Ing. Milan Šimonovský

Born on 17 February 1949 in Brno, where he attended a secondary vocational school of constructional engineering. In 1973, he graduated from the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Brno Technical University. Between 1984 and 1990, he took a postgraduate course in Systems of Municipal Mass Transport. From 1973 to 1990, he was employed at the City of Brno Chief Architect’s Department as an expert in transport systems. Between 1990 and 2000, Mr Šimonovský was the Deputy Mayor of Brno; in 2000, he was elected the senator for the Brno-City constituency (Constituency No 59) and at the same time he was appointed the Vice-Chairman of the Senate Committee for European Integration and Vice-Chairman of the Senators Club for KDU-ČSL. From 1998 to 2000, he was Vice-Chairman of the South Moravian Association of Villages and Municipalities and Chairman of the Administrative Committee of the South Moravia Regional Development Administration. He has been a member of the KDU-ČSL Party since 1990; in 1995-2000 he was Vice-Chairman of the Brno KDU-ČSL Municipal Committee. In 2001, Mr Šimonovský was elected the Vice-Chairman of KDU-ČSL. He was the Minister of Transport in Vladímír Špidla’s government between 15 July 2002 and 4 August 2004. He is married and he has one son. He is a keen sportsman interested primarily in mountaineering, skiing, swimming, and cycling.