Paweł Zalewski
Professional headshot of Paweł Zalewski in a suit.
Sejm member
Current
Assumed office
2019
PresidentAndrzej Duda
Prime MinisterMateusz Morawiecki
Constituency20 Warsaw
Sejm
In office
2005–2007
PresidentLech Kaczyński
Prime MinisterKazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Jarosław Kaczyński
Constituency11 Sieradz
Sejm
In office
1991–1993
PresidentLech Wałęsa
Prime MinisterJan Krzysztof Bielecki, Jan Olszewski, Waldemar Pawlak, Hanna Suchocka
Constituency26 Siedlce
Personal details
Born
Paweł Ksawery Zalewski

(1964-09-25) 25 September 1964
Warsaw, Poland
CitizenshipPolish
Political partyPoland 2050 (2021—present)
Other political
affiliations
Forum of Democratic Right (1990-1991)


Democratic Union (1991-1992)
Party Conservative (1992-1993)
Conservative Coalition (1994-1999)
Conservative People's Party (1999-2001)
Right Alliance (2001-2002)
Law and Justice(2002—2007)
Civic Platform (2009—2021)


independent(2021)
Children2
Alma materUniversity of Warsaw
OccupationPolitician

Paweł Ksawery Zalewski (born 25 September 1964 in Warsaw) is a Polish politician and unaffiliated member of the Sejm and the European Parliament.[1][2] He has been a member of the Sejm from 1991—1993, 2005—2007, and 2019—2023[3][4] Until May 2021, he was affiliated with Civic Platform (PO).[5]

Early life

Zalewski grew up in Żoliborz,[6] son of Jerzy Zalewski, an Operation Storm veteran.[7] His grandfather fought as part of the Legions, his grandmother was involved in the Polish Socialist Party, and his paternal great-uncle was Major Antoni Jabłoński, commander of the 11th Legions Uhlan Regiment.[6] His family is from the Świętokrzyskie Province near Bodzentyn.[8]

During high school, he became a School Olympiad academic laureate in history and was admitted to University of Warsaw's School of History without taking entrance examinations.[6][9] While at university, he joined the Forum of the Democratic Right, also known as the Democratic Union.[6] Zalewski completed his Master's degree, also at the University of Warsaw, in 1990;[10] his thesis was centered on Polish diplomats during the early days of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[6]

Career

In 1991, Zalewski was elected to the Sejm as a Democratic Union party member in the 26 Siedlce electorical district.[3] He was elected again on 25 September 2005 as part of the Law and Justice platform with 14,068 votes in the 11 Sieradz district.[11] During his term, he served as the deputy chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.[12][13] Despite being the party's vice president, he left Law and Justice in 2007 along with fellow member Kazimierz Ujazdowski after an argument with former Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński.[14][15] He joined the Civic Platform (PO) in 2009[16] and was a member of the European People's Party Group by 2012.[2][17] He was reelected to the Sejm in 2019 as a member of the PO with 12248 from the 20 Warsaw electoral district.[18]

Throughout his time as an MEP, he has served on a number of committees as well as on the European Parliament.[9] In 2009, he was a delegate for the Parliamentary Cooperation Committee; from 2009—2014, he was a delegate for Iran–Poland relations and the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly; and from 2010—2014, he was a delegate for CARIFORUM.[2] He served as a substitute delegate for Belarus–Poland relations[2] and was a rapporteur of the DCFTA Agreement with Ukraine.[19] He has also been the vice chairman of the European Parliament Committee on International Trade[20] twice.[2]

In 2020, he criticized Vladimir Putin for "destroying historical truth".[21] In August 2021, he voted as an independent MEP against a proposal for increasing the president's salary.[22] In September, still without a party, he voted in favor of aiding Afghan refugees.[23]

2021 removal from the Civic Platform

On 14 May 2021, Zalewski and Ireneusz Raś were removed from the Sejm at the request of the Civic Coalition (KO).[12] They were summarily removed from PO and relieved of all committee responsibilities.[24][12] The ejection occurred after Zalewski and Raś signed a letter along with several senators and 49 other MEPs from PO and KO calling for a change in leadership within the coalition.[16][25][26] Both appealed their respective removal,[27] which the PO defended by criticizing Zalewski for sharing his contrary opinions with the media but refusing to speak up during diplomatic meetings during his years as a Sejm member.[28] The formal hearing has been postponed twice and is currently scheduled for 29 September 2021.[29]

