Former minister, 'Mr. Budget,' dies at 59

Eduard Janota, known as "Mr. Budget" for his work as a longtime deputy finance minister in charge of state budgets and then finance minister, died May 20. He was 59 years old.

Janota died of a heart attack while playing tennis in the village of Radovesice, near Litoměřice, north of Prague.

Janota was finance minister in the caretaker government of Jan Fischer. More recently, he served as a member of the supervisory board of state-owned energy company ČEZ, but he is most known for his work in cutting the state budget by 50 billion Kč during some of the most tumultuous times of the global economic crisis in 2009.  

"I couldn't believe it," Fischer, who currently serves as vice president of operational policies at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, told The Prague Post. "He had a very brilliant personality, and everyone knew they could rely on him, but he was very modest. He was also a very convincing speaker, and spoke about things in a simple and understandable way - it was no wonder he was the tailor of my government budget."

Janota served under many different governments of various political parties, a testament to his policy to follow "no particular political doctrine, no ideology other than common sense," said economist Pavel Kohout, who worked with Janota on the government advisory body the National Economic Council (NERV).

"He had no fears of speaking his mind, even in the years when his boss and the majority of the House were in favor of more spending," Kohout said. "Without his courage, the current government debt might be significantly higher than the actual 40 percent of the GDP."  

Janota started working on the state budget in the Finance Ministry in 1978, under the communist regime. He became a member of the Communist Party in 1984 but left it after the Velvet Revolution in 1989.

In 1992, he became director of the state budget until 1999, when he became deputy finance minister. In 2001, he was promoted to first deputy.

He was dismissed from the ministry in 2006 by then Finance Minister Vlastimil Tlustý, and then re-instated in 2007 as deputy finance minister by current Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek, who also served as minister in Mirek Topolánek's government. After the coalition government collapsed in 2009, Janota was appointed finance minister under the caretaker government, and then left the government when the current coalition came to power in 2010.

Janota also served on supervisory boards for a number of companies, including the Czech-Moravian Guarantee and Development Bank, black-coal producer OKD, North Moravian Gas, Telefónica O2 and Czech Airlines.

He attended the University of Economics in Prague with Fischer, where Fischer said he studied statistics while Janota studied finance.

"He was very active sportsman; he loved soccer, and he loved tennis," Fischer said. "He was such a lovely person, and very friendly. He had a lot of friends."

After his time in the ministry, Janota served as one of the economists on NERV, an advisory body created to make recommendations for government economic reforms.

"I'd stress that this country desperately needs professionals like Janota who are politically independent, open and pragmatic in the best sense of this word," Kohout said. "He will be missed."

Janota is survived by his wife and two sons.

A memorial service is scheduled for the morning of May 27 at St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle.

Cat Contiguglia can be reached at
ccontiguglia@praguepost.com