Janusz Onyszkiewicz | |
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Minister of National Defense of Poland 3rd Minister of National Defense of the Third Republic of Poland |
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In office 11 July 1992 – 26 October 1993 |
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President | Lech Wałęsa |
Prime Minister | Hanna Suchocka |
Preceded by | Romuald Szeremietiew |
Succeeded by | Piotr Kołodziejczyk |
Minister of National Defense of Poland 7th Minister of National Defense of the Third Republic of Poland |
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In office 31 October 1997 – 16 June 2000 |
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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 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]
Janusz Onyszkiewicz was born on 18 December 1937 in Lwów (then Poland, now Lviv, Ukraine).[3] He graduated in mathematics from Warsaw University. He became a famous mathematician and a alpinist in the 1970s. 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 Medall 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]
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