[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki19\/eduard-heger-wikipedia\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki19\/eduard-heger-wikipedia\/","headline":"Eduard Heger – Wikipedia","name":"Eduard Heger – Wikipedia","description":"before-content-x4 8th Prime Minister of Slovakia after-content-x4 Eduard Heger (Slovak pronunciation:\u00a0[\u02c8eduard \u02c8\u0266eger]; born 3 May 1976) is a Slovak politician,","datePublished":"2022-05-02","dateModified":"2022-05-02","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki19\/author\/lordneo\/#Person","name":"lordneo","url":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki19\/author\/lordneo\/","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c9645c498c9701c88b89b8537773dd7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c9645c498c9701c88b89b8537773dd7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Enzyklop\u00e4die","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/wiki4\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/download.jpg","url":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/wiki4\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/download.jpg","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/3\/30\/Juraj_Droba_and_Eduard_Heger_opening_a_school_02.jpg\/220px-Juraj_Droba_and_Eduard_Heger_opening_a_school_02.jpg","url":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/3\/30\/Juraj_Droba_and_Eduard_Heger_opening_a_school_02.jpg\/220px-Juraj_Droba_and_Eduard_Heger_opening_a_school_02.jpg","height":"147","width":"220"},"url":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki19\/eduard-heger-wikipedia\/","wordCount":6264,"articleBody":"     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});before-content-x48th Prime Minister of Slovakia       (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});after-content-x4Eduard Heger (Slovak pronunciation:\u00a0[\u02c8eduard \u02c8\u0266eger]; born 3 May 1976) is a Slovak politician, serving as Prime Minister of Slovakia since 1 April 2021. He previously served as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in the cabinet of Igor Matovi\u010d. Heger was a member of the presidium of the populist movement Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (O\u013daNO) until March 2023.Table of Contents       (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});after-content-x4Early life[edit]Political career[edit]Opposition MP, 2016\u20132020[edit]In government[edit]Minister of Finance, 2020\u20132021[edit]Prime Minister, 2021\u2013[edit]Political views[edit]2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine[edit]Taxes[edit]Human Rights[edit]Abortion[edit]Personal life[edit]Awards and honors[edit]References[edit]Early life[edit]Heger was born in 1976 in Bratislava to parents employed in culture. His father, a member of the Communist party, organized big music festivals, which allowed young Heger to meet many local high profile musicians. His family was not religious, but Heger embraced Catholic charismatic renewal as a young adult after the death of his father. Prior to his entry to politics, he was professionally involved in management of the Charismatic Christian communities in Slovakia. In particular, he was active in the community under the administration of the Cathedral of St. Martin in Bratislava.[1]  Eduard Heger and Juraj Droba opening a school in the Bratislava regionIn 1999, Heger graduated in Trade and Management at the University of Economics in Bratislava. In his early career, he held junior managerial positions at several small companies, including several restaurants and bathroom accessory producer Intercomp. Between 2001 – 2005, Heger worked as a junior consultant for Cubic Corporation on a military modernization project for the Slovak Ministry of Defence.  In his early career, he spent about 18 months in the US, where he became acquainted with Juraj Droba, who later went on to become the Governor of the Bratislava Region a prominent liberal politician in Slovakia. Heger, despite being a conservative, formed a strong friendship with Droba. Together with American investors, they established a company called Old Nassau, the producer of Double Cross Vodka, a premium Slovak vodka brand destined mainly for export to the US. At Old Nassau, Heger was responsible for production and marketing until his entry to politics.[2][3]In 2016, Heger was persuaded to run for an MP seat by prominent figures of the Slovak Charismatic movement Branislav \u0160kripek and Richard Va\u0161e\u010dka, who were themselves active in politics.[1]       (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});after-content-x4Political career[edit]Opposition MP, 2016\u20132020[edit]In the 2016 parliamentary election, Heger gained a seat in the National Council of the Slovak Republic for the anti-corruption movement Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (O\u013daNO). Although his 24th place on electoral list of his party would otherwise not suffice for a seat, he became an MP due to over 15,000 personal votes he received under the Slovakia’s optional preferential voting system.