Marek Belka

Marek Marian Belka (; born 9 January 1952 in Lódź) is a Polish professor of economics and politician who has served as Prime Minister of Poland and Finance Minister of Poland in two governments. He is a former director of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) European Department and former Head of Narodowy Bank Polski (''National Bank of Poland''). He has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2019 to 2024.

In 1978–1979 and 1985–1986 he did scientific internships at Columbia University and the University of Chicago, and in 1990 - London School of Economics. From 1986, he was associated with the Institute of Economics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He published over 100 scientific papers devoted mainly to money theory and anti-inflation policy in developing countries. He specializes in applied economics and contemporary economic thought. He is also a member of the Committee of Economic Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

He held a number of important public functions in the country and abroad. In 1990 he became an advisor and consultant at the Ministry of Finance, followed by the Ministry of Ownership Transformations and the Central Planning Office. In the years 1994–1996 he was the vice-chairman of the Council of Socio-Economic Strategy at the Council of Ministers, and then economic advisor to the President of the Republic of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski. In 1996 he became a consultant at World Bank. He was twice the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland and the Minister of Finance: in 1997 in the Cabinet of Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz and in 2001–2002 in the Cabinet of Leszek Miller. In 2004–2005 he served as Prime Minister and the chairman of the Committee for European Integration. In 2005 he held the office of the Minister of Sport in his own government .

From 2006 he served as the executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and from November 2008 the director of the European Department International Monetary Fund. Previously, he was also the head of the coalition Council for International Coordination in Iraq (2003), and then the director of economic policy in the Provisional Coalition Authority in Iraq, where he answered, among others for currency reform, creation of a new banking system and supervision of the economy (2003-2004).

He was appointed president of the National Bank of Poland. He took office on 11 June 2010 and ended his term on 21 June 2016. In January 2011, he was elected for a three-year term (extended for another three years in 2014) to Steering Committee European Systemic Risk Board. Belka ran for and was elected an MEP at the 2019 European Parliament election. He has been appointed the vice-president of the S&D Group.

Early life and education

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; his thesis was on US anti-inflationary policy.Annie Maccoby Berglof (4 July 2014)
Poland’s central bank chief Marek Belka on crises and secret tapes
''Financial Times''. He became a professor in 1994.

Early career

From 1990 until 1996 Belka worked as a 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 three successive Prime Ministers of Albania – Fatos Nano, Pandeli Majko and Ilir Meta – from 1997 to 2001.

Later, Belka worked as an advisor to JP Morgan for Central and Eastern Europe from 2002 to 2003. In 2003 he was responsible for economic policy in the interim Coalition Provisional Authority of Iraq.

Political career

Career in national politics

Belka was active in the Polish Students' Association and the Polish Socialist Youth Union. From 1973 to 1990 he was a member of the Polish United Workers' Party. In the 1980s he was the first secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party at the University of Łódź.

Belka was designated Prime Minister of Poland by President Aleksander Kwaśniewski on 29 May 2004 and sworn into office the next 8 August. He failed to receive the required parliamentary support on 14 August, but on 11 September he was designated again. On 24 October 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 failed to win a seat in Łódź in the 2005 elections. Also in 2005, he was a candidate for the post of OECD Secretary General, but lost to José Ángel Gurría.

Career in international organizations

From 2006 to 2008, Belka served as Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE).

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

On 15 July 2008, Strauss-Kahn named Belka as Director of the IMF's European Department, a position Belka took up on 1 November 2008. In this capacity, he led the fund's response to the global economic crisis in Europe.

President of the National Bank of Poland, 2010–2016

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

In June 2014, the Polish magazine ''Wprost

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