Marek Belka

Marek Belka
Marek Belka during a visit to The Pentagon on 9 August 2004.
Prime Minister of Poland 11th Prime Minister of the Third Republic of Poland
In office 2 May 2004 – 31 October 2005
President	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Deputy	Jerzy Hausner Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka
Preceded by	Leszek Miller
Succeeded by	Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
Finance Minister of Poland 7th Minister of Finance of the Third Republic of Poland
In office 4 February 1997 – 17 October 1997
President	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Prime Minister	Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz
Preceded by	Grzegorz Kołodko
Succeeded by	Leszek Balcerowicz
Finance Minister of Poland 11th Minister of Finance of the Third Republic of Poland
In office 19 October 2001 – 6 July 2002
President	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Prime Minister	Leszek Miller
Preceded by	Halina Wasilewska-Trenker
Succeeded by	Grzegorz Kołodko
Minister of Sport of the Republic of Poland
In office 1 September 2005 – 31 October 2005
President	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Prime Minister	Marek Belka
Preceded by	None – post created
Succeeded by	Tomasz Lipiec
President of the National Bank of Poland
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 June 2010
President	Bronisław Komorowski
Prime Minister	Donald Tusk
Preceded by	Sławomir Skrzypek
Personal details
Born	9 January 1952 (1952-01-09) (age 59) Łódź, People's Republic of Poland
Political party	Democratic Left Alliance
Spouse(s)	Krystyna Belka
Profession	Economist
Religion	Agnostic

Marek Marian Belka (Polish pronunciation: [ˈmarɛk ˈbɛlka] ( listen); b. 9 January 1952 in Łódź) is a Polish professor of Economics, a former Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Poland, former Director of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) European Department and current Head of National Bank of Poland.^[1]

Biography

Marek Belka and Leszek Miller, Longin Pastusiak in background

Belka graduated from the Socio-Economic Department of the University of Łódź in 1972 and later studied on scholarships at Columbia University, University of Chicago and London School of Economics. He holds an M.A. in economics of foreign trade and a PhD in economics from the University of Łódź.^[2] He became a professor in 1994.

From 1990 until 1996 he worked as consultant for the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Poland and the World Bank. He served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in 1997 and from 2001 to 2002; and as an economic consultant of the President of the Republic of Poland in the meantime. He also served as Adviser to the Prime Minister of Albania from 1997 to 2001 and to JP Morgan for Central and Eastern Europe from 2002 to 2003. In 2003 he was responsible for economic policy in the interim coalition administration of Iraq. In 2005 he was a candidate for the post of OECD Secretary General, but lost to José Ángel Gurría.

He was designated Prime Minister of Poland by President Aleksander Kwaśniewski on 29 March 2004 and sworn into office the next 2 May. He failed to receive the required parliamentary support on 14 May, but on 11 June he was designated again. On 24 June he finally managed to receive enough support in the Sejm – the Lower House of Polish Parliament – winning a vote of confidence by a majority of 235 votes to 215.

Belka joined the new liberal Democratic Party - demokraci.pl in May 2005, but was not chosen as an MP.

From 2006 to 2008, he was Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe(ECE).^[3]

In 2007, he was proposed by Poland as managing director of the IMF, but the European Union (EU) finally decided to advance French former minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn's candidacy.

On 15 July 2008, Mr. Strauss-Kahn named Marek Belka as Director of the IMF's European Department, a position Belka took up on 1 November 2008.^[4][5]

On 27 May 2010 Belka was nominated as the next President of the National Bank of Poland by Acting President Bronisław Komorowski.^[6] On 10 June 2010, Marek Belka was approved by the Parliament (253 votes in favor; 184 against) as Head of National Bank of Poland.

Marek Belka is an Honorary Member of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.

References

1. ^ "Belka szefem NBP. Spór w koalicji – Wiadomości w Onet.pl". Wiadomosci.onet.pl. http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/2182902,11,belka_szefem_nbp_spor_w_koalicji,item.html. Retrieved 4 June 2011. 
2. ^ "Marek Belka". Nndb.com. http://www.nndb.com/people/284/000046146/. Retrieved 4 June 2011. 
3. ^ United Nations Web Services Section. "The Biography of Marek Belka". United Nations. http://www.un.org/sg/senstaff_details.asp?smgID=3. Retrieved 4 June 2011. 
4. ^ "Press Release: IMF Managing Director Strauss-Kahn Names Former Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka as Director of the European Department". Imf.org. 15 July 2008. http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2008/pr08180.htm. Retrieved 4 June 2011. 
5. ^ "Marek Belka « iMFdirect – The IMF Blog". Blog-imfdirect.imf.org. http://blog-imfdirect.imf.org/bloggers/marek-belka/. Retrieved 4 June 2011. 
6. ^ jagor, PAP, IAR (27 May 2010). "Komorowski: Marek Belka kandydatem na prezesa NBP". Wiadomosci.gazeta.pl. http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80269,7941888,Komorowski__Marek_Belka_kandydatem_na_prezesa_NBP.html. Retrieved 4 June 2011. 

Political offices
Preceded by Grzegorz Kołodko	Minister of Finance 1997	Succeeded by Leszek Balcerowicz
Preceded by Halina Wasilewska-Trenkner	Minister of Finance 2001–2002	Succeeded by Grzegorz Kołodko
Preceded by Leszek Miller	Prime Minister of Poland 2004–2005	Succeeded by Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
Preceded by Sławomir Skrzypek Piotr Wiesiołek (acting)	President of the National Bank of Poland 2010–	Succeeded by Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Belka, Marek
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	9 January 1952
Place of birth	Łódź, People's Republic of Poland
Date of death
Place of death