[4] As an MP, he got appointed the chairman of the O\u013daNO parliamentary group, the chairman of the National Council Committee for Control of Military Intelligence and a member of the Economic and Foreign Affairs committees.Heger was a very active and vigorous critic of Fico’s Third Cabinet in Parliament. During his term, he was evaluated as the 2nd most active member of the National Council. He presented 173 bills and spoke 680 times in Parliament. He was the opposition shadow Minister of Finance and drew up “Program for sound public finances” of his movement and presented a set of measures to fight bureaucracy. He also participated in and organised several anti-corruption and anti-government protests. During the election term, he was a co-organiser of the Zastavme Hazard (Stop Gambling) initiative, which fought to ban gambling.[5]In the 2020 parliamentary election, Heger ran from the 142nd place on the O\u013daNO list in line with the tradition of the populist movement, where popular politicians run from the bottom positions on the list that do not guarantee them an automatic MP seat. He was once again elected by preferential votes, having received nearly 63,000 personal votes.In government[edit]Minister of Finance, 2020\u20132021[edit]After the 2020 O\u013daNO electoral victory, Heger forfeit his parliamentary seat to join the government, which is not compatible with the position of an MP in the Slovak constitutional system. In the cabinet of Prime Minister Igor Matovi\u010d he served as Minister of Finance and deputy PM. During his short tenure he had to deal with a major fiscal shock of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The most important tasks with respect to the pandemic were ensuring Slovakia’s ability to finance its spending needs and overseeing preparation of the national Recovery and Resilience Plan to access the Next Generation EU funding from the European Union. On 1 April 2021 a government reshuffle in response to the demands of O\u013daNO’s junior coalition partners Freedom and Solidarity and For the People parties who refused to support a government with Igor Matovi\u010d as a PM any longer took place. As a result, Heger became the Prime Minister and the previous PM Matovi\u010d took over the Ministry of Finance.[6]Prime Minister, 2021\u2013[edit]As a PM, Heger has won praise from his coalition partners for his diplomatic skills, which facilitated more constructive functioning of the government in comparison to the combative style to his predecessor Matovi\u010d.[7] At the same time, critics stress the lack of autonomy of Heger in relation to Matovi\u010d, who remained the chairman of O\u013daNO.[8] On the international stage, Heger has gained notability for his strong support for Ukraine in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, which manifested in several rounds of Slovak arms deliveries for Ukraine, support for Ukrainian membership in the European Union and a personal visit of Kyiv and surrounding areas devastated by the Russian army in April 2022 along with the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell.[9] His government was ousted in a motion of no confidence on 15 December, while president \u010caputov\u00e1 dismissed it on 16 December, and now serves as acting prime minister.[10][11]      On 7 March 2023 Heger announced his departure from O\u013daNO. He joined political party Democrats (previous Together \u2013 Civic Democracy).[12][13] His former political colleague, Christian democrat of K\u00da and an evangeliser Branislav \u0160kripek commented that Heger’s departure from conservative politics was regrettable.[14]Political views[edit]2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine[edit]Heger is a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its defense against the Russian invasion. Slovakia provided major arms deliveries, including its sole S-300 missile system[9] to Ukraine and Heger personally lobbied EU leaders for Ukrainian membership in the EU.[15]  At the  World Economic Forum in Davos, Heger explained that his support for Ukraine is due to his belief that if Ukraine was allowed to fall, Slovakia would be next in line to be invaded by Russia. [16] In February 2023, Heger expressed that he would be willing to send Slovak professional combat troops to fight in Ukraine as part of Slovakia’s alliance committments.[17]Taxes[edit]As a Minister of Finance, Heger supported a shift of tax burden from direct to property taxation. His plans were met with a strong backlash on social media, where claims that a massive hike of real estate tax was imminent mushroomed. Heger called these claims a “hoax” and stated his reform will not increase the overall tax burden but rather provide incentives for families and businesses to work and invest by decreasing the income tax.