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Mirek Topolánek (Czech pronunciation: ) (born 15 May 1956 in Vsetín, Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic) is the former prime minister of the Czech Republic and President of the European Council. A member of the Civic Democratic Party, he has been chairman of the center-right party since November 2002, succeeding Václav Klaus, the current President of the Czech Republic.
On 24 March 2009, Topolánek announced his resignation, along with his Government, after it lost a no-confidence vote in the Czech Parliament. He remained in office until 8 May, at which point Jan Fischer took office as an independent Prime Minister leading an interim caretaker government.
Mirek Topolánek attended a military high school in Opava, where he became a Socialistic Union of Youth member which he claimed to be semi-obligatory for future officers. After finishing he studied at Brno University of Technology where he received an Ing. degree in mechanical engineering. In 1996 he won a scholarship for Training Course in Management of small and medium enterprise (MIM) in Cyprus and also attended a post-graduate Course in Corporate Management (Centre for Management Training, Čelákovice CZ).