Martin Poliačik (born 27 June 1980) is a Slovak expert on communication and critical thinking. He is the Director for Strategy and Partnerships at the Emile Foundation. From 2010 to 2020, he was a member of the

National Council of the Slovak Republic The National Council of the Slovak Republic (, abbreviated to ''NR SR'') is the national parliament of Slovakia. It is unicameralism, unicameral and consists of 150 members, who are elected by universal suffrage under proportional representation ...

. He is one of the founding members of the liberal party

Progressive Slovakia Progressive Slovakia (, PS) is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Slovakia established in 2017. The party is led by Michal Šimečka, a former Vice President of the European Parliament. It is a member of the Renew Europe group and ...

. He previously co-founded the political party

Freedom and Solidarity Freedom and Solidarity (, SaS), also called Saska, is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Slovakia. Established in 2009,. SaS was founded by economist Richard Sulík, who designed Slovakia's flat tax system. It generally hol ...

, which he left in November 2017 due to disagreements with its chairman,

Richard Sulík Richard Sulík (; born 12 January 1968) is a Slovak politician, economist and businessman. He is the leader of the political party Freedom and Solidarity and served as Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Economy in Government of ...

. Poliačik studied systematic philosophy in Trnava, Slovakia. Prior to entering politics, he was a teacher at a Montessori school in Bratislava. From 2003 to 2006, he led the Slovak Debating Association as its executive director. Together with Linda Lančová, Poliačik wrote the book ''Order in the Head (Critical Thinking for Every Day)''.

Early life

Poliačik spent his childhood in communist-era Czechoslovakia. He founded a debating club while studying at grammar school and has been involved in argumentation and public speaking. From 1999 to 2006 he studied the

History of Philosophy The history of philosophy is the systematic study of the development of philosophical thought. It focuses on philosophy as rational inquiry based on argumentation, but some theorists also include myth, religious traditions, and proverbial lor ...

Philosophical Anthropology Philosophical anthropology, sometimes called anthropological philosophy, is a discipline within philosophy that inquires into the essence of human nature. It deals with questions of metaphysics and phenomenology of the human person. Philosophic ...

Metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

, and

Ontology Ontology is the philosophical study of existence, being. It is traditionally understood as the subdiscipline of metaphysics focused on the most general features of reality. As one of the most fundamental concepts, being encompasses all of realit ...

at the Faculty of Philosophy of the

University of Trnava The University of Trnava (in Trnava) () is based in Trnava, in western Slovakia. The university's presence in the town has historical antecedents as the University of Nagyszombat was operating there throughout the 17th and 18th century (present d ...

, where he earned a Master of Philosophy degree. From 2003 to 2005 Poliačik completed supplementary pedagogical studies. Between 2003 and 2006 he was the executive director of the . From 2009 to 2010 Poliačik taught science, history, civics, and ethics at the

Montessori School The Montessori method of education is a type of educational method that involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing ...

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

Political career

Freedom and Solidarity

Martin Poliačik was one of the founders of

in 2009. He was a member of the Republican Council and chairman of the Programme Committee.

Electoral Period 2010–2012

In the party's first election to the National Assembly, he ran as the 11th candidate, receiving 4,893 preferential votes, which secured him a parliamentary seat. During this term, he was a member of the Constitutional and Legal Committee and the Committee on Education, Science, Youth, and Sport.

Electoral Period 2012–2016

In the

2012 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 10 March 2012 to elect the 150 members of the National Council. The elections followed the fall of Prime Minister Iveta Radičová's Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party-led ...

Poliačik ran from the ninth place on the list of Freedom and Solidarity candidates. He finished eighth place by winning 7,595 preferential votes. He served as a member of the Constitutional Law Committee and the Mandate and Immunity Committee and was the deputy chairman of the party parliamentary club.

Electoral period 2016–2020

In the 2016 parliamentary elections he ran as the 8th candidate on the ticket, receiving 45,914 votes and securing a parliamentary seat. He was the chairman of the Committee on the Incompatibility of Functions and a member of the Committee on Education, Science, Youth, and Sport. In March 2017 Poliačik was elected as one of the twelve members of the party's Republican Council, supported by

, despite their differences.

Council of Europe

From 2016 to 2020 he served in the Slovak delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...

