Miroslav LajÃÂák (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, LajÃÂák 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, LajÃÂák 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, LajÃÂák 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, LajÃÂák 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 LajÃÂák and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from 2017 to 2019, including reports that LajÃÂák wanted to be introduced to "young girls", expressed a desire to participate in EpsteinâÂÂs private "games" and discussed strategic political interests with EpsteinâÂÂs network. While photographs confirmed their personal connection, LajÃÂák 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, LajÃÂák submitted his resignation, which Fico accepted.
LajÃÂák attended primary school in Stará ýubovà Âa. In 1977 his family moved to Bratislava, where he enrolled in grammar school on BilÃÂková Street. He finished the final year of his secondary education at grammar school in Banská à  tiavnica. 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.
A member of the Communist Party, LajÃÂák joined the Czechoslovak foreign ministry in 1988. Between 1991 and 1993 LajÃÂák was posted to the Czechoslovak and subsequently Slovak embassy in Moscow.
UponÃÂ his returnÃÂ to Slovakia in 1993 toÃÂ the newlyÃÂ established Ministry ofÃÂ ForeignÃÂ Affairs of Slovakia, he took an active part in forming the national Foreign Service. He became Director of the CabinetÃÂ of the ForeignÃÂ Minister and laterÃÂ on Director ofÃÂ the Cabinet of the Prime Minister Jozef MoravÃÂÃÂk.
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 SecretaryâÂÂGeneral ÃÂs Special Envoy for the Balkans, Eduard Kukan (until 2001).
Between 2001 and 2005, LajÃÂák was based in Belgrade as Slovakia's Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (later Serbia and Montenegro), with accreditation also on Albania and the Republic of Macedonia.
Following his term in Belgrade, he was named Political Director at the Foreign Ministry of Slovakia (2005âÂÂ2007).
In 2005 the EU diplomacy chief Javier Solana called LajÃÂák to supervise the 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, which was approved with a 55.5% of favourable votes.
On 30 June 2007. Solana again chose LajÃÂák to succeed to 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 UnitedàNations and reportedàperiodically toàtheàSecurity Council. Duringàhisàtenure, BiH signedàtheàStabilization andàAssociationàAgreement withàtheàEU, the mostàremarkable integrationàsuccess ofàtheàcountry foràmanyàyears toàcome. Heàalso launchedàactivitiesàto 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.
LajÃÂák acted in 2007âÂÂ09 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. LajÃÂák 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 afteràbeing nominated to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia.
LajÃÂák 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 DodikâÂÂs 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 à  pirià(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. LajÃÂák also removed RS police officials deemed complicit in war crimes. Upon instructions of Solana, LajÃÂák 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.
From 26 January 2009 until July 2010, LajÃÂák served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in Robert Fico's First Cabinet.
From December 2010 to April 2012 LajÃÂák served as managing director for Europe and Central Asia in the EU's External Action Service.
In April 2012 LajÃÂák was appointed again, as an independent, to the post of foreign minister and deputy prime minister in Robert Fico's Second Cabinet. 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 LajÃÂák were co-chairs of a joint Slovak-Russian cooperation body.
In November 2015 Slovakia voted against Kosovo's membership in UNESCO. LajÃÂák 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 LajÃÂák 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.
In November 2018, LajÃÂák lambasted as "anti-democratic" the proposed KosovoâÂÂSerbia land swap and cautioned against the regional repercussions of such a proposal.
In November 2018, LajÃÂák 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, LajÃÂák 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.
Between the EU-facilitated 5 August political agreement and the December breakthrough on a new SNSD-led government, on 27 Oct 2019, LajÃÂák invited both Milorad Dodik and Dragan ÃÂoviàto Bratislava for "international mediation" which paved the way for BiH adopting its ANP with NATO.
LajÃÂák announced in November 2019 that he would leave Slovak politics following the 2020 Slovak parliamentary election.
From 2010 to 2012, LajÃÂák 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 UkraineâÂÂEuropean Union Association Agreement and MoldovaâÂÂEuropean Union Association Agreement, as well as the EU Representative for the 5+2 Talks on the Transnistrian Settlement Process.
In June 2016, Slovakia took over the Presidency of the EU Council. In his speech presenting the priorities for the Slovak Presidency LajÃÂák 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 LajÃÂák of dubious procurement contracts during the Slovak EU Council Presidency. The accusation was never proven.
