Zahradil was educated at the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague, and after graduating in 1987, he became a scientific researcher until 1992. He speaks Czech, Slovak, English, Russian, German and Polish. He is married and has two children.
Domestic politics
From 1990 until 1992, Zahradil was a Member of the Federal Assembly of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic. From 1995 until 1997 Zahradil was a foreign policy adviser to the Prime Minister, Václav Klaus. In 1998, Zahradil was elected as a Member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic and held that position until 2004. In 2001, he was elected a Vice-Chairman of the ODS, and between 2002 and 2004, was the First Vice-Chairman.
European Parliament
In 2004, he was elected a Member of the European Parliament and was the Chairman of the ODS in the European Parliament. Between 2004 and 2009, ODS MEPs sat with the EPP-ED grouping in the European Parliament, but after the 2009 elections, several members of the EPP-ED left to join the newly formed European Conservatives and Reformists grouping, which was based on the Movement for European Reform, an alliance between ODS and the British Conservative Party. In his capacity as Chairman of ODS in the European Parliament, Zahradil reportedly led negotiations in forming the new group which after the European elections in 2014 become the third largest group in the European Parliament. He was elected Vice Chairman of the ECR, sitting on the group's Executive. In March 2011, he was elected to replace Michał Kamiński as chairman of the group, defeating Timothy Kirkhope by 33 votes to 18. After his re-election in 2014 he was elected Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade. In October 2018, he announced his intention to become the European Conservatives and Reformists Group's candidate for the European Commission presidency. He was endorsed by the ECR Group on 13 November 2018, making him the first Spitzenkandidat from Eastern Europe. Since the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe was founded in 2010 Jan Zahradil has been its President.
Ethical controversy
Jan Zahradil made controversial statements whitewashing European Parliament’s criticisms on the state of human rights in Azerbaijan, mentioned in three European Parliament resolutions in the period of 2015–2018. He called the resolutions “short-sighted, one-sided, one-issue resolutions” and argued that Azerbaijan is a “victim of political games” suggesting that the EU should tolerate the massive breaches of human rights, persecutions and imprisonments of journalists in Azerbaijan for the sake of partnership with the country. In April 2018 a Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe investigation revealed that Azerbaijan blindfolded several members of PACE, bringing into play the infamous caviar diplomacy to tone down and soothe criticism towards Azerbaijan. These members were subjected to sanctions. Commenting on these events, Zahradil said: "The Council of Europe has made unilateral and biased decisions on Azerbaijan and it should be abolished".
