Róża Thun

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Róża Thun (actually Róża Maria Countess von Thun und Hohenstein , née Woźniakowska ; born April 13, 1954 in Cracow ) is a Polish publicist and has been a member of the European Parliament since the 2009 European elections .

Róża Countess of Thun (2014)

Life

She is the daughter of Countess Maria Zyberk - Plater and the university professor Jacek Woźniakowski . From 1972–1979 she studied English at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow; She dedicated her master's thesis to the dramas by Oscar Wilde as an illustration of the social values ​​of the turn of the century. From 1976 to 1980 she was active in the democratic opposition in Cracow: connected to the Dominican academic pastoral service “Beczka”, from which later a part of the Solidarność student committee emerged . From 1978 to 1979 she was the spokeswoman for this branch of Solidarność and a close collaborator of the KOR ( Committee for the Defense of Workers ). Together with Józef Baran and Bogusław Sonik , among others , she signed a letter to Amnesty International complaining about the repression that independent student groups in the People's Republic of Poland were exposed to. During John Paul II's first pilgrimage to Poland (June 1979) she was co-organizer of an independent press office which - in addition to reports on the pilgrimage - informed Western journalists about the democratic opposition in Poland and the situation of the Church. She was one of the organizers of the "Flying University" and numerous oppositional meetings and discussions. She ensured the dissemination of publications critical of the regime.

On September 20, 1980, she married Count Franz von Thun and Hohenstein in Cracow . She is the mother of three daughters and one son.

From 1981–1991 Thun lived in the Federal Republic of Germany , then in Nepal . During this time she took part in numerous conferences in France and Germany, which concerned the situation in Poland and the socio-political situation after the imposition of martial law (December 13, 1981). Among other things, she provided the Western media with information about the situation of the opposition and the Church in Poland and helped emigrated Solidarność activists. She organized humanitarian aid for Poland. It ensured the presence of opposition Polish publishers at the Frankfurt Book Fair . She was a representative of the NSZZ "Solidarność" at their first meeting after December 13, 1981, which took place in Brussels . She worked as a translator and reviewer for Herder Verlag .

From 1992 to 2005 she was director and later head of the board of the Robert Schuman Foundation in Warsaw. During this time she built up a network of pro - European non - governmental organizations . The foundation organized numerous conferences, debates, but also mass events and training courses. Thun has contributed to numerous publications, mainly on the topic of European integration (e.g. Wspólny dramat i szansa in: Pamięć wypędzonych. Grass, Beneš i środkowoeuropejskie rozrachunki , Wyd. Więź, Warsaw 2003, ISBN 83-88032-59-3 ) .

For a time she was active as a politician for the liberal party Unia Wolności (Union of Freedom) at local and regional level. From 2005 she was Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Poland .

In the European elections in Poland in 2009 she was elected to the European Parliament for Platforma Obywatelska with 153,966 votes , where she is a member of the EPP Group in the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection . She is also a member of the delegation for relations with Israel and the delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean. She is a deputy in the Committee on Culture and Education and in the delegation for relations with the Palestinian Legislative Council.

In September 2010 she was involved in the founding of the Spinelli Group , which advocates European federalism . In November 2011 she was elected Vice President of the European Movement International as a representative of the European People's Party .

The Vice President of the European Parliament , Ryszard Czarnecki ( PiS ), accused Thun of an “anti-Polish stance” in January 2018 because of statements in an Arte document in which she criticized the planned judicial reform of the Polish government and compared them in this context with a Szmalcownik (Nazi collaborator). As a result, Czarnecki was removed from his position as Vice-President of Parliament on February 7, 2018 by the European Parliament with 447: 196 votes. The European Parliament made use of this possibility of impeachment for the first time in its history.

Awards

Web links

Commons : Róża Thun  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List of leaders at the EU
  2. ^ Website of the European Parliament
  3. ↑ www.europeanmovement.eu
  4. ↑ Polska Newsweek: Czarnecki odpowie za "szmalcownika"? (accessed February 1, 2018).
  5. ↑ Von Thun and Hohenstein przeciw Polsce | Ryszard Czarnecki - Wiceprzewodniczący Parlamentu Europejskiego . In: Ryszard Czarnecki - Wiceprzewodniczący Parlamentu Europejskiego . January 4, 2018 ( ryszardczarnecki.pl [accessed February 2, 2018]).
  6. ^ Out after Nazi settlement: EU Parliament fires Polish vice-president; accessed on February 8, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Thun, Róża
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Countess of Thun and Hohenstein, Róża Maria (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish publicist and politician, representative of the European Commission in Poland, MEP
DATE OF BIRTH April 13, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Krakow