Janusz Antoni Lewandowski (; born 13 June 1951) is a Polish politician and economist belonging to the Gdańsk liberals group, and a former member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

(elected on 13 June 2004), Chairman of the Committee on Budgets. On 27 November 2009 he obtained the post of Budget and Financial Programming Commissioner of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

and is affiliated to the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

(EPP). He was re-elected for the 8th term (2014–2019) of the European Parliament, as a member of the EPP group.

Biography

Lewandowski was born in

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

. He graduated in economics from

University of Gdańsk The University of Gdańsk () is a public university, public research university located in Gdańsk, Poland. It is one of the top 10 universities in Poland and an important centre for the studies of the Kashubian language. History The Universi ...

, received a doctorate and was a lecturer there until 1984. Later he worked for Polish Oceanic Lines (Polskie Linie Oceaniczne). He was also a lecturer at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and the founder of the Research Institute for Market Economy in

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

(Instytut Badań nad Gospodarką Rynkową w Gdańsku). He is an author of a book on famous liberals and he also writes short articles for several newspapers and magazines, including '' Rzeczpospolita,

Gazeta Wyborcza (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish nationwide daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It was launched on 8 May 1989 on the basis of the Polish Round Table Agreement and as a press organ of the Solidarity (Polish trade union), t ...

Parkiet ''Parkiet'' (, full title: ''Parkiet Gazeta Gieldy''; ) is a daily newspaper published in Warsaw, Poland, since 1990. The paper focuses on business and financial news. History and profile ''Parkiet'', based in Warsaw, was launched in 1990. The p ...

Polityka ''Polityka'' (, ''Politics'') is a centre-left weekly news magazine in Poland. It had a circulation of 95,300 during 2021. ''Polityka'' has a slightly intellectual, socially liberal profile, setting it apart from the more conservative ''Wprost ...

Wprost ''Wprost'' (, meaning "Directly") is a Polish weekly news magazine published in Poznań, Poland.Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

''.

Political career

From 1980 to 1989 he was an economics adviser to the

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

anti-communist movement, and in 1988 he was one of the founders of the Liberal Democratic Congress. He was the Minister of Privatization in the cabinets of

Jan Krzysztof Bielecki Jan Krzysztof Bielecki (born 3 May 1951) is a Polish liberal politician and economist. A leading figure of the Gdańsk-based Liberal Democratic Congress in the early 1990s, Bielecki served as Prime Minister of Poland for most of 1991. In his p ...

(1990–1991) and

Hanna Suchocka Hanna Stanisława Suchocka (; born 3 April 1946) is a Polish political figure, lawyer, professor at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and Chair of the Constitutional Law Department, former First Vice-President and Honorary President of the V ...

(1992–1993). His major successes were the foundation of the

Warsaw Stock Exchange The Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) () is a stock exchange in Warsaw, Poland. Founded in 1817, it was located in the Saxon Palace until 1877 when it was moved to the Exchange Building at the Saxon Garden. Currently, it is located at ul. Książęca ...

and the mass privatization programme (Program Powszechnej Prywatyzacji). He lost his parliamentary seat in the 1993 elections and worked as an international expert from 1994 to 1997. After the merger of KLD and Democratic Union in 1994 he became a member of Freedom Union (UW), and in 1997 member of

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

representing UW. Together with

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk (born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician and historian who has served as the prime minister of Poland since 2023, previously holding the office from 2007 to 2014. Tusk served as the president of the European Council (20 ...

and other liberals he seceded from UW to form

Civic Platform The Civic Platform (, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a Centre-right politics, centre-right liberal conservative political party in Poland. Since ...

, and was elected an MP again in 2001. Since 2003 he was an observer in the

. In the

2004 European Parliament election The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but elect ...

he was a candidate of

in constituency #1

Pomeranian Voivodship Pomeranian Voivodeship ( ; ) is a voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk. The voivodeship was established on January 1, 1999, out of the former voivodeships of Gdańsk, Elbląg and Słupsk, pursua ...

and received 79,879 votes (=20.17%, the best result in the region). On 23 July 2004 he was elected chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Budgets.

Andris Piebalgs Andris Piebalgs (born 17 September 1957) is a Latvian politician and diplomat who served as European Commissioner for Development at the European Commission from 2010 until 2014. Between 2004 and 2009 he served as Commissioner for Energy. Betw ...

was twice Acting Commissioner in his stead, from 19 April 2014 – 25 May 2014 while he was on electoral campaign leave for the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 22 and 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties field ...

from 1 July 2014 – 16 July 2014 after he took up his seat. Lewandowski was re-elected for the 8th term (2014–2019) of the European Parliament, as a member of the EPP group. He was re-elected for the 9th term (2019–2024) of the European Parliament and was chosen as the 1st Vice-Chair of the EP Committee on Budgets.

Political positions

Lewandowski has expressed skepticism about the scientific consensus on

anthropogenic climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

, putting him at odds with many of his colleagues in the Barroso Commission. MEPs have asked "which steps" president Barroso will take over the comments. As one of the key experts on the European Union long term budget, known as "Multiannual Financial Framework", or MFF, MEP Lewandowski was one of the European Parliament "rapporteurs", recommending the agreement on the MFF 2021–2027.

References

External links

Janusz Lewandowski
Official Media Gallery , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewandowski, Janusz 1951 births Civic Platform MEPs Civic Platform politicians Government ministers of Poland Harvard University staff Living people Members of the Polish Sejm 1991–1993 Members of the Polish Sejm 1997–2001 Members of the Polish Sejm 2001–2005 MEPs for Poland 2004 MEPs for Poland 2004–2009 MEPs for Poland 2009–2014 MEPs for Poland 2014–2019 MEPs for Poland 2019–2024 MEPs for Poland 2024–2029 Politicians from Lublin Polish economists University of Gdańsk alumni Freedom Union (Poland) politicians Polish European commissioners Member of the Mont Pelerin Society

Biography

Political career

Political positions

See also

References

External links