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Grzegorz Schetyna

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Grzegorz Schetyna
Grzegorz Schetyna in 2023
Acting President of Poland
In office
8 July 2010 – 6 August 2010
Prime MinisterDonald Tusk
Preceded byBogdan Borusewicz (Acting)
Succeeded byBronisław Komorowski
Chairman of Civic Platform
In office
26 January 2016 – 29 January 2020
Secretary-GeneralStanisław Gawłowski
Robert Tyszkiewicz
Parliamentary
Leader		Sławomir Neumann
Borys Budka
Preceded byEwa Kopacz
Succeeded byBorys Budka
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
22 September 2014 – 16 November 2015
Prime MinisterEwa Kopacz
DeputyRafał Trzaskowski
Preceded byRadosław Sikorski
Succeeded byWitold Waszczykowski
Marshal of the Sejm
In office
8 July 2010 – 8 November 2011
Preceded byBronisław Komorowski
Succeeded byEwa Kopacz
Parliamentary Leader of Civic Platform
In office
9 October 2009 – 22 July 2010
LeaderDonald Tusk
Preceded byGrzegorz Dolniak (Acting)
Succeeded byTomasz Tomczykiewicz
Deputy Prime Minister of Poland
In office
16 November 2007 – 13 October 2009
Prime MinisterDonald Tusk
Preceded byPrzemysław Gosiewski
Succeeded byWaldemar Pawlak
Minister of the Interior and Administration
In office
16 November 2007 – 13 October 2009
Prime MinisterDonald Tusk
Preceded byWładysław Stasiak
Succeeded byJerzy Miller
Member of the Sejm
Incumbent
Assumed office
25 September 2005
Personal details
Born
Grzegorz Juliusz Schetyna

(1963-02-18) 18 February 1963 (age 61)
Opole, Poland
Political partyCivic Platform
Other political
affiliations		Liberal Democratic Congress (1991–1994)
Freedom Union (1994–2001)
SpouseKalina Rowińska-Schetyna
Children1
Alma materUniversity of Wrocław

Grzegorz Juliusz Schetyna (Polish pronunciation: [ˈɡʐɛɡɔʂ sxɛˈtɨna] ⓘ; born 18 February 1963) is a Polish politician who has been Leader of Civic Platform and Leader of the Opposition from 26 January 2016 to 25 January 2020. He has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland from 2014 to 2015, Marshal of the Sejm from 2010 to 2011, Acting President of Poland 2010, Deputy Prime Minister of Poland from 2007 to 2009 and Minister of the Interior and Administration 2007 to 2009. He has been a Member of the Sejm from 1997.

Early career

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In the early 1990s, Schetyna co-founded a commercial broadcaster, Radio Eska, and chaired the Śląsk Wrocław basketball team in 1994–97.[1]

Political career

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Early beginnings

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In the late 1980s, Schetyna headed the University of Wrocław’s branch of the Independent Students’ Union, the student arm of the Solidarność (Solidarity) trade-union movement, before holding a series of posts in the Liberal-Democratic Congress and then the Freedom Union party in the 1990s, along with Donald Tusk and several other key figures in Polish politics.[2] When Tusk co-founded Civic Platform in 2001, Schetyna became secretary-general.[3]

Schetyna was first elected to the Sejm as a candidate of the Freedom Union in the national elections on 21 September 1997 after receiving 13 013 (3,17%) in 50 Wrocław district. Following the 2007 parliamentary election, he served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration under Prime Minister Donald Tusk. As interior minister, he championed the badly needed renovation of provincial roads in Poland. In a 2009 cabinet reshuffle,[4] he left the government abruptly amid tensions between his faction within the ruling Civic Platform party and Tusk.[5]

Schetyna was also a member of Sejm 1997–2001, Sejm 2001–2005, Sejm 2005–2007, Sejm 2007–2011.

After stepping down, he moved to the post of head of the Civic Platform Sejm caucus.

Marshal of the Sejm

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Following Bronisław Komorowski's victory in the 2010 presidential election, Schetyna was nominated as the Civic Platform's candidate to succeed the President-elect as the Marshal of the Sejm.[6]

On 8 July he was elected Marshal of the Sejm and thus assumed the post of the Acting President of Poland. Schetyna served as the interim head of state until Komorowski's inauguration on 6 August 2010.[7]

Schetyna ceased being Sejm Marshal on 8 November 2011; Ewa Kopacz replaced him and later took his job as the Civic Platform's first deputy leader.[8]

Sejm Committee on Foreign Affairs

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Between 2011 and 2014, Schetyna served as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.[9] Shortly after the referendum on the status of Crimea held on 16 March 2014, he and his counterparts of the Weimar Triangle parliaments – Elisabeth Guigou of France and Norbert Röttgen of Germany – visited Kyiv to express their countries’ firm support of the territorial integrity and the European integration of Ukraine.[10] This was the first time that parliamentarians of the Weimar Triangle had ever made a joint trip to a third country.[11]

During Tusk's seven years in power, Schetyna tried several times to challenge him but was sidelined.[12] By 2014, news media reported about increased rivalry and tension between him and Tusk.

