H. E. Mr. Mikuláš Dzurinda has been appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in July 2010. Prior to his appointment, he held many positions in the parliament as well as the government; the most significant was the position of the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic in 1998 - 2006. In 2004, during his government, Slovak Republic became the member of the NATO and the European Union. He was member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic (1994 - 1998 and 2006 - 2010) for the Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ-DS) that he founded in 2000 and since then he has been its president.