British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon with Polish Minister of National Defence Tomasz Siemoniak

Tomasz Siemoniak (born 2 July 1967) is a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

politician, Minister of National Defence from 2 August 2011 to 16 November 2015 and

Deputy Prime Minister of Poland Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland is the deputy of the Prime Minister of Poland and member of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland. They can also be one of the Ministers of the Republic of Poland. The Constitution of ...

from 22 September 2014 to 16 November 2015.

Early life and education

Siemoniak was born on 2 July 1967. He graduated from the Foreign Trade Faculty of the Warsaw School of Economics. During his university education, he was the head of the Independent Students’ Association (NZS).

Career

Siemoniak began his career at the Polish public broadcasting unit,

Telewizja Polska Telewizja Polska S.A. (; "Polish Television"; TVP), also known in English as the public Polish Television is a Polish state media corporation. It is the largest Polish television network, although viewership has been declining in the 2010s. Sinc ...

, as the director of the office for field branches and general director of Channel 1. His tenure lasted from 1994 to 1996. He served as the director of the press and information office at the ministry of national defence from 1998 to 2000. During this period he was also a member of the Warsaw city centre district council and deputy chairman of the culture committee of the council. He was appointed deputy chairman of the supervisory board of the Polish News Agency in 1998, and his tenure ended in 2002. From December 2000 to July 2002 he was also deputy mayor of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. He was named as a board member of Polskie Radio SA (public radio company) in 2002 and served there until 2006. Then he was appointed deputy marshal in the marshal’s office of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship (November 2006 - November 2007). From November 2007 to August 2011, he held the post of secretary of state in the ministry of interior and administration. Siemoniak is a member of the Civic Platform headed by

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk ( , ; born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician who was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. He served as the 14th Prime Minister of Poland from 2007 to 2014 and was a co-founder and leader of the Civic ...

. On 2 August 2011, he was appointed minister of national defense in the cabinet led by the prime minister

. Siemoniak replaced

Bogdan Klich Bogdan Adam Klich (born on 8 May 1960 in Kraków) is a former Minister of National Defence of Poland. Son to Adam Klich. Bogdan Klich was interned in 1981 during the martial law set by the communist regime. Until November 16, 2007, he was a ...

in the post. After the elections in October 2011, Tusk reformed the cabinet and Siemoniak retained his post as defense minister.

Activities and views

In August 2012, Siemoniak declared that Poland is planning to form its own missile defense system with an estimated budget of between $3 billion and $6 billion.

References

External links

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Siemoniak, Tomasz 1967 births Government ministers of Poland Living people People from Wałbrzych Ministers of National Defence of Poland Polish economists SGH Warsaw School of Economics alumni Deputy Prime Ministers of Poland Members of the Polish Sejm 2015–2019 Members of the Polish Sejm 2019–2023