He studied Economics. He was a member of the Czech Communist Party from 1968 to 1970, then, during the 1989 revolution, he joined the Civic Forum and became actively involved in its centre-left stream. He was elected to the Federal Assembly in 1990. He joined the CSSD (Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party as it then was) and was re-elected to the Federal Assembly of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic in the elections held that year. In 1992 he was also elected Chairman of the CSSD Prague Municipal Committee. At the 1993 National Congress of the CSSD (Czech Social Democratic Party as it is now), he was elected Party Chairman. He was re-elected in 1998 and was appointed Prime Minister, a post he held until 2002.