Eduard Kukan (26 December 1939 – 10 February 2022) was a Slovakian politician who served as

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

from 1998 to 2006. He was a candidate in the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

held on 3 April 2004, and although pre-election polls had suggested he would come first, he actually came in third behind the eventual President

Ivan Gašparovič Ivan Gašparovič (; born 27 March 1941) is a Slovak politician and lawyer who was third president of Slovakia from 2004 to 2014. He was also the first and currently the only Slovak president to be re-elected. Biography Ivan Gašparovič was ...

and former prime minister

Vladimír Mečiar Vladimír Mečiar (; born 26 July 1942) is a Slovak politician who served as the prime minister of Slovakia three times, from 1990 to 1991, from 1992 to 1994 and from 1994 to 1998. He was the leader of the People's Party - Movement for a Democr ...

, thus preventing him from contesting the run-off. He was elected

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) in 2009, a position he held until 2019. In 1999, Kukan was appointed United Nations Special Envoy on Kosovo by

UN Secretary General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-g ...

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...

, a role he held alongside

Carl Bildt Nils Daniel Carl Bildt (born 15 July 1949) is a Swedish politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994. He was the leader of the Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999. Bildt served as Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affair ...

. Sq:Eduard Kukan

Early life and education

Kukan graduated from The

Moscow State Institute of International Relations Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) (russian: Московский государственный институт международных отношений (МГИМО), also known as MGIMO University) is an institute of ...

in 1964, where he also gained an excellent command of the Swahili language. After graduation he received a Doctorate in Law from the Faculty of Law of the Charles University in Prague.

Diplomatic career

Since then his employments have included: *Ministry of Foreign Affairs of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

in Prague (began on 1 August 1964) **Headquarters in the Department of Sub-Saharan Africa (1964–1968) **Secretariat of the Minister (1973–1977) **Director of the Department of Sub-Saharan Africa (1981–1985) **Director of the Department of Latin America (1988–1990) *Czechoslovak Embassy in Lusaka (1968–1973) *Czechoslovak Embassy in Washington as Minister-Counsellor and Deputy Ambassador (1977–1981) *Czechoslovak Embassy in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

as Ambassador (1985–1988) *Permanent Representative of Czechoslovakia to the United Nations in New York (1991) *Permanent Representative of Slovakia to the UN (1993) **UN Chairman of the Committee for Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Affairs **Special Envoy for the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

(1991–2001) *Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia (March 1994 – December 1994) *Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia (October 1998 – 2006) *Special Envoy for the Balkans (1991–2001)

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–2019

Kukan has been a

since the 2009 European elections. In the election campaign, he led the list of candidates of the centre-right

Slovak Democratic and Christian Union Slovak may refer to: * Something from, related to, or belonging to Slovakia (''Slovenská republika'') * Slovaks, a Western Slavic ethnic group * Slovak language, an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages * Slovak, Arka ...

(SDKÚ). Kukan has since been serving on the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In addition, he was a member of the Subcommittee on Human Rights between 2009 and 2014. In 2014, he moved to the Subcommittee on Security and Defence. In 2010, Kukan joined the ''Friends of the EEAS'', an unofficial and independent pressure group formed because of concerns that the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton was not paying sufficient attention to the Parliament and was sharing too little information on the formation of the

European External Action Service The European External Action Service (EEAS) is the diplomatic service and combined foreign and defence ministry of the European Union (EU). The EEAS is led by the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP), who is al ...

. Kukan led the parliament's monitoring mission during the Ugandan general elections in 2016.

Other activities

* Global Panel Foundation, Member of the Board of Advisors * He was a teacher at the

Comenius University in Bratislava Comenius University in Bratislava ( sk, Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave) is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is name ...

, Faculty of Law, Department of International Law and International Relations.

Personal life and death

Kukan was married and had two adult children. In addition to his native tongue and Swahili, he spoke English, Russian, and Spanish. In 1993, he was awarded an honorary law degree by the

Upsala College Upsala College (UC) was a private college affiliated with the Swedish-American Augustana Synod (later the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church) and located in East Orange in Essex County, New Jersey in the United States. Upsala was founded in ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. He died from a heart attack in Bratislava on 9 February 2022, at the age of 82.Zomrel Eduard Kukan, trojnásobný minister zahraničných vecí
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References

External links

Moscow State Institute of International Relations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kukan, Eduard 1939 births 2022 deaths Foreign Ministers of Slovakia Slovak diplomats Moscow State Institute of International Relations alumni Permanent Representatives of Czechoslovakia to the United Nations Permanent Representatives of Slovakia to the United Nations Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party MEPs MEPs for Slovakia 2009–2014 MEPs for Slovakia 2014–2019 Ambassadors of Czechoslovakia to Ethiopia Candidates for President of Slovakia People from Šaľa District Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 1994-1998 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2006-2010