On Wednesday 16 October, the Chamber of Deputies decided that the Czech Fiscal Council member Jan Pavel will continue in his position through to 2026. 144 of the 174 lawmakers present voted in favour of his appointment, which had been proposed by the Czech National Bank.
In his educational and professional work, Professor Jan Pavel has focused on, in particular, the sphere of public finance, theory of budgetary and fiscal policy, and the efficiency of the functioning of the public sector. Between 2003 and 2006, he worked at the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic; since 2005, he has been working at the Department of Public Finance at the University of Economics in Prague. He has authored or co-authored many publications, research studies, and expert articles, both in the Czech Republic and abroad. He was appointed Professor in 2015. Since January 2018, he has been a member of the Czech Fiscal Council in which he takes part in, among other things, the drafting of Reports on Long-term Sustainability of Public Finance, evaluation of compliance with fiscal rules, and monitoring the development of public institution financial management.
He will start his second term, which will be for 6 years, once his present two-year term expires in January 2020. In order to carry on in office, he will have to swear an oath before the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, after the expiration of his first term in office, as is required by Act No. 23/2017 Coll., on rules of budgetary responsibility.
The Czech Fiscal Council has three members, the Chairman and two regular members. The Chairman is elected by the Chamber of Deputies at the suggestion of the government. The other two members are also elected by the Chamber of Deputies – one at the suggestion of the Senate and the other at the suggestion of the Czech National Bank. The standard term of office of a Czech Fiscal Council member is 6 years. Nevertheless, the first term of two of the members was reduced when the Council was first established in 2018 (one by 2 years and the other by 4 years), to ensure that the entire Council would not change all at once every six years, but to have one member elected every two years, thereby maintaining the continuity of the body.