Janusz Antoni Lewandowski (ˈjanuʂ lɛvanˈdɔfskʲi, born 13 June 1951 in Lublin

Lublin

Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...

) is a Polish politician

Politics of Poland

The politics of Poland take place in the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government of a multi-party system and the President is the head of state....

 and economist belonging to the Gdansk liberals group, and a member of the Europea n Parliament (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

European Commissioner for Financial Programming & the Budget

The Commissioner for Financial Programming and the Budget is the member of the European Commission. The current commissioner is Janusz Lewandowski....

 of the European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

 (pending approval by the European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

 in January 2010) and is affiliated to the European People's Party

European People's Party

The European People's Party is a pro-European centre-right European political party. The EPP was founded in 1976 by Christian democratic parties, but later it increased its membership to include conservative parties and parties of other centre-right perspectives.The EPP is the most influential of...

 (EPP).

Biography

Janusz Lewandowski graduated in economics from University of Gdańsk, 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

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 and the founder of the Research Institute for Market Economy in Gdansk

Gdansk

Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...

 (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

Rzeczpospolita (newspaper)

Rzeczpospolita is a Polish national daily newspaper, with a circulation around of 160,000. Issued every day except Sunday. Rzeczpospolita was printed in broadsheet format, then switched to compact at October 16, 2007...

, Gazeta Wyborcza

Gazeta Wyborcza

Gazeta Wyborcza is a leading Polish newspaper. It covers the gamut of political, international and general news. Like all the Polish newspapers, it is printed on compact-sized paper, and is published by the multimedia corporation Agora SA...

, Parkiet, Polityka

Polityka

Polityka is a centre-left weekly newsmagazine in Poland. With a circulation of 170,000 it is the country's biggest selling weekly, ahead of Newsweek's Polish edition and Wprost. Today, the magazine has a slightly intellectual, social liberal profile, setting it apart from the more conservative...

, Wprost

Wprost

Wprost is a weekly newsmagazine in Poland. It was founded on December 5, 1982 as a regional magazine in Greater Poland, but since 1989 it has been distributed nationwide. The editorial office is currently located in Warsaw. Wprost is an opinion weekly focused on politics and society. Marek Król is...

 and Newsweek

Newsweek

Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...

.

Political career

From 1980–1989 he was an economics adviser to the Solidarity anti-communist movement, and in 1988 he was one of the founders of the Liberal-Democratic Congress (Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny). He was the Minister of Privatization in the cabinets of Jan Krzysztof Bielecki

Jan Krzysztof Bielecki

Jan Krzysztof Bielecki is a Polish centre politician. He served as Prime Minister of Poland for most of 1991. He is a member of Civic Platform. Chairman of the Council of the Polish Institute of International Affairs....

 (1990–1991) and Hanna Suchocka

Hanna Suchocka

Hanna Suchocka is a Polish political figure. She served as the prime minister of Poland between 11 July 1992 and 26 October 1993 under the presidency of Lech Wałęsa. She is the first woman to hold this post in Poland and 19th in the world.Suchocka is a specialist in Constitutional Law...

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

Warsaw Stock Exchange

The Warsaw Stock Exchange , , is a stock exchange located in Warsaw, Poland. It has a capitalization of € 220 bln .The WSE is a member of the World Federation of Exchanges and the Federation of European Securities Exchanges.-History:...

 and the mass privatization programme (Program Powszechnej Prywatyzacji).

He lost his parliamentary seat in the 1993 elections and worked as an international expert from 1994–1997. After the merger of KLD and Unia Demokratyczna in 1994 he become a member of Unia Wolnosci, and in 1997 member of Sejm

Sejm

The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....

 representing UW. Together with Donald Tusk

Donald Tusk

Donald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform party....

 and other liberals he seceded from UW to form Platforma Obywatelska, and was elected an MP again in 2001. Since 2003 he was an observer in the European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

.

In the European elections of 13 June 2004 he was a candidate of Platforma Obywatelska in constituency #1 Pomeranian Voivodship 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.

Political Positions

Lewandowski has expressed skepticism about the thesis of anthropogenic climate change, 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.

External links

• Janusz Lewandowski Official Media Gallery

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