Peter Kmec

Peter Kmec (born 11 November 1966) is a Slovak diplomat and politician who has served as the Deputy Prime Minister for the Recovery Plan and Knowledge Economy.

Early life Kmec was born on 11 November 1966 in Nitra. Between 1985 and 1990, he studied at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. Kmec was the ambassador of Slovakia to Sweden from 2007 until 2012, later the United States from 2012 until 2018.

Political career In 2020, Kmec was elected as an MP of the National Council of Slovakia on the list of Direction – Social Democracy. Soon after the election, he joined the Voice – Social Democracy party, which split from Smer.

As a member of Voice, Kmec served as the main foreign policy expert, until a video was published by a Smer activist showing Kmec agreeing with government foreign policy experts in the need for pro-Western focus of Slovak politics. The video was used by Smer to accuse Voice of planning to form government with liberal parties, rather than pro-Russian Smer after the 2023 Slovak parliamentary election. As a result, Kmec lost his position as the Voice foreign policy expert. Following the election, Kmec became deputy prime minister as well as Minister of European Union Subsidies and the Recovery Plan in Fico's Fourth Cabinet. After his resignation, Kmec returned to the parliament.