Marek Belka

Marek Belka is a Polish professor of Economics and politician, who has served as Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Poland in two governments. He is also the 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) since July 2019. He was twice Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland and 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 was Prime Minister and chairman of the Committee for European Integration. From 2006 he was executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and from November 2008 director of the European Department of the International Monetary Fund. Previously, he was also the head of the Council for International Coordination in Iraq (2003), and the director of economic policy in the Provisional Coalition Authority in Iraq, where he was responsible for currency reform, creation of a new banking system and supervision of the economy (2003-2004).