Marek Belka

Marek Marian Belka (born 9 January 1952) is a Polish economist and politician who served as the prime minister 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 the National Bank of Poland. He served as a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2019 to 2024. He has 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 Poland 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 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 Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski. In 1996 he became a consultant at the World Bank. He was twice the deputy prime minister of Poland and the finance minister: in 1997 in the cabinet of Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz and in 2001–2002 in the cabinet of Leszek Miller. In 2004–2005 he served as the prime minister and the chairman of the Committee for European Integration. In 2005 he was the minister of sport in his own government. He served as the president of the National Bank of Poland in 2011–2016, and in the same period was a member of the steering committee of the European Systemic Risk Board. He was also the head of the coalition Council for International Coordination in Iraq (2003), and then the director of economic policy in the Coalition Provisional Authority (2003–2004),...