Bogdan Borusewicz

Bogdan Borusewicz

Bogdan Michał Borusewicz (born January 11, 1949 in Lidzbark Warmiński ) is a Polish politician of the Civic Platform (PO) and was chairman of the Senate from 2005 to 2015 . On July 8, 2010 he temporarily took over the office of President Lech Kaczyński, who was killed in the plane crash near Smolensk .

Life

Democratic opposition

Borusewicz was arrested for the first time as a schoolboy in May 1968 after the Polish student riots . He had printed and distributed leaflets. In 1975 he graduated from the Catholic University of Lublin with a degree in history and, after the workers' unrest in Radom, in 1976 he became a member of the Committee for the Defense of Workers . In the period 1978-1980 he worked for the opposition Free Trade Unions of Pomerania ( Wolne Związki Zawodowe Wybrzeża ) in Gdansk.

In 1980 he was one of the leading organizers of the August 1980 strikes in Poland , which began at the Gdańsk Lenin Shipyard , and became a co-founder of Solidarność . When General Wojciech Jaruzelski declared a state of war in Poland on December 13, 1981 , Borusewicz went underground and hid from the socialist rulers for four years. During this time he continued to work for the organization of Solidarność underground. He was arrested in 1986 and released in 1988 after an amnesty.

Political career from 1989

After the political change, he continued to work as a Solidarność activist and in 1991 became a member of the Polish Sejm . In the first legislative period from 1991 to 1993 he was a member of Solidarność and headed the parliamentary special commission to investigate the effects of the state of war. During the discussion on the vote of no confidence in the government of Hanna Suchocka , which was passed through at the union's request , he fell out with the union and became a member of Unia Demokratyczna , of which Tadeusz Mazowiecki was chairman . In 1994 the Unia Demokratyczna became the liberal party Unia Wolności , which became a member of Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek's coalition .

Borusewicz was Deputy Minister of the Interior in this government from 1997-2000 . In 2001 Borusewicz was not re-elected to the Sejm and went back to Gdansk, where he was involved in regional policy in the Pomeranian Voivodeship until 2005 . In 2002 he was a candidate for the mayoral election of Gdansk, but lost the election with a result of 16%.

In 2005 Bogdan Borusewicz was elected Polish Senator, with the support of the ruling PiS party as well as the Platforma Obywatelska . Since 2005 he has been chairman of the Polish Senate as Senate Marshal . In the 2007 parliamentary elections in Gdansk, he was re-elected to the Senate by a large majority as a candidate for the Civic Platform.

On July 8, 2010, Bronisław Komorowski , who had previously managed the President's affairs as Sejm Marshal , had to resign from the office of Sejm Marshal as President-elect, and his successor Grzegorz Schetyna was not elected until the evening of that day. In the intervening hours, Borusewicz took over the official business of the President on a provisional basis, since according to the constitution , these are the responsibility of the Senate Marshal with simultaneous vacancies for the posts of President and Sejm Marshal.

Borusewicz is one of the 89 people from the European Union against whom Russia imposed an entry ban in May 2015 .

In the parliamentary elections (Sejm and Senate) in October 2015 , Stanisław Karczewski took over the office of Senate Marshal from the winning PiS party . He himself was re-elected senator.

In 2009 Borusewicz was awarded the Dr. Rainer Hildebrandt Medal by Alexandra Hildebrandt . Once a year, the award recognizes extraordinary, non-violent, human rights engagement.

family

Bogdan Borusewicz was married to Alina Pienkowska , a nurse and Solidarność activist , with whom he has two children. She was also a senator from 1991 to 1993. Alina Pienkowska died in 2002 at the age of 50.

Web links

Commons : Bogdan Borusewicz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Bogdan Borusewicz - Official Homepage (Polish)
• Biography of Bogdan Borusewicz on the Polish Senate website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Andreas Borcholte: Entry bans: Russia accuses EU politicians of showing behavior. In: Spiegel Online. May 31, 2015, accessed June 1, 2015 . 
2. ^ RUS: Russian Visa Blocking List. (PDF 23 KB) In: yle.fi. May 26, 2015, accessed June 1, 2015 .