Miroslav Lajčák (born 20 March 1963) is a Slovak politician and diplomat who held the office of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic from 2009 to 2010 and again from 2012 to 2020, serving across three different governments led by Robert Fico and one government led by Peter Pellegrini. In addition, Lajčák also served as President of the United Nations General Assembly for the 72nd session from 2017 until 2018.
A key figure in the mediation of the post-conflict crises in the Western Balkans, Lajčák acted as Executive Assistant to the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Balkans from 1999 to 2001. He negotiated, organized and supervised the referendum on the independence of Montenegro in 2006 on behalf of the European Union.
From 2007 to 2009, Lajčák led the mission as High Representative of the International Community and European Union Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During his tenure, Bosnia and Herzegovina signed the landmark Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union.
From 2020 to 2025, Lajčák oversaw the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue and other Western Balkan regional issues as the EU Special Representative. Since 2025, he acted as advisor to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico for foreign affairs and national security.
In late 2025 and early 2026, the release of the "Epstein files" by the U.S. Department of Justice triggered a major political scandal in Slovakia. Documents revealed extensive correspondence between Lajčák and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from 2017 to 2019, including reports that Lajčák wanted to be introduced to "young girls", expressed a desire to participate in Epstein's private "games" and discussed strategic political interests with Epstein's network. While photographs confirmed their personal connection, Lajčák maintained that the interactions were strictly professional and routine for his diplomatic duties.
On 31 January 2026, following a joint statement from opposition politicians calling for his departure, and mounting pressure from the media, Lajčák submitted his resignation, which Fico accepted.
Biography Early life and education Lajčák attended primary school in Stará Ľubovňa. In 1977 his family moved to Bratislava, where he enrolled in grammar school on Bilíková Street. He finished the final year of his secondary education at grammar school in Banská Štiavnica. Later he studied law at the Comenius University in Bratislava for a year before he obtained a master's degree in international relations from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). As a student, he joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. He also studied at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
Diplomatic career (1988–2005) A member of the Communist Party, Lajčák joined the Czechoslovak foreign ministry in 1988. Between 1991 and 1993 Lajčák was posted to the Czechoslovak and subsequently Slovak embassy in Moscow.
Upon his return to Slovakia in 1993 to the newly established Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia, he took an active part in forming the national Foreign Service. He became Director of the Cabinet of the Foreign Minister and later on Director of the Cabinet of the Prime Minister Jozef Moravčík.
In 1994, he was appointed Slovak Ambassador to Japan, becoming the youngest-ever Head of Diplomatic Mission of Slovakia. At the age of 31, he was also the youngest foreign ambassador in Japan. In 1998 after his posting to Japan he returned to the Foreign Ministry to become for the second time Director of Slovakia Foreign Minister's Cabinet.
His international engagements started in 1999 when he served as the Executive Assistant to the United Nations Secretary–General ́s Special Envoy for the Balkans, Eduard Kukan (until 2001).
Between 2001 and 2005, Lajčák was based in Belgrade as Slovakia's Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (later Serbia and Montenegro), with accreditation also to Albania and the Republic of Macedonia.
Following his term in Belgrade, he was named Political Director at the Foreign Ministry of Slovakia (2005–2007).
Supervisor of Montenegro's independence referendum (2005) In 2005 the EU diplomacy chief Javier Solana called Lajčák to supervise the 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, which was approved with a 55.5% of favourable votes.EU wins Montenegro's support for its referendum formula, published on 2006/02/27.
International High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (2007–2009) On 1 July 2007, Solana again chose Lajčák to succeed Christian Schwarz-Schilling as the double-hatted High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina/EU Special Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (OHR/EUSR). With a mandate from the UN Security Council, he liaised regularly with the United Nations and reported periodically to the Security Council. During his tenure, BiH signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU, the most remarkable integration success of the country for many years to come. He also launched activities to reach out to the population including speaking tours and a website for dialogue with citizens.
He was soon acclaimed as "person of the year" by both Banja Luka-based Nezavisne novine and Sarajevo-based Dnevni Avaz dailies.
Lajčák acted in 2007–09 in line with a moderately strong role of the OHR (using Bonn powers more than Schwarz-Schilling but less than Paddy Ashdown); critics of the international supervision of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including David Chandler, pointed to his "authoritarian stance" as responsible for creating a further crisis by trying to impose major institutional change and alter the Dayton peace agreement framework without domestic ownership or legitimacy. Lajčák is deemed to have achieved results on the ground but at the price of endangering the credibility of EU conditionality by accepting merely cosmetic legal changes. He left BiH in January 2009 after being nominated to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia.
