Eduard Kukan

Eduard Kukan ( born December 26, 1939 in Trnovec nad Váhom ) is a Slovak politician, currently Member of Parliament and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia.

Kukan studied and graduated in 1964 his studies at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations from and has thereby received the degree of Doctor of Law from the Charles University in Prague.

From 1964 to 1990 he held various positions in the service of Foreign Affairs of Czechoslovakia; he worked at the embassies in Lusaka (1968-1973), Washington, DC (1977-1981) and was ambassador in Addis Ababa ( 1985-1988). Shortly after the turn of the year 1989, when he also ended the existing since 1964 a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, he was appointed Ambassador of Czechoslovakia ( 1990-92 ) and Slovakia ( 1993-94 ) at the United Nations.

In the period March 1994 to December 1994 he was Secretary of the temporary government Moravčík. After he was 1995-1998 and 2000 member of the Democratic Union Party and, since 1997, its chairman. Shortly before the 1998 parliamentary elections, he was a member of the Slovak Democratic Coalition and was elected vice-chairman. Shortly after the parliamentary elections, he was appointed on 15 October 1998, as Foreign Minister of the first government of Mikuláš Dzurinda and stayed on in the second Dzurinda government after the parliamentary elections of 2002. From 7 May 1999 to 30 June 2000 was by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was appointed UN Special Envoy for the Balkans.

In the presidential elections of 2004 he became a government candidate, but remained in the first round just behind Vladimir Meciar and Ivan Gašparovič and could not participate in the runoff with it.

Since 2000 he is a member of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union Party ( SDKU, since 2006 SDKU -DS). After the parliamentary elections of 2006 he was a Member of the Slovak Parliament, before he was elected in the 2009 European elections for MEPs for the SDKU -DS within the European People's Party.

Kukan is married and has two children; He speaks English, Russian, Spanish and Swahili.