The candidacy of LajÃÂák for the position of Secretary-General of the United Nations was officially launched following his formal nomination by the Government of Slovakia on May 25, 2016. Positioned as a representative of the Eastern European Group, LajÃÂákâÂÂs campaign sought to fulfill the principle of regional rotation, as Eastern Europe remained the only regional bloc yet to hold the office. His platform emphasized a commitment to multilateralism, conflict prevention, and a comprehensive reform of the UN Secretariat to increase organizational efficiency.
Throughout the 2016 selection process, LajÃÂák participated in public hearings and televised debates designed to improve transparency. After a series of informal straw polls by the UN Security Council, his bid reached a peak in the final round on October 5, 2016, finishing in second place behind António Guterres. LajÃÂák secured 7 "encourage" votes, 6 "discourage" votes, and 2 "no opinion" votes, marking the highest finish for any candidate from the Eastern European bloc during that cycle.
While the Security Council ultimately moved to appoint Guterres, the visibility gained during the campaign led to LajÃÂákâÂÂs successful election as President of the 72nd UN General Assembly the following year.
LajÃÂák served as President of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly from 2017 to 2018 where he advocated for dialogue, strengthening multilateralism and the need to serve all people. He was the first president to publish his financial disclosure summary.
In 2019, LajÃÂák was particularly active in East and South-East Europe as Chairperson-in-office of the OSCE. Slovakia's OSCE Chairmanship focused on people, dialogue and stability.
During his tenure, LajÃÂák visited 15 OSCE field presences to highlight the OSCE's important work on the ground, and held high-level talks with interlocutors in the OSCE region, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in February, June, and September 2019, as well as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in April 2019.
Ahead of the 26th OSCE Ministerial Council, LajÃÂák shared his Bratislava Appeal, an informal initiative addressed to foreign ministers from across the OSCE area arguing for more support to the OSCE and multilateralism.
On 2 April 2020, Miroslav LajÃÂák was appointed by the EU Council as the EU Special Representative (EUSR) for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue and other Western Balkan regional issues. His mandate included the tasks of achieving a comprehensive normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo, improving good neighborly relations, and contributing to the consistency of EU action in the region. His term was extended several times to provide continuity during critical negotiations.
In April 2024, German Member of the European Parliament Reinhard Bütikofer publicly criticized LajÃÂák, describing his performance in the role as a "disaster". These remarks followed reports that LajÃÂák would be transitioning from his mediation post to serve as the EU Ambassador to Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein starting in September 2024. Bütikofer expressed hope that LajÃÂák's new appointment would not negatively impact diplomatic relations between the EU and Switzerland as his previous tenure had in the Balkans. Throughout his mandate, LajÃÂák faced various criticisms from Kosovo officials and political analysts who questioned his impartiality in the regional dialogue process. His transition to the role of EU Ambassador to Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein was ultimately cancelled due to "unforeseen developments". Consequently, the EU Council formally extended his mandate a final time until 31 January 2025.
Following the completion of his service, LajÃÂák was succeeded on 1 February 2025 by Danish diplomat Peter Sørensen.
After five years as the EU's chief negotiator in the Balkans, LajÃÂák returned to Slovak diplomacy, where he was appointed as an Advisor to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, focusing on security issues and the Western Balkans.
In late 2025 and early 2026, the release of over three million pages of documents related to convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, known as the "Epstein files" by the U.S. Department of Justice, sparked a significant political controversy in Slovakia. The documents revealed, that LajÃÂák had extensive email communication with Epstein between 2017 and 2019. During the period of correspondence, LajÃÂák simultaneously served as Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia in Fico's Third Cabinet and President of the United Nations General Assembly.
In November 2025, it was disclosed that the correspondence featured a familiar tone, with Epstein referring to LajÃÂák as "Miro" and discussing his potential advancement to top roles in the UN or NATO. Notably, in a March 15, 2018, email to Steve Bannon, Epstein explicitly identified LajÃÂák as the person who would lead a "European project".
While LajÃÂák admitted to social contact, he maintains the interactions were purely professional and routine for his diplomatic duties.
