Ján Počiatek (born 16 September 1970) is a Slovak

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 ...

Early life and education

Počiatek speaks

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

fluently and also has an advanced knowledge of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

. Počiatek is a graduate of the

University of Economics in Bratislava The Bratislava University of Economics and Business () is the oldest university of economics in Slovakia. History The university was established in 1940 as a private university under the name Vysoká obchodná škola v Bratislave (College of Co ...

. He graduated in 1997 as a qualified engineer in economics.

Career

Počiatek served as

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

from 2006 to 2010, and as Minister of Transport, Construction, and Regional Development from 2012 to 2016, both in the government of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Robert Fico Robert Fico (; born 15 September 1964) is a Slovak politician who has served as the prime minister of Slovakia since 2023. He previously served as prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018. He founded the left-wing political party D ...

. Under his leadership, Slovakia agreed a 1.9-billion-euro ($2.1 billion) public-private partnership for a consortium led by Spanish infrastructure group

Ferrovial Ferrovial S.E. (), previously Grupo Ferrovial, is a Spanish multinational company that operates in the infrastructure sector for transportation and mobility with four divisions: Highways, Airports, Construction, and Mobility and Energy Infrastru ...

’s

Cintra Cintra, S.A. (Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, translated as Toll Transport Infrastructures) is one of the largest private developers of transport infrastructure in the world. Its assets are fundamentally toll roads and car parks, ...

unit to build two highways in the capital Bratislava.

Other activities

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, shortened to EBRD ( French: ''Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement'' or ''BERD''), is an international financial institution founded in 1991 in Paris. As a multilat ...

(EBRD), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2006-2010) *

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the 27 member states. It is the largest multilateral financial institution in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt sol ...

(EIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2006-2010)

Recognition

For his contribution in preparing Slovakia's entry into the

Eurozone The euro area, commonly called the eurozone (EZ), is a Monetary union, currency union of 20 Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (Euro sign, €) as their primary currency ...

, the international financial affairs publication ''

The Banker ''The Banker'' is an English-language monthly international financial affairs publication owned by '' The Financial Times'' and edited in London, United Kingdom. The magazine was first published in January 1926 through founding editor Brendan ...

'' named Počiatek as the "Best finance minister for the year 2008 in Europe."

Controversy

Počiatek caused controversy when he participated in a yacht trip on the Mediterranean organised by a private equity group accused of profiting from currency speculation before the koruna was revalued against the euro in May 2008. Pociatek denied wrongdoing but later apologised. By late 2008, opposition pressure was mounting again to dismiss Počiatek over his alleged mishandling of a court case involving state-owned lottery company Tipos. In 2019 video of Počiatek recorded through a candid camera in the prosecutor general's office (

Dobroslav Trnka Dobroslav Trnka (9 November 1963 – 25 October 2023) was a Slovak lawyer who served as the prosecutor general of Slovakia from 2004 to 2011. On 25 February 2021, he was banned from entering the United States by the U.S Secretary of State Antony ...

) was leaked, in this video Počiatek openly discussed and joked about corruption skills of Slovak National Party leader Ján Slota, and discussed with Trnka how to cover up the Tipos mishandling.

References