslav Poche was originally nominated to be the minister, but due to President Miloš Zeman's refusal to swear him in, Hamáček was made acting foreign minister until the situation could be resolved. On 16 October 2018, Tomáš Petříček was named the new Minister of Foreign Affairs.
In August 2018, Hamáček helped negotiate the release of two workers from a German humanitarian group in Syria, and traveled to Damascus for the handover of the workers; the Czech Republic is the only country in Europe that maintains diplomatic relations with Syria.