Witold Waszczykowski

Witold Waszczykowski (2016)

Listen to Witold Jan Waszczykowski ^{? / i} (born May 5, 1957 in Piotrków Trybunalski ) is a Polish historian, diplomat and politician. From November 16, 2015 to January 9, 2018, he was Foreign Minister in the Szydło and Morawiecki cabinet .

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Waszczykowski completed his master's degree at the Faculty of Philosophy and History at the University of Łódź in 1980 , then in 1991 at the Faculty of International Relations at the University of Oregon . From 1992 to 1993 he completed postgraduate studies at the Geneva Center for Security Policy . In 1993 he received his doctorate in history. From 1981 to 1987 he worked as an assistant at the Faculty of Philosophy and History at the University of Łódź. From 1992 he worked for the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in 1996 he was initially Deputy Director of the Department for European Institutions and then moved to the Department for Security Policy.

In 1997 he was the acting head of Poland's liaison office at NATO in Brussels , then until 1999 Poland's deputy at NATO. From 1999 to 2002 he held the post of Ambassador to Tehran , after which he worked in the Department of Strategy and Planning of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Deputy Director of the Department for Africa and the Middle East. On November 4, 2005, he was appointed Undersecretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He led negotiations with the United States on the missile defense system . On August 11, 2008, he was removed from office in the State Department.

Waszczykowski during the 52nd MSC 2016

On August 27, 2008, he was appointed Deputy Head of the National Security Bureau and resigned on July 6, 2010. In the local elections in 2010, he unsuccessfully applied for the office of mayor of Łódź . In the 2011 parliamentary elections , he was elected a member of the Sejm and joined the PiS (Law and Justice) party . He applied unsuccessfully in the 2014 European elections in Poland .

In the 2015 parliamentary elections, he was re-elected as a member of the Sejm. After the swearing-in of the new government, he took over the post of Foreign Minister in Beata Szydło's government on November 16, 2015 .

During Waszczykowski's tenure, the broken relationship with the European Union fell . Critics criticized his aggressive rhetoric. In January 2018 he was dismissed by the new Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and replaced by Jacek Czaputowicz . The personnel changes were seen as a signal from Poland to take a moderating course towards the EU.

Political positions

Foreign and Security Policy

Waszczykowski advocates the stationing of NATO ground troops in Poland. As a justification, he adds the changed "security environment" with reference to the Russian interventions in neighboring Ukraine .

European politics

In a guest article for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , he called the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline a point of contention in German-Polish relations and criticized it as a project of “selfish particularism” that had to be overcome in the energy policy of the European Union .

Media policy

With regard to the reform of the Polish media , Waszczykowski defended the project with the words “As if the world had to move automatically in only one direction according to the Marxist model - to a new mix of cultures and races , a world of cyclists and vegetarians who only rely on renewable energies and fight against every form of religion . It has nothing to do with traditional Polish values. ” He also said that the reform would “ cure some diseases ”for the state .

Trivia

The Foreign Minister experienced international media coverage after a press conference in which he spoke about Poland's efforts to become a non - permanent member of the UN Security Council for the period 2018-2019. Among other things, he advertised in the fictional country " San Escobar " to support him , but later announced that he was actually interested in St. Kitts and Nevis .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Presentation on the Onet.pl website
2. ^ Curriculum vitae on the website of the Polish Parliament
3. ↑ Die Welt, November 10, 2015
4. ↑ Meret Baumann: Poland's new head of government dismisses controversial ministers. In: nzz.de . January 9, 2018, accessed January 9, 2018 . 
5. ↑ USA relocate tanks to Eastern Europe sueddeutsche.de , March 31, 2016.
6. ↑ Dr. Witold Waszczykowski: is Europe falling apart? (6): With your hand on your heart . In: FAZ.net , April 8, 2016, accessed on March 28, 2018.
7. ^ Media reform: Poland warns of "world of cyclists and vegetarians" . In: Zeit.de , January 3, 2016, accessed on March 28, 2018.
8. ↑ When Poland's foreign minister just invented a country. In: welt.de . January 12, 2017. Retrieved January 13, 2017 . 

Web links

Commons : Witold Waszczykowski  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Guest contribution (FAZ.net April 8, 2016)
• Entry on Witold Waszczykowski in the Members' database of the European Parliament