Zdeněk Hřib (born 21 May 1981) is a Czech healthcare manager and Czech Pirate Party politician who has served as the Mayor of Prague since November 2018.Primátorem Prahy bude Pirát Hřib. Další koaliční lídři jsou mimo radu
(in Czech). ''Mladá fronta DNES''. 25 October 2018. Initially a physician, Hřib held managerial and consulting positions in state, corporate and non-profit healthcare entities dedicated to

digitization DigitizationTech Target. (2011, April). Definition: digitization. ''WhatIs.com''. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer-r ...

quality control Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach place ...

, and

consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

. He ran unsuccessfully in the 2014 Prague municipal election, but assumed office following the 2018 municipal election, where the Pirates ranked second and formed a governing coalition with the third and fourth-ranked parties that holds 39 out of 65 seats in the Prague City Assembly.

Early life and career

Zdeněk Hřib was born on 21 May 1981 in

Slavičín Slavičín () is a town in Zlín District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 6,200 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Divnice, Hrádek na Vlárské dráze and Nevšová are administrative parts of Slavičín. Geogr ...

, near the city of

Zlín Zlín (in 1949–1989 Gottwaldov; ; german: Zlin) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 73,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Zlín Region and it lies on the Dřevnice river. It is known as an industrial centre. The development of the ...

in the south-east of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. He studied medicine at the

Charles University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , under ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

and participated in a

student exchange program A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or university study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, but doe ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

. Subsequently, Hřib held managerial positions in the healthcare industry, focusing on digitization of healthcare services. Since 2012, he has been the director and founder of a non-profit organization that provides

, efficiency assessment and consulting for healthcare providers as well as

for healthcare customers. In 2013, Hřib became a registered supporter of the Czech Pirate Party and ran unsuccessfully in the 2014 Prague municipal election.

Mayor of Prague (2018–present)

The Pirates ranked 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-ranked coalitions that holds a total of 39 out of 65 seats. Hřib, as the leading Pirate candidate with 75,082 votes, was elected the Mayor of Prague on 15 November 2018 by the Prague City Assembly and took over the office from Adriana Krnáčová. Zdeněk Hřib and Joseph Wu on 1 April 2019

Zdeněk Hřib and Joseph Wu on 1 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

, and Hřib refused to do so. He has criticized a clause of the

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

agreement between Prague and Beijing that references to the

One-China principle The term One China may refer to one of the following: * The One China principle is the position held by the People's Republic of China (PRC) that there is only one sovereign state under the name China, with the PRC serving as the sole legit ...

and he stated that this policy is "a complicated matter of foreign politics between two countries" and therefore "has no place in the sister cities agreement". Hřib also subsequently criticized a retaliatory decision of the Chinese government to cancel a planned tour of China by the Prague Philharmonia as a politicization of culture. According to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', Hřib was responsible for restoring the "Czech Republic’s image as a champion of human rights". Hřib visited Taiwan as the Mayor twice, first in 2019 and again in 2020. In December 2019, Hřib was among the four mayors of

Visegrád Group The Visegrád Group (also known as the Visegrád Four, the V4, or the European Quartet) is a cultural and political alliance of four Central European countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The alliance aims to advance co-op ...

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". On 17 January 2019, Hřib appealed to the city council to name a street in

in honor of Paweł Adamowicz, the former mayor of

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

who was assassinated on 13 January 2019. On 5 June 2019, the street in Riegrovy Sady park named after Adamowicz was officially inaugurated. In February 2020, he named the square in front of the Russian embassy “

Boris Nemtsov Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov ( rus, Бори́с Ефи́мович Немцо́в, p=bɐˈrʲis jɪˈfʲiməvʲɪtɕ nʲɪmˈtsof; 9 October 195927 February 2015) was a Russian physicist and liberal politician. He was involved in the introduction ...

Square”. In April 2020, Hřib oversaw the removal of the

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...

dedicated to Soviet marshal

Ivan Konev Ivan Stepanovich Konev ( rus, link=no, Ива́н Степа́нович Ко́нев, p=ɪˈvan sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪtɕ ˈkonʲɪf; – 21 May 1973) was a Soviet general and Marshal of the Soviet Union who led Red Army forces on the ...

, as Konev is viewed in the Czech Republic as a symbol of Soviet-era oppression. In April 2020, Hřib was put under police protection, because Czech intelligence had received evidence of a planned poisoning attack by the Russian secret service.

Personal life

Hřib is married and has three children. As a mayor, he commutes by

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

References

External links

* *
Zdeněk Hřib
on Czech Pirate Party website {{DEFAULTSORT:Hrib, Zdenek 1981 births 21st-century Czech politicians Czech Pirate Party mayors Mayors of places in the Czech Republic Living people People from Slavičín Charles University alumni Mayors of Prague

Early life and career

Mayor of Prague (2018–present)

Personal life

See also

References

External links