[18] The reform was never implemented, likely due to short-lasting tenure of Heger as the Minister of Finance.Human Rights[edit]Heger is a believer in the importance of European values such as human rights and the right to the freedom of expression. He also supported the protection of minorities. However he noted that Slovakia will be taking a neutral stance in the controversial Hungarian LGBT bill. Slovakia under his premiership did not sign a joint letter on fighting discrimination against the LGBT community, which 17 other EU leaders had signed.[19]Abortion[edit]Heger is staunchly pro-life stating that the human life begins at conception. Nonetheless, he rejects the “polarizing” debate around abortion in Slovakia.[20]Personal life[edit]Heger and his wife Lucia have four children. He is a devout Charismatic Catholic and in his free time he worked in several functions in the Catholic Church of Slovakia.[21][22]Awards and honors[edit]^ Igor Matovi\u010d left his office on 23 December 2022.^ Richard Sul\u00edk left his office on 13 September 2022.^ Richard Sul\u00edk left his office on 23 March 2021.References[edit]^ a b T\u00f3dov\u00e1, Monika (31 March 2021). “Nov\u00fd premi\u00e9r Eduard Heger: V Amerike som sa nau\u010dil, \u017ee ten, kto m\u00e1 opa\u010dn\u00fd n\u00e1zor, nie je nepriate\u013e”. Denn\u00edk N (in Slovak). Retrieved 15 August 2022.^ Kni\u0161, Viktor. “Kto je bud\u00faci premi\u00e9r Eduard Heger?”. refresher.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 15 August 2022.^ Kern, Miro (28 March 2021). “Nekonfliktn\u00fd charizmatik a obchodn\u00edk s vodkou: premi\u00e9rom bude Eduard Heger”. Denn\u00edk N.^ Miku\u0161ovi\u010d, Du\u0161an (28 February 2020). “Kr\u00fa\u017eky maj\u00fa v na\u0161ich vo\u013eb\u00e1ch ve\u013ek\u00fa v\u00e1hu, voli\u010di m\u00f4\u017eu stran\u00e1m prekopa\u0165 kandid\u00e1tky”. Denn\u00edk N (in Slovak). Retrieved 15 August 2022.^ “Official profile at the party website” (in Slovak). Retrieved 15 August 2022.^ Bariak, Ladislav; Debn\u00e1r, J\u00e1n (28 March 2021). “Koal\u00ed\u010dn\u00e1 kr\u00edza: Matovi\u010d sa chce vymeni\u0165 s Hegerom”. Aktuality.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 15 August 2022.^ “Sul\u00edk: Hegerova vl\u00e1da priniesla upokojenie vz\u0165ahov”. TERAZ.sk (in Slovak). 9 July 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2022.^ Tka\u010denko, Peter. “Toto je autentick\u00fd Heger (koment\u00e1r)”. komentare.sme.sk (in Slovak).^ a b Hudec, Michal (7 April 2022). “Slovak, Austrian PM’s to join EU leaders on Kyiv trip”. www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 15 August 2022.^ “No confidence vote topples Slovakia coalition government \u2013 DW \u2013 12\/15\/2022”. dw.com. Retrieved 2022-12-16.^ “\u010caputov\u00e1 odvolala vl\u00e1du. Heger nepl\u00e1nuje obetova\u0165 Matovi\u010da”. Pravda.sk (in Slovak). 2022-12-16. Retrieved 2022-12-16.^ “Heger vystoupil z Matovi\u010dova hnut\u00ed, zalo\u017eil vlastn\u00ed stranu – Novinky”. www.novinky.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 7 March 2023.^ “Slovensk\u00fd premi\u00e9r Heger kon\u010d\u00ed v Matovi\u010dov\u011b hnut\u00ed. Stal se l\u00eddrem Demokrat\u016f”. Den\u00edk.cz (in Czech). 7 March 2023. Retrieved 7 March 2023.^ “Branislav \u0160kripek o sp\u00e1jan\u00ed s KDH \/ Experiment s O\u013daNO sa pre m\u0148a skon\u010dil (video + text)”. www.postoj.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 2023-03-16.^ von der Burchard, Hans (14 June 2022). “Slovakia’s PM urges Germany to accept Ukraine as EU candidate”. POLITICO. Retrieved 15 August 2022.^ “Heger Warns Russia Could Threaten Slovakia If Ukraine Falls”. www.tasr.sk. Retrieved 15 August 2022.^ “Uhr\u00edk sa p\u00fdtal Hegera, \u010di by na Ukrajinu poslal slovensk\u00fdch vojakov v r\u00e1mci akcie NATO. \u201eSamozrejme,” odvetil r\u00e1zne Heger”. \u0160tandard (in Slovak). Retrieved 2023-02-21.^ Odkladal, Martin (15 March 2021). “Ministerstvo financi\u00ed vyvracia hoax o dramatickom zvy\u0161ovan\u00ed dan\u00ed z nehnute\u013enost\u00ed, ktor\u00fd sa \u0161\u00edri na soci\u00e1lnych sie\u0165ach”. Aktuality.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 16 August 2022.^ Kore\u0148, Mari\u00e1n (2021-06-30). “Slovak, Hungarian leaders meet in Budapest”. www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 2022-07-10.^ Magu\u0161in, Michal. “Premi\u00e9r Eduard Heger \/ Hlasoval by som za Z\u00e1borskej z\u00e1kon, \u017eivot treba chr\u00e1ni\u0165 od po\u010datia”. www.postoj.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 15 August 2022.^ Hanus, Martin; Majchr\u00e1k, Jozef. “Charizmatik v parlamente: Patr\u00edme do politiky”. www.postoj.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 15 August 2022.^ Hudec, Michal (14 June 2022). “Slovakia backs Ukraine’s EU ambition without shortcuts”. www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 15 August 2022.^ “\u041f\u0440\u043e \u043d\u0430\u0433\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0434\u0436\u0435\u043d\u043d\u044f \u0415. \u0425\u0435\u0433\u0435\u0440\u0430 \u043e\u0440\u0434\u0435\u043d\u043e\u043c “\u0417\u0430 \u0437\u0430\u0441\u043b\u0443\u0433\u0438”“. zakon.rada.gov.ua (in Ukrainian). 2021-08-23. Retrieved 2022-10-22.     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