He studied political science and sociology at the University of Vienna. Between 1988 and 1991, he worked as an editor in the Voice of America. In 1998, he worked as a spokesman of the Czech Social Democratic Party, and from 1998 to 2002, he was a spokesman of the government of the Czech Republic. In 2002, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the CSSD, where he remained until 2004, when he was elected a Member of the European Parliament. He worked in the European Parliament from 2004 until 2014; in 2009 he was elected a vice-president of the European Parliament and a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Today, he serves as the Chairman of the Council of the Czech-German Discussion Forum.