Josef Zieleniec (born 28 May 1946) is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and former

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

. From 2004, was a member of the

SNK European Democrats The SNK European Democrats () is a political party in the Czech Republic, led by Zdeňka Marková. The first regular chairperson of this party was Jana Hybášková. The party was created in January 2006 by the merger of two Czech non-parliam ...

(SNK-ED). In the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

, he was a member of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

and served on the

's Committee on Foreign Affairs and

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) is a committee of the European Parliament which is responsible for the regulation of financial services, the free movement of capital and payments, taxation and competition policies, oversight ...

. Zieleniec is currently a lecturer at the Prague academic center of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Early life and education

Zieleniec was born in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

to Polish parents. He received his master's degree in 1974 from the

University of Economics, Prague The Prague University of Economics and Business (PUEB) (originally: ''the University of Economics, Prague''; '', VŠE'') is an economics and business-oriented public university located in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the largest university in ...

, and in 1986 received a postgraduate

Candidate of Science A Candidate of Sciences is a PhD-equivalent academic research degree in all the post-Soviet countries with the exception of Ukraine, and until the 1990s it was also awarded in Central and Eastern European countries. It is officially classified ...

from the

Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences The Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Czech: ''Československá akademie věd'', Slovak: ''Česko-slovenská akadémia vied'') was established in 1953 to be the scientific center for Czechoslovakia. It was succeeded by the Czech Academy of Science ...

in Prague.

Academic career

Zieleniec spent most of his professional career as an

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

. From 1973 until the fall of the communist regime in 1989, he worked first as a research fellow in the Institute of Research in Engineering Technology and Economics Research, and later at the Institute of Economics of the

. Apart from research in microeconomic theory, he worked on the problems of economic transition from a centrally planned to

market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a mark ...

. The study "Czechoslovakia at the crossroads", based on his research, had a significant impact on the discussions about economic reforms after 1989. At the beginning of 1990 Zieleniec co-founded the Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education, the first American-style economics doctoral program in Central and Eastern Europe, at

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

in Prague. He became its first director, and was also appointed senior lecturer in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

and joined the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Social Sciences at

. From 1998 to 2003 he was a businessman.

Political career

From 1992 to 1997 he was vice-chairman of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS). In 1992 he was appointed Minister for Foreign Relations of Czechoslovakia. From 1993 to 1997 he was Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic, and from 1996 to 1997 he was

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

of the Czech Republic. He was a Member of the

Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic The Chamber of Deputies, officially the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic (, PS PČR), is the lower house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. The chamber has 200 seats and deputies are elected for four-year terms u ...

between 1996 and 2000, and in 2000 he was elected for a four-year term to the

Czech Senate The Senate () is the upper house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. The seat of the Senate is Wallenstein Palace in Prague. Structure The Senate has 81 members, chosen in single-seat constituencies through the two-round system. If no ...

. Since 2004 he has been the political leader of the

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zieleniec, Josef 1946 births Ministers of foreign affairs of the Czech Republic Czech people of Polish descent Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic) MPs SNK European Democrats MEPs Living people MEPs for the Czech Republic 2004–2009 Prague University of Economics and Business alumni Politicians from Moscow Members of the Senate of the Czech Republic Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic) Government ministers

Early life and education

Academic career

Political career

See also

References

External links