Miroslav Kalousek

Miroslav Kalousek was born on December 17, 1960 in Tábor. He studied at the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague and then he worked in a production company as a director of the finance department. From January 2007 to May 2009 he held the post of Minister of Finance. Mr. Kalousek is a co-founder of TOP 09 and was the Chairman of TOP 09 during 2015 - 2017. Since 2010 he sits in the Parliament for TOP 09 and currently holds position of Chairman of TOP 09 Group in the Parliament.

From 1990 to 1992, he was working for the Civil Service, and for the Office of the Government as a special advisor regarding issues of the European integration. From July 1992, he worked for the Office of the Government of the Czechoslovak Federal Republic as a director of the Vice-Premier´s adviser Department. During the era of transformation of the property relations in the Czech Republic, Miroslav Kalousek represented the Government of the Czech Republic in several directive positions in the economic sphere.

From 1993 to 1998 he worked at the Czech Ministry of Defence as a Deputy Minister responsible for the budget and military acquisition.

In 1998 election, Miroslav Kalousek was elected to the Chamber of Deputies as the Member of the Parliament for KDU-ČSL (Christian Democratic Party). After his re-election in 2002, he became the chairperson of Executive Budget Committee in the Chamber.

In 2003, he was elected Chairman of KDU-ČSL, and he remained at this post until 2006. From January 2007 to May 2009, he held the post of Minister of Finance.

In 2008, Miroslav Kalousek was proclaimed by the international magazine Emerging Markets as the "Minister of Finance of the year 2008 for emerging European economies”. The same award was given to Miroslav Kalousek by the same magazine in 2011 for the second time.

From January 2009 to May 2009 he was acting as the President of The Economic and Financial Council.

In June 2009 he left KDU-ČSL and founded the new political party TOP 09 together with Karel Schwarzenberg. During the first National Assembly of TOP 09 Miroslav Kalousek was elected as the First Vice-President of the Party. During the second and third National Assembly of TOP 09 he was re-elected as the First Vice-President of the Party.

After parliamentary elections in 2010 he was successfully elected as a Member of the Parliament for TOP 09, and he served as Minister of Finance for three years. In 2013 he was re-elected as the Member of the Parliament and in November 2015 he was elected as the Chairman of TOP 09.

In October 2017 Mr. Kalousek was re-elected as a Member of the Parliament and elected as the Chairman of TOP 09 Group in the Parliament.

In the ranking of EU finance ministers, according to the Financial Times in 2012, Miroslav Kalousek won the first place in terms of credibility and trustworthiness.