Lajčák did resort to the use of the Bonn Powers in the crisis related to the 2007 Law on the Council of Ministers, which caused a showdown with Milorad Dodik's SNSD. The law, aimed at revising decision-making procedures to make the BiH government less prone to blockages, triggered the resignation of the Bosnian prime minister Nikola Špirić (SNSD) and withdrawal of Bosnian Serbs from state institutions. The OHR then published an "authentic interpretation" of the law, claiming that it did not intend to change the composition of the Council of Ministers. Lajčák also removed RS police officials deemed complicit in war crimes. Upon instructions of Solana, Lajčák contented himself of cosmetic changes to bring to an end the police reform saga, leading to the signature of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the EU in June 2008, despite claims that the EU had lost his credibility by lowering the bar which had been set by Paddy Ashdown in 2005.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia (2009–2010, 2012–2020)
From 26 January 2009 until July 2010, Lajčák served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in Robert Fico's First Cabinet.
From December 2010 to April 2012 Lajčák served as managing director for Europe and Central Asia in the EU's External Action Service.
In April 2012 Lajčák was appointed again, as an independent, to the post of foreign minister and deputy prime minister in Robert Fico's Second Cabinet.Slovak Foreign Policy After the 2012 Elections: What To Expect, published on May 9, 2012. In addition, he became Chairman of the Government's Council for Human Rights, National Minorities and Gender Equality.
After the 2014 Bosnian general election, he encouraged Dodik's SNSD party to enter the government coalition, despite having lost the Presidency seat, claiming that "new authorities must have legitimacy."
After the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, in May 2014, he visited Moscow and met with the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin. Rogozin and Lajčák were co-chairs of a joint Slovak-Russian cooperation body.
In November 2015 Slovakia voted against Kosovo's membership in UNESCO. Lajčák later explained that Slovakia wanted Belgrade and Pristina to interpret it as a message, that the international community expects parties to submit such proposals on the basis of mutual agreement and consent. "Our interest is to strengthen the dialogue. One of the reasons why we took a negative attitude is that the issue was not the subject of the dialogue and we are afraid it could worsen it," he added.
In 2016 Lajčák called on the EU to abandon its "ideological" approach to Russia.
In October 2018, he threatened to freeze relations with Vietnam over the case of a Vietnamese businessman who was kidnapped by Vietnamese agents and smuggled back home through Slovakia.Tatiana Jancarikova (October 20, 2018), Slovakia threatens to freeze relations with Vietnam over kidnapping case Reuters.
In November 2018, Lajčák lambasted as "anti-democratic" the proposed Kosovo–Serbia land swap and cautioned against the regional repercussions of such a proposal.
In November 2018, Lajčák announced that he would contemplate his resignation if the parliament rejected the Global Compact for Migration. On 29 November 2018, after the parliament had voted to refuse the compact, the Foreign Affairs Minister decided to resign, but later withdrew his resignation.
Since 2019, Lajčák has been serving on the Transatlantic Task Force of the German Marshall Fund and the Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung (BKHS), co-chaired by Karen Donfried and Wolfgang Ischinger.The German Marshall Fund and Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung Launch "Transatlantic Task Force" Setting Path Forward for U.S.-Europe Relations German Marshall Fund, press release of December 12, 2019.
Between the EU-facilitated 5 August political agreement and the December breakthrough on a new SNSD-led government, on 27 Oct 2019, Lajčák invited both Milorad Dodik and Dragan Čović to Bratislava for "international mediation" which paved the way for BiH adopting its ANP with NATO.
Lajčák announced in November 2019 that he would leave Slovak politics following the 2020 Slovak parliamentary election.
EEAS Managing Director for Europe and Central Asia (2010–2012)
From 2010 to 2012, Lajčák helped shape the newly formed diplomatic service of the European Union, the European External Action Service, as its managing director for Europe and Central Asia. In addition, he also served as the EU's Chief Negotiator for the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement and Moldova–European Union Association Agreement, as well as the EU Representative for the 5+2 Talks on the Transnistrian Settlement Process.
Slovak Presidency of the Council of the EU (2016)
In June 2016, Slovakia took over the Presidency of the EU Council. In his speech presenting the priorities for the Slovak Presidency Lajčák said "Today, we call the EU our home, the euro our currency and Schengen our area. The Presidency is the culmination of our integration journey. We are at the core of Europe. And we are grateful for that because we were given a lot. It's time to give back."
In November 2016, following revelations by a whistleblower, Transparency International Slovakia accused Lajčák of dubious procurement contracts during the Slovak EU Council Presidency. The accusation was never proven.
Candidacy for UN Secretary-General (2016)