Janusz Onyszkiewicz | |
|---|---|
) | |
| 3rd and 7th Minister of National Defense of Poland | |
| In office 11 July 1992 – 26 October 1993 | |
| President | Lech Wałęsa |
| Prime Minister | Hanna Suchocka |
| Preceded by | Romuald Szeremietiew |
| Succeeded by | Piotr Kołodziejczyk |
| In office 31 October 1997 – 16 June 2000 | |
| President | Aleksander Kwaśniewski |
| Prime Minister | Jerzy Buzek |
| Preceded by | Stanisław Dobrzański |
| Succeeded by | Bronisław Komorowski |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 18 December 1937 Lwów, Poland |
| Political party | Partia Demokratyczna - demokraci.pl |
Janusz Adam Onyszkiewicz (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjanuʂ ɔnɨʂˈkʲɛvʲitʂ], born 18 December 1937) is a Polish mathematician, alpinist, politician[1] and was a vice-president of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee from January 2007 until mid-2009.[2]
Biographical note
Janusz Onyszkiewicz was born in Lwów (then Poland, now Lviv, Ukraine).[3] He graduated in mathematics from Warsaw University. He became a mathematician, and was also known as an alpinist in the 1970s along with his wife Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz. In the 1980s, he became the spokesman for the anti-communist Solidarity movement.[1] He became popular among foreign journalists because of his fluent English. After the introduction of martial law in Poland on 13 December 1981, he was arrested and interned.[4]
After the fall of communism in 1989, Onyszkiewicz became a member of the Polish Sejm. He served all subsequent terms from May 1989 until 2001. In the spring of 1990, Onyszkiewicz and Bronisław Komorowski became the first civilian vice-ministers of defence in the communist-dominated Ministry of Defence.[4] Later, Onyszkiewicz was Minister of Defence twice, in the cabinets of Hanna Suchocka (1992–1993) and Jerzy Buzek (1997–2000).[5]
Initially, he was a member of the Obywatelski Klub Parlamentarny, then the Democratic Union and the Freedom Union. Today, he is a member of the Democratic Party, the continuation of Democratic Union.[3]
In 1999, Onyszkiewicz was awarded the Manfred Wörner Medal by the German Minister of Defence.[1]
On 13 June 2004, Onyszkiewicz was elected to the European Parliament as a candidate of Democratic Union in the 10th constituency (Lesser Poland+Swietokrzyskie Voivodeships) receiving 50 155 votes (6,37%). On 20 July 2004 he was elected a Vice-President of the European Parliament. Onyszkiewicz is Chairman of the ICDT's International Board of Directors.[6]
References
- ^ a b c Europa Publications, "The International Who's Who 2004", Routledge, 2003, pg. 1258
- ^ "A 5-member delegation representing the European Parliament pays a 4-day visit to Taiwan.", "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
- ^ a b Dziennik Polski, "Ankieta Eurokandyta – Janusz Onyszkiewicz", 20 May 2009, [1]
- ^ a b Krzysztof Ciesielski and Zdzislaw Pogoda, "Janusz Onyszkiewicz", The Mathematical Intelligencer, Volume 12, Number 4 / December, 1990, [2]
- ^ Jeffrey Simon, "Poland and NATO: a study in civil-military relations", Rowman & Littlefield, 2004, pg. 19
- ^ "An Open Letter to the Obama Administration from Central and Eastern Europe", International Center for Democratic Transition, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
- Onuszkiewicz's page for elections to the European Parliament [3]
See also
- 2004 European Parliament election in Poland