Marek Belka

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Marek Belka
Marek Belka during a visit to The Pentagon on August 9, 2004.
Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland 11th Prime Minister of the Third Republic
In office 2 May 2004 – 31 October 2005
President	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Vice PM	Jerzy Hausner, Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka
Preceded by	Leszek Miller
Succeeded by	Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
Minister of Finance of the Republic of Poland
In office February 4, 1997 – October 17, 1997
President	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Prime Minister	Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz
Preceded by	Grzegorz Kołodko
Succeeded by	Leszek Balcerowicz
Minister of Finance of the Republic of Poland
In office October 19, 2001 – July 6, 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 September 1, 2005 – October 31, 2005
President	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Prime Minister	Marek Belka
Preceded by	None - post created
Succeeded by	Tomasz Lipiec
Born	January 9, 1952 (1952-01-09) (age 56) Łódź, People's Republic of Poland
Political party	Democratic Left Alliance
Profession	Economist
Religion	Agnostic

Marek Belka (pronounce: ['marεk 'bεlka]) (b. January 9, 1952 in Łódź) is a Polish professor of Economics, designated Prime Minister of Poland by President Aleksander Kwaśniewski on March 29, 2004 and sworn into office the next May 2. He failed to receive the required parliamentary support on May 14, but on June 11 he was designated again. On June 24 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.

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 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. 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.

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

He is currently Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. In 2007, he was proposed by Poland as managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but the European Union (EU) finally decided to advance French former minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn's candidacy.

Marek Belka is an Honorary Member of The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation

v • d • e Ministers of Finance of the Republic of Poland 3rd Republic of Poland (since 1989) Leszek Balcerowicz • Karol Lutkowski • Andrzej Olechowski • Jerzy Osiatyński • Marek Borowski • Grzegorz Kołodko • Marek Belka • Leszek Balcerowicz • Jaroslaw Bauc • Halina Wasilewska-Trenkner • Marek Belka • Grzegorz Kołodko • Andrzej Raczko • Mirosław Gronicki • Teresa Lubińska • Zyta Gilowska • Paweł Wojciechowski • Stanisław Kluza • Zyta Gilowska • Jan Vincent-Rostowski

v • d • e Ministers of Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Poland Marek Belka • Tomasz Lipiec • Jarosław Kaczyński (acting) • Elżbieta Jakubiak • Mirosław Drzewiecki