Szymon Andrzej Szynkowski vel Sęk (; born 24 November 1982 in

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

) is a Polish politician, 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' ...

(VIII, IX and X terms), between 2018 and 2022 deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of Poland in charge of Polish Diaspora, European Policy and Public Diplomacy, since 2022 Minister for European Union Affairs. He was appointed Minister of the Foreign Affairs in the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Mateusz Morawiecki Mateusz Jakub Morawiecki (; born 20 June 1968) is a Polish economist, historian and politician who served as the prime minister of Poland between 2017 and 2023. A member of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, he previously served in the Cabinet of ...

in November 2023.

Early life and education

Szynkowski vel Sęk graduated from the

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań The Adam Mickiewicz University (; Latin: ''Universitas Studiorum Mickiewicziana Posnaniensis'') is a research university in Poznań, Poland. Due to its history, the university is traditionally considered among Poland's most reputable institution ...

with a degree in international relations (2006). Between 2003 and 2004, he studied at

Osnabrück University Osnabrück University () is a public research university located in the city of Osnabrück in Lower Saxony, Germany. The university is known for its many interdisciplinary degree programmes, some of them rare or even unique among German uni ...

. From 2006 to 2015, Szynkowski vel Sęk served as

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

lor in Poznań. He has been the founder and president (2012–2016) of a local think-tank, 'Project Poznań'. Between 2015 and 2016, he was Poznań's delegate to the Board of the Association of Polish Cities. From 2004 to 2015, Szynkowski vel Sęk was assistant of

Jacek Tomczak Jacek Jerzy Tomczak (born July 27, 1973, in Poznań) is a Polish politician and lawyer. He is a member of the Sejm for Poland Comes First, having been a member for Law and Justice from 2005 to 2010. He was elected to Sejm on 25 September 2005 ...

, Marcin Libicki, Konrad Szymański,

Ryszard Czarnecki Richard Henry Czarnecki (, born 25 January 1963 pol. Ryszard Henryk Czarnecki) is a Polish politician and a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Poland. He is a member of the Law and Justice, part of the European Conservatives an ...

, members 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 ...

Political career

Member of the Polish Parliament, 2015–present

In 2015 Szynkowski vel Sęk was elected member of the Polish

receiving 8,676 votes. Consequently, he got re-elected in 2019 (24 233 votes) and 2023 (leading the local

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( , PiS) is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Refo ...

list and receiving 45 167 votes). He used to be member of Parliamentary Committee on the European Union and Foreign Affairs Committeel and serve as chairman the Polish-German Parliamentary Group.

Career in government, 2018–2023

On 1 June 2018, Szynkowski vel Sęk was appointed Secretary of State for the Polish Community Abroad, European Policy and Public Diplomacy at the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

. On 13 October 2022, President Andrzej Duda appointed him as Minister for European Union Affairs. On 27 November 2023, he took up the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs in the third government of Mateusz Morawiecki.

Interactions with international partners

In July 2020, Szynkowski vel Sęk – on behalf of the Polish government – summoned the German

chargé d'affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

"in connection with a sequence of articles in German media using manipulation and creating a clear impression of favouring one of the candidates" around the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

, referring to a perceived bias in favour of

Rafał Trzaskowski Rafał Kazimierz Trzaskowski (born 17 January 1972) is a Polish politician and political scientist specializing in European studies who has served as List of city mayors of Warsaw, Mayor of Warsaw since 22 November 2018. He served as a Member ...

over

Andrzej Duda Andrzej Sebastian Duda (born 16 May 1972) is a Polish lawyer and politician who has served as the sixth president of Poland since 2015. Before becoming president, he served as a Member of the Sejm from 2011 to 2014 and before becoming Member of ...

. In October 2021, he summoned Belgium's ambassador to express "disapproval and indignation" after Belgian

Alexander De Croo Alexander De Croo (; born 3 November 1975) is a Belgian politician and businessman who served as Prime Minister of Belgium from 2020 to 2025. Previously from 2012 to 2020, De Croo served as deputy prime minister in the governments of Elio Di Rup ...

accused Poland of "playing with fire" in a worsening dispute with 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 ...

over the

rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...

. After adopting on 25 October 2023 by the

the

European Parliament Committee on Constitutional Affairs The Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) is a committee of the European Parliament dealing with institutional matters such as revisions to the Treaties of the European Union, inter-institutional agreements, and the Parliament's internal rules ...

report on the on proposals for the amendment of the

EU Treaties The Treaties of the European Union are a set of international treaties between the European Union (EU) member states which sets out the EU's constitutional basis. They establish the various EU institutions together with their remit, procedure ...

(approved with 305 votes in favour, 276 against, and 29 abstentions) Szynkowski vel Sęk made efforts to build a coalition of EU member states against treaty changes in such form, visiting a number of European capitals, including i.a.

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

and

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szynkowski vel Sek, Szymon 1982 births Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań alumni Law and Justice politicians Living people Government ministers of Poland Politicians from Poznań Members of the Polish Sejm 2015–2019 Members of the Polish Sejm 2019–2023 Polish city councillors