Miriam Lexmann is a Slovak Christian democratic politician. She served as the permanent representative of the Slovak Parliament to the EU and was an advisor to the EP on cooperation with national parliaments. She worked for several international organizations in the field of human rights protection and support for persecuted people. Finally, she was engaged in the International Republican Institute (IRI) and served as the director of the IRI EU Office in Brussels.
She is a member of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) and in the 2019 European elections she won the only post-Brexit seat allocated to Slovakia. After Brexit, she joined the EPP faction in the EP. Her main areas of interest are democracy promotion in authoritarian states, support for dissidents in authoritarian states, and the impact of misinformation on public opinion.
Since she became an MEP, Lexmann voted for all resolutions assessing Russia’s policies critically, as well as those on other authoritarian regimes. Lexmann is an active fighter for the human rights in authoritarian states.
In March 2020, Lexmann joined a group of MEPs from the EPP, who sponsored a motion for a resolution containing the assessment of the effectivity of the Minsk agreements. As an MEP, she was involved in activities focused on formulating a critical assessment of China’s policy towards Hong Kong. In addition, she has focused on violating the rights of the Uyghurs in China. As a member of Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) she is one of the 33 signatories of Statement on Reports of Systemic Torture and Sexual Assault in Xinjiang Prison Camps.
Her activities attracted attention of China and in March 2021 she was included into a list of 10 European personalities and 4 European institutions on which China imposed sanctions. Beijing included her into that list as part of its response to EU sanctions against communist regime’s officials responsible for human rights abuses against the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region.
In response to the sanctions, Lexmann said that "many have laid down their lives for our freedom, or sacrificed many years of imprisonment or persecution. I consider it my moral duty to help those who are still seducing the struggle for freedom. Today I feel that my support makes sense and I am even more encouraged to continue it." The Chinese sanctions list included 5 MEPs, 3 national politicians and two academics.
Following Josep Borrell's controversial visit to Moscow in February 2021, Lexmann signed a call for his resignation and noted that she had worried about the trip to Moscow before it took place saying: "Did this indecent visit to European diplomacy have to come to find out that another attempt to restart relations with the Kremlin will only end in failure?"
Lexmann is a supporter of sanctions imposed against Russia claiming that the best way to help the Russian people and prevent the regime from repressing and spreading its harmful influence is to go for the money of the oligarchs. "I am convinced that if the EU is principled and begins to punish corrupt oligarchs close to undemocratic regimes, it will be a path that can lead to a change in the relationship and to fairness in the long run".
(Updated: 13/7/2021)
Lexmann stated that she often hears that Slovakia is a small state and therefore it must have friendly relations with all states. However, she believes that Slovakia is a part of the European Union and it is able to influence EU policy, so it can have a more principled approach to states such as Russia and China. The MEP added that Slovakia needs a communications strategy that, among others, should state that often it is not the Russians who are spreading disinformation in the country but Moscow's local allies.
Lexmann said that "We know that the situation in Russia is also worsening politically, the human rights situation is getting worse and the Russian Federation's foreign policy interventions violate international treaties and violate the fundamental principle among nations: they respect each other and do not interfere in internal political matters. Russia has begun to grossly violate this principle, we have evidence of interference in electoral processes, election campaigns also in the European Union area. All these things need to be considered and to be principal in relations towards Russia. Therefore, I think that unless Russia withdraws its usurpation of the Crimea, we cannot withdraw sanctions because we would go against ourselves." She has met with Russian opposition politicians.