Minister of Foreign Affairs

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When Tusk stepped down from his position in September 2014 to become the President of the European Council, Schetyna announced he would run for leadership of the Civic Platform. This was widely seen as a direct challenge to incoming Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz, as by tradition the prime minister is also party leader.[13]

For domestic political reasons Kopacz therefore decided to replace Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski with Schetyna.[14] Unlike his predecessor in the job, Schetyna was unknown outside Poland at the time.[15] Upon taking office, Kopacz ordered him to redraft Poland's foreign policy urgently and present it to parliament.[16]

In February 2015, Schetyna announced that Poland would be the first country to pay damages for participating in the US Central Intelligence Agency’s secret rendition program after it was found to have hosted a facility used for illegal rendition and interrogation. In doing so, Poland followed a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights ordering it to pay former detainees Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah.[17]

In September 2015, Schetyna summoned the Russian ambassador to Poland, Sergey Andreyev, after the ambassador, in an interview aired by private broadcaster TVN24, said Poland was partly responsible for Nazi Germany invading in 1939 because it had repeatedly blocked the formation of a coalition against Berlin in the run-up to the conflict.

Leader of Civic Platform

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As Civic Platform chairman, Schetyna and the party’s other lawmakers occupied the main hall in parliament from mid-December 2016 and mid-January 2017 over the ruling PiS party’s plans to limit media access and a vote on the budget which the Civic Platform said was held illegally.[18] He also led the party’s campaign for the 2019 European Parliament election by warning that the ruling eurosceptic PiS party could eventually lead the country out of the EU.

Ahead of the 2019 national elections, Schetyna led his party’s move to join forces with two small, liberal groupings[19] and announced Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska as their candidate for prime minister.[20]

In January 2020, Schetyna announced that he won't stand in the 2020 Civic Platform leadership election and endorsed Tomasz Siemoniak. On 25 January 2020 his successor, Borys Budka, was elected.[21][22]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Annabelle Chapman (October 16, 2014), Grzegorz Schetyna – surprise replacement European Voice.
  2. ^ Annabelle Chapman (October 16, 2014), Grzegorz Schetyna – surprise replacement European Voice.
  3. ^ Annabelle Chapman (October 16, 2014), Grzegorz Schetyna – surprise replacement European Voice.
  4. ^ Marek Strzelecki and Malgorzata Halaba (October 8, 2009), Polish Premier Dismisses Several Cabinet Members Wall Street Journal.
  5. ^ Marcin Sobczyk and Patryk Wasilewski (September 19, 2014), Poland's Prime Minister Names New Cabinet Wall Street Journal.
  6. ^ "Wybory prezydenckie 2020 - Daty, kandydaci, sondaże - Wiadomości.Gazeta.pl".
  7. ^ "Schetyna nowym marszałkiem Sejmu. 'Chcę być jak Płażyński'". Archived from the original on July 11, 2010. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
  8. ^ Pawel Sobczak and Christian Lowe (September 19, 2014), New Polish PM brings her rival into government Reuters.
  9. ^ Marcin Sobczyk and Patryk Wasilewski (September 19, 2014), Poland's Prime Minister Names New Cabinet Wall Street Journal.
  10. ^ Weimar Triangle countries support the territorial integrity and European integration of Ukraine Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, press release of April 11, 2014.
  11. ^ Parlamentarier des Weimarer Dreiecks: Röttgen, Guigou und Schetyna in Kiew Archived August 17, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Bundestag, press release of April 8, 2014.
  12. ^ Pawel Sobczak and Christian Lowe (September 19, 2014), New Polish PM brings her rival into government Reuters.
  13. ^ Pawel Sobczak and Christian Lowe (September 19, 2014), New Polish PM brings her rival into government Reuters.
  14. ^ Pawel Sobczak and Christian Lowe (September 19, 2014), New Polish PM brings her rival into government Reuters.
  15. ^ Marcin Sobczyk and Patryk Wasilewski (September 19, 2014), Poland's Prime Minister Names New Cabinet Wall Street Journal.
  16. ^ Marcin Sobczyk and Patryk Wasilewski (October 1, 2014), Poland's New Premier Signals Shift in Ukraine Policy Wall Street Journal.
  17. ^ Henry Foy (February 18, 2015), Poland agrees to pay 2 victims of CIA rendition Financial Times.
  18. ^ Pawel Agnieszka Barteczko (January 12, 2017), Poland's main opposition grouping ends parliamentary protest Reuters.
  19. ^ Joanna Plucinska and Angelika Meczkowska (July 18, 2019), Poland's fragmented opposition coalesces into left, center blocs Reuters.
  20. ^ Jan Cienski (September 3, 2019), Polish opposition chooses a candidate for PM Politico Europe.
  21. ^ "Koniec rządów Grzegorza Schetyny w Platformie Obywatelskiej". fakty.interia.pl (in Polish). Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  22. ^ "Civic Platform chairman Schetyna won't be running for re-election". TVN24. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of the Interior and Administration
2007–2009 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Acting President of Poland
2010 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Marshal of the Sejm
2010–2011 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Foreign Affairs
2014–2015 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Civic Platform in the Sejm
2009–2010 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Leader of the Civic Platform
2016-2020 		Succeeded by
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