Maroš Šefčovič is a Slovak career diplomat and since 1 November 2014 Vice President of the European Commission in charge of the Energy Union. In this capacity, he leads the “Energy Union” Project Team within the Commission which consists of 14 commissioners.In 2014 he was elected as the Member of the European Parliament. In 2010-2014, he was Vice President of the European Commission in charge of Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration. Previously, in 2009-2010, Mr. Šefčovič was European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth. From 2004 until 2009, he was the Permanent Representative of the Slovak Republic to the European Union. As diplomat by profession, he served between 1992 and 2004 in Zimbabwe and Canada and held the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the State of Israel. He graduated from the University of Economy in Bratislava and the Moscow State Institute for Foreign Relations. He is a Doctor of Law holding a PhD in European Law from the Comenius University, Bratislava. He also studied at Stanford University, USA.Mr. Šefčovič has recently published a book on his first mandate as Vice-President, “Driving the EU forward – straight talks with Maroš Šefčovič” (John Harper Publishing, London 2014).