Despite intense pressure from the opposition and coalition partner Slovak National Party to dismiss LajÃÂák, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has staunchly defended him. Fico characterized LajÃÂák as an "excellent diplomat" and stated he would not "execute" a colleague based on social meetings without evidence of moral or legal failure.
A photograph released in December 2025 confirmed their personal connection, showing LajÃÂák and Epstein together at the Slovak diplomatic residence in Vienna.
The meeting took place in March 2019. While planning the gathering in Vienna, LajÃÂák was told that Epstein would be arriving with three female assistants and arranged for a minivan to pick them up. Epstein attempted to dismiss any potential concerns about their age by assuring LajÃÂák, "Don't worry, they all look at least 20".
In January 2026, files released by the U.S. Department of Justice showed the correspondence between LajÃÂák and Epstein was frequent and covered a range of topics. In addition to global politics and international affairs, their exchanges included personal subjects, specifically mentions of women and girls, often framed in an informal or suggestive manner. LajÃÂák's name appears more than 300 times throughout the documentation.
The records allegedly show LajÃÂák asking Jeffrey Epstein to introduce him to "young girls" and boasting that Epstein had not yet seen him "in action". Epstein responded by offering him "young girls and their sisters" and LajÃÂák explicitly requested invitations to participate in Epstein's private "games".
The released documents also state that Miroslav LajÃÂák offered to present Robert Fico as a suitable political figure for the agendas of the American far-right and strategist Steve Bannon. According to the publicized records, LajÃÂák actively promoted Fico as a figure who could be utilized to further specific political interests within the Western radical right network. The files contain transcripts where LajÃÂák explicitly characterizes Fico as the "right figure" for the strategic goals discussed with Jeffrey Epstein and his associates. Epstein wanted to establish a network of far-right political groups with Bannon in Europe and LajÃÂák said Fico could "play SteveâÂÂs game".
On 31 January, following a joint statement from opposition politicians calling for his departure and mounting pressure from the media, LajÃÂák submitted his resignation, which Robert Fico agreed to and accepted, marking the end of LajÃÂák's tenure as a key advisor. Commenting on the decision, Fico stated: "Miro has once again proven himself to be a great diplomat and I accept his offer to end our cooperation, although we are all, not just myself, losing an incredible source of experience in diplomacy and foreign policy".
On 2 February 2026, LajÃÂák explained that his interactions with Epstein were strictly professional and social, characterizing them as a necessary part of his diplomatic duties in New York, where Jeffrey Epstein was a well-connected figure who "opened many doors". He stated that in 2017, he was a "boy from Slovakia" navigating high-level international circles and was entirely unaware of Epstein's criminal activities at the time. LajÃÂák claimed he cannot recall any messages or conversations with Epstein about girls.
LajÃÂák acknowledged that the communication was a "mistake" and "unacceptable" stating: "When I read those messages today, I feel like a fool. It was a private conversation. At the very least, I made a poor judgment. I am paying the price for it".
On February 3, Robert Fico said that he had never met Steve Bannon.
On February 4, a second photo surfaced, showing LajÃÂák and Epstein together in the center of Bratislava standing by the ÃÂumil statue. Metadata and surrounding records suggested the photo was taken around November 7, 2018.
Further analysis of documents and flight logs confirmed that LajÃÂák had also been a passenger on EpsteinâÂÂs private aircraft, the "Lolita Express". Flight logs indicate that LajÃÂák traveled on the aircraft at least twice between 2017 and 2018.
In addition to his formal diplomatic and governmental roles, Miroslav LajÃÂák holds several positions within international policy organizations, the private sector, and academic institutions. These positions involve work in several fields, such as European foreign policy, regional security, human rights, and corporate oversight.
His current activities include:
His past activities include:
Miroslav LajÃÂák is married to the prominent Slovak television presenter (b. 1966), whom he wed in January 2002. Together, they have one daughter named Lara (b. 2002). Before his current marriage, LajÃÂák was previously married, from this first marriage, he has a daughter named Nikola. His wife, Jarmila, also has a daughter named Vanesa (b. 1992) from her own previous relationship.
While the identity of his first wife is not widely publicized in official diplomatic biographies, she accompanied him during his early career postings, including his time as the Slovak Ambassador to Japan between 1994 and 1998.
Apart from his native Slovak, LajÃÂák is fluent in English, German, Russian, Czech and Serbo-Croatian.