Mr Miroslav Kalousek has been appointed Minister of Finance of the Czech Republic, succeeding Mr Janota, and also becomes EIB Governor for the Czech Republic.
Born in 1960, Mr Kalousek is a graduate of the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague. After graduation, he took up the position of Head of the Investment Section at the manufacturing concern Mitas Praha. Since 1990, he has been working in the State administration. In the period 1993-1998, he was Deputy Minister of Defence with responsibility for the budget and acquisitions. From January 2007 to May 2009, he was Minister of Finance of the Czech Republic, also chairing the Ecofin Council from January to May 2009. On 13 July 2010 he was again appointed Minister of Finance of the Czech Republic.
Mr Kalousek is also the first Deputy Chairman of Tradition Responsibility Prosperity 09 (TOP 09), the political party he founded in June 2009.