Simona Petrík (, born 10 November 1982) is a Slovak politician who served as a member of the

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

from 2016–2020 and is serving again from 2023.

Early life

Petrik was born on 10 November 1982 in

Liptovský Mikuláš Liptovský Mikuláš (; until 1952 ''Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš'', ; ) is a town in northern Slovakia, on the Váh River, about from Bratislava. It lies in the Liptov region, in Podtatranská kotlina, Liptov Basin near the Low Tatra and Tat ...

Czechoslovak Socialist Republic The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, (Czech language, Czech and Slovak language, Slovak: ''Československá socialistická republika'', ČSSR) known from 1948 to 1960 as the Czechoslovak Republic (''Československá republika)'', Fourth Czecho ...

. She studied political science at

Comenius University Comenius University Bratislava () 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 named after Jan Amos Comenius, a 17th-century ...

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. ...

. Prior to her political career, Petrik worked in the field of

language education Language education refers to the processes and practices of teaching a second language, second or foreign language. Its study reflects interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary approaches, usually including some applied linguistics. There are f ...

, running an

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

educational agency. Petrik was also involved in

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

causes in Slovakia, working with the organization Real Women and founding the Women's Platform of Slovakia.

Political career

Petrík entered politics in 2015 as a member of SIEŤ, where she provided support to the party around women's issues. Petrik was elected as a member of #Network in the

2016 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 5 March 2016 to elect the 150 members of the National Council. The ruling left-wing populist Direction – Social Democracy (Smer) party remained the strongest party, but lost its majority. The ...

, but after the

Centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

#Network entered a coalition with Smer-SD Petrik left the party and sat as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

. In April 2016, Petrík was prohibited to enter parliamentary chambers by Deputy Speaker

Béla Bugár Béla Bugár (born 7 July 1958) is a Slovak politician of Hungarian descent. He was a member of the Slovak parliament from 1992 to 2020, briefly serving as its acting Speaker in 2006. He was the former leader of the political party Most–Híd ...

, due to the fact that she had her six-month old daughter with her. During her time in the National Council, Petrík worked heavily on women's issues. Petrik filed a complaint with the

Constitutional Court of Slovakia The Constitutional Court of Slovakia (officially Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic, ) is a special court established by the Constitution of Slovakia. Its seat is in Košice in eastern Slovakia. Its head is Ivan Fiačan (since 2019). Ta ...

about discrimination around a law regulating private crèches (

nursery school A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin c ...

s). She also pointed out the unconstitutionality of extra fees charged by the hospital for childbirth, including choosing your own

obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

Epidurals Epidural administration (from Ancient Greek ἐπί, "upon" + '' dura mater'') is a method of medication administration in which a medicine is injected into the epidural space around the spinal cord. The epidural route is used by physicians a ...

, and the presence of the father in the delivery room. When news of the story came to light, the Ministry of Health pledged to remove those fees. She tabled a bill in parliament calling for ten days of

paternity leave Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" and "paternity leave ...

for expectant fathers. Together with her independent parliamentary colleagues Miroslav Beblavý,

Jozef Mihál Jozef Mihál (born 18 March 1965) is a Slovak politician and tax consultant. He was Deputy Prime Minister; Minister for Labour, Social Affairs, and Family; and deputy leader of Freedom and Solidarity (SaS). Mihál attended Charles University i ...

, Katarína Macháčková, Viera Dubačová and

Oto Žarnay Oto Žarnay (born 18 March 1969 in Košice) is a Slovak teacher, anticorruption activist and politician. Between 2016 and 2020, he served as an MP of the National Council, elected on the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities list. In F ...

, Petrik founded the party Democrats in April 2017. At the same time, the initiators and founders of the party published their call Vráťme Slovensko ľuďom. In July 2017,

News Agency of the Slovak Republic The News Agency of the Slovak Republic (; abbreviation TASR or TASR-Slovakia) is a Slovak news agency founded on 30 January 1992. Its headquarters are located in Slovak capital Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozso ...

reported that Petrik was one of the "most curious" members of parliament, having asked 57 questions of the government. At the party's founding convention in

Poprad Poprad (; ; ) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatras, High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. The largest town of the Spiš region and the largest of all towns in the vic ...

on 14 April 2018, Petrík was elected one of the party's presidents. During the

2019 European Parliament election in Slovakia Elections for the 2019 European Parliament election took place in Slovakia on 25 May 2019. Thirty-one parties featured on the electoral list. The election was won by alliance of Progressive Slovakia and TOGETHER - Civic Democracy. It was the fir ...

in February 2019, Miroslav Beblavý of Democrats and

Ivan Štefunko Ivan Štefunko (born 4 March 1977) is a Slovak politician, entrepreneur, and co-founder of multiple companies. He served as chairman of Progressive Slovakia from 2018 until 2019. Since 2023, he serves as an MP of the National Council of Slovakia. ...

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 ...

announced that the parties would run together in the European elections. Petrík placed third on the Democrats list with 22,499 votes, and was not elected. 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� ...

, SPOLU ran in a coalition with

. Petrik was in the ninth position on the candidate list. She finished eighth place with 14,713 votes among coalition candidates, but the coalition failed to reach the 7% threshold to receive seats in parliament. In March 2021, Simona Petrík left Spolu and joined Progressive Slovakia. She was elected MP in the

2023 Slovak parliamentary election Early parliamentary elections were held in the Slovakia, Slovak Republic on 30 September 2023 to elect members of the National Council (Slovakia), National Council. Regular elections were scheduled to be held in 2024. However, on 15 December 202 ...

Personal life

Petrík is married with two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrik, Simona 1982 births Living people People from Liptovský Mikuláš Slovak Conservative Party politicians Democrats (Slovakia) politicians Progressive Slovakia politicians Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2016–2020 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2023–2027 Slovak feminists Women members of the National Council (Slovakia) 21st-century Slovak women politicians Comenius University alumni