JÁN FIGEL’ (Vranov nad Topľou, 1960), studied power electronics at the Technical University of Košice. He received his PhD from St. Elisabeth University, Bratislava, in 2007. He joined the conservative Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) in 1990 and was elected to the National Council of the Slovak Republic in 1992, serving on its Foreign Affairs Committee and becoming a member of Slovakia’s delegation to the Council of Europe a year later. In 1998 he was appointed State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also represented the Slovak government in the European Convention which drafted the European Constitution. He returned to the National Council in 2002 where he chaired its Foreign Affairs Committee, stepping down in 2004 to take up his Commission post. From 1995 to 2000 Figeľ lectured on international relations at Trnava University. From 2012 to 2016 he was Vice-President of the National Council of the Slovak Republic.