Miroslav Kalousek

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Miroslav Kalousek

Miroslav Kalousek (b. December 17, 1960 in Tábor) is a Czech politician. From 2003 until August 25, 2006 he served as the leader of government party KDU-ČSL (Christian Democracy).

Kalousek studied chemistry at an university in Prague. Since 1990 he worked in civil service. His most notable position held was at the Ministry of Defense where he was responsible for budget and acquisitions (1993 - 1998). During this period the army experienced a series of corruption scandals. According to media^{[citation needed]}, Kalousek was the main culprit and benefactor of bribes(the failure to prosecute even obvious cases of corruption is typical in the country), though he was never officially accused or put before trial. He is aware of his bad reputation but denies any corruption and argues that mistakes were inevitable during transformation of the army. His extreme closeness to elements in the ODS known for manipulating state companies together with his acquisition of advisers from parties which backed away from challenging corruption, adds to his image.

After stepping down Kalousek was forced to fight for his position in the party. He was publicly characterized by party leader as untrustworthy. He managed to survive these attacks and gradually started to regain influence. In 2003 he was elected as leader of KDU-ČSL. The party was in slow decline and Kalousek was seen as tough person not giving up seemingly lost case. In fact, the party declined further under his leadership.

[edit] Minority government's scandal

Parliament election in 2006 resulted in situation where no party of coalition of parties was able to form a viable government. During next months several alternatives were negotiated with no result.

On August 24, 2006 Kalousek unexpectedly accepted an offer from Jiří Paroubek to start negotiation about minority government by KDU-ČSL and the Social Democratic Party which would be tolerated by the communists. The presidium of the party expressed no objections.^[1]

Such negotiation was in conflict with the pre-election promises and vocal anti-communistic stance of the party and its electorate.^[2]^[3]

On August 25, 2006 mass protests by KDU-ČSL members, regional organisations and parliamentaries went public. The party group in Brno (the biggest regional organisation) refused the negotiation and asked for resignation of Kalousek and of the whole presidium of KDU-ČSL. Other organisations expressed similar requirements. Some parliamentaries declared that they won't support such government.^[2]

At the evening of the same day the country-wide committee of KDU-ČSL refused the negotiation by overwhelming majority and Kalousek resigned.

Preceded by Cyril Svoboda	12th Chairman of Czechoslovak People's Party 2003-2006	Succeeded by Jiří Čunek
Preceded by Vlastimil Tlustý	8th Minister of Finances of the Czech Republic since 2007	Succeeded by incumbent