. As vice-president of the ALDE faction, he spoke on topics such as Russian voting rights, election rigging in the Russian Federation, and the investigation into the murder of

Boris Nemtsov Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov; (9 October 195927 February 2015) was a Russian physicist, liberalism in Russia, liberal politician, and outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin. Early in his political career, he was involved in the introduction of reform ...

. Due to his opposition to restoring voting rights to the Russian delegation, Speaker of the

Andrej Danko Andrej Danko (born 12 August 1974) is a Slovak politician who was the speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic from 2016 to 2020 and Chairman of the nationalist Slovak National Party since 2012. Early life Born in Revúca, Danko ...

and head of delegation to PACE

Ľuboš Blaha Ľuboš Blaha (born 7 December 1979) is a Slovak politician, academic, post-Marxist philosopher and political scientist. He is a member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, a presidium member of the left-wing populist party Directio ...

, both very pro-Russian, sought his removal from the delegation.

Friends of Tibet Club

Poliačik led the Friends of Tibet Club in the Slovak Parliament for ten years, welcoming members of the exiled Tibetan parliament, the prime minister of the exiled Tibetan government, and the

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (born 6 July 1935; full spiritual name: Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, shortened as Tenzin Gyatso; ) is the incumbent Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. He served a ...

to Slovakia. In 2019, he attended the 60th anniversary of the Tibetan national uprising in Dharamshala, India, with then deputy speaker of parliament,

Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová (; born 28 November 1976) is a Slovakia, Slovak politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. A former journalist, she previously served as State Secretary of the Ministry of Labor ...

Progressive Slovakia

In November 2017 Poliačik announced his departure from

due to differences with chairman

, citing inadequate communication of the party's pro-European orientation and support for democracy The same year in December, Poliačik joined

, resulting in his dismissal as chair of the Committee on Incompatibility of Functions. In March 2018 Poliačik became a member of the Committee on Education, Science, Youth, and Sport, and participated as a substitute in the Permanent Delegation to the

. After

Zuzana Čaputová Zuzana Čaputová (; Strapáková; born 21 June 1973) is a Slovak politician, lawyer and environmental activist who served as the fifth president of Slovakia from 2019 to 2024. Čaputová is the first woman to hold the presidency, as well as the ...

's election as

President of Slovakia The president of the Slovak Republic () serves as the head of state of Slovakia and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The people directly elect the president for five years, for a maximum of two consecutive terms. The presidency is essent ...

, he was elected Vice-Chairman of Progressive Slovakia at the 2019 Congress.

Electoral period 2020–2023

In the

2020 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 29 February 2020 to elect all 150 members of the National Council. The populist Ordinary People and Independent Personalities–NOVA–Christian Union–Change from Below (OĽaNO–NOVA–KÚ� ...

Poliačik ran as the 16th candidate of the PS/ Democrats coalition, receiving 10,969 votes but did not secure a seat due to the coalition's overall result During the

2024 European Parliament election in Slovakia The 2024 European Parliament election in Slovakia was held on 8 June 2024 as part of the 2024 European Parliament election. This was the fifth European Parliament election held in Slovakia, and the first to take place after Brexit. Background ...

, Poliačik ran from 15th place on the

ticket for the European Parliament. Progressive Slovakia won six seats, and Poliačik received 13,529 preferential votes, becoming the first alternate.

Business Activities

After retiring from active politics in 2020, Poliačik has been running the family business with his wife, Hana. He is a lecturer at the Academy of Critical Thinking, and their company, Zoras, is dedicated to improving sleep quality.

Activities in Ukraine

After the Russian Federation's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Poliačik organised a visit of a Ukrainian parliamentary delegation to Slovakia in March 2022. From December 2022 to January 2024, he worked in Kyiv as deputy director of the Ukrainian branch of the international organisation GLOBSEC.

Ideological Beliefs

In a blog post for ''Denník N'', Poliačik expressed his centrist, strongly liberal ideological beliefs based on respect for liberal democracy, which he termed inclusive capitalism. He highlighted the importance of free markets, competition, innovation, and the mobilisation of financial capital for education and entrepreneurial endeavours, while rejecting socialist redistribution of resources.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poliacik, Martin 1980 births Living people People from Považská Bystrica Slovak educators Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2010-2012 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2012–2016 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2016–2020 Freedom and Solidarity politicians Progressive Slovakia politicians Montessori teachers