Richard Sulík

Richard Sulík (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈɾixaɾt ˈsuli:k]; born 12 January 1968) is a Slovak politician, economist and businessman. He is the leader of the political party Freedom and Solidarity and currently serving as Deputy Prime Minister for Finance and Minister of Economy in Government of Slovakia led by Igor Matovič.

Richard Sulík
Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs
Assumed office
21 March 2020
PresidentZuzana Čaputová
Prime MinisterIgor Matovič
Minister of Economy
Assumed office
21 March 2020
PresidentZuzana Čaputová
Prime MinisterIgor Matovič
Preceded byPeter Žiga
Member of the European Parliament
In office
24 May 2014 – 25 May 2019
5th Speaker of the National Council
In office
8 July 2010 – 13 October 2011
Preceded byPavol Paška
Succeeded byPavol Hrušovský
Personal details
Born (1968-01-12) 12 January 1968
Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia)
Political partyFreedom and Solidarity (2009–present)
Alma materUniversity of Munich
University of Economics, Bratislava

Life

Born in 1968 in Czechoslovakia, Sulík emigrated in 1980 with his parents to West Germany, where they lived in the city of Pforzheim. In 1987 he went to Munich to study physics and later economics at the Ludwig Maximilian University. When the borders were reopened right after the end of the cold war, Sulík returned in 1991 to Czechoslovakia. While still a student at the University of Economics in Bratislava, he ran the company FaxCOPY.

When he graduated in 2003, Sulík was working as a special advisor of the Slovak Minister of Finance Ivan Miklos, whom he convinced to take his master thesis as a blueprint for the 2004 Slovak tax reform. This tax reform, introducing a 19% flat tax on all types of income and a 19% value added tax, was believed to be the single most important reform leading to the large increase of foreign investment in Slovakia and the economic boom period. After the reform was put through, he remained in the Advisory Board of the Ministry.

Between 2004 and 2006, Sulìk was CEO of a municipal waste disposal company, OLO. He then returned as special advisor to the Ministry of Finance under Ján Počiatek in order to further evolve the tax system. In 2009, Sulík founded the political party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) which he leads as Chairman.[1] In 2010 he replaced Pavol Paška as the Speaker of Parliament.[2]

Financial crisis

On 14 September 2011, Richard Sulik, the President of the Parliament and leader of his party, which is member of the European Conservatives and Reformists, the third largest political party of the European Parliament, announced that he would not vote for an increase of the funds for the European Financial Stability Facility, believing that allowing Greece to go bankrupt would be a better solution for the rest of the Eurozone member countries.

On 11 October 2011, his party did not vote for the European Financial Stability Facility enlargement even though Prime Minister Iveta Radičová tied the vote with a confidence vote for the government, thus toppling the Slovak government.

Refugee crisis

A former migrant himself, Sulík has strongly opposed the acceptance of subsidiarily protected migrants from the Middle East, and has expressed anti-Islamic views, stating that "I don't want to live in a Europe where more Muslims are born than Christians".[3]

See also

References
  1. "EP NEW PARTY NEARLY WON SEAT". Slovak Spectator. 15 June 2009.
  2. "Richard Sulík is elected new Speaker of Parliament". The Slovak Spectator. 9 July 2010.
  3. http://www.stern.de/politik/deutschland/menschen-bei-maischberger---richard-sulik-mischt-talkrunde-mit-harschen-thesen-zur-fluechtlingskrise-auf-6537222.html#
Political offices
Preceded by
Pavol Paška		 Speaker of the National Council
2010–2011		 Succeeded by
Pavol Hrušovský
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