| Janusz Lewandowski | |
|---|---|
| European Commissioner for Financial Programming and the Budget | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 9 February 2010 |
|
| President | José Manuel Barroso |
| Preceded by | Algirdas Šemeta |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 13 June 1951 Lublin, Poland |
| Political party | Civic Platform (2001–present) |
| Other political affiliations |
Solidarity (1980–1988) Liberal Democratic Congress (1988–1994) Freedom Union (1994–2001) |
| Alma mater | University of Gdańsk |
| Profession | Economist |
Janusz Antoni Lewandowski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjanuʂ lɛvanˈdɔfskʲi], born 13 June 1951 in Lublin) is a Polish politician 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 of the European Commission (pending approval by the European Parliament in January 2010) and is affiliated to the European People's Party (EPP).[1][2]
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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 and the founder of the Research Institute for Market Economy in Gdansk (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, Parkiet, Polityka, Wprost and Newsweek.
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 (1990–1991) and Hanna Suchocka (1992–1993). His major successes were the foundation of the Warsaw Stock Exchange 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 representing UW. Together with Donald Tusk 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.
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.
Lewandowski has expressed skepticism about the thesis of anthropogenic climate change, putting him at odds with many of his colleagues in the Barroso Commission.[3] MEPs have asked "which steps" president Barroso will take over the comments.[4]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Paweł Samecki |
Polish European Commissioner 2010–present |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by Algirdas Šemeta |
European Commissioner for Financial Programming and the Budget 2010–present |
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