Selected honors

AwardAward BodyYearRef
Order of the Star of Italian SolidarityItaly2006[30]
Legion of HonourFrance2007
Presidential Order of ExcellenceGeorgia2013[31]

Personal life

Zalewski and his ex-wife have two daughters.[6] In 2018, he married Kinga Sitarska[32] and lost his mother.[33] In December 2020, his father died of COVID-19, age 93.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Kowalska, Dorota (2021-08-05). "Zalewski: Sytuacja po stronie opozycyjnej zmieniła się radykalnie na niekorzyść PiS" (in Polish). Polska Times. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Paweł ZALEWSKI". European Parliament. n.d. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  3. 1 2 "Posłowie I kadencji 1991 - 1993" (in Polish). Archiwum Danych o Posłach. n.d. Retrieved 2021-09-25.
  4. ↑ "Posłowie V kadencji 2005 - 2007" (in Polish). Archiwum Danych o Posłach. n.d. Retrieved 2021-09-25.
  5. ↑ Liziniewicz, Jacek (2018-10-17). "Długi weekend niepodległości? PiS chce umożliwić Polakom godne uczczenie wyjątkowego święta" (in Polish). TV Republika. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cieśla, Joanna (2007-06-23). "Zalewski, Paweł" (in Polish). Polityka. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  7. 1 2 "Tragedia w rodzinie znanego posła opozycji. Jego ojciec przegrał z Covid-19. "Proszę o..."" (in Polish). SUPERexpress. 2020-12-08. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  8. ↑ "Paweł Zalewski dołączył się świętokrzyskiej Platformy Obywatelskiej" (in Polish). echodnia. 2016-07-14. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  9. 1 2 "Alumni" (in Polish). University of Warsaw. n.d. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  10. ↑ "Paweł Zalewski" (in Polish). Sejm. n.d. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  11. ↑ "PAWEŁ ZALEWSKI" (in Polish). Money.pl. n.d. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  12. 1 2 3 "Paweł Zalewski dismissed from the foreign affairs committee. He appealed to the Marshal of the Sejm, Elżbieta Witek, for restoration". Polish News. 2021-05-20. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  13. ↑ "Paweł ZALEWSKI - MEP". epp group. n.d. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  14. ↑ Wojtas, Michal (2007-12-21). "Major political changes in 2007". The Krakow Post. Retrieved 2021-09-25.
  15. ↑ Bławicki, P. (2008-07-17). "PAWEŁ ZALEWSKI IDZIE DO PLATFORMY" (in Polish). interia Wydarzenia. Retrieved 2021-09-25.
  16. 1 2 "Zalewski: W poniedziałek lub wtorek odwołam się od decyzji o wykluczeniu z PO" (in Polish). Gazeta Prawna. 2021-05-24. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  17. ↑ "Not only foreign policy" (PDF). 2012. Retrieved 2021-09-25.
  18. ↑ "Paweł Zalewski" (in Polish). Sejm. n.d. Retrieved 2021-09-25.
  19. ↑ "PAWEŁ ZALEWSKI". Emerging Europe. n.d. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  20. ↑ "MEP Zalewski: European Parliament to ratify Association Agreement with Ukraine by May". Kyiv Post. 2013-09-07. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  21. ↑ "MEP slams Putin's oped over "destroying historical truth"". unian. 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  22. ↑ "Oprócz "lex TVN" Sejm przegłosował też podwyżkę pensji prezydenta! Pierwsza dama też się ucieszy!" (in Polish). Fakt. 2021-08-12. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  23. ↑ Wierzbicka, Anna (2021-09-01). "Posłowie złożyli interpelację w sprawie uchodźców. "To nie jest kwestia polityki, to kwestia elementarnej przyzwoitości"" (in Polish). Ten Poznan. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  24. ↑ "Paweł Zalewski dismissed from the foreign affairs committee. He appealed to the Marshal of the Sejm, Elżbieta Witek, for restoration". Polish News. 2021-05-20. Retrieved 2021-09-25.
  25. ↑ "Poland's main opposition party MPs meet to set aside differences". The First News. 2021-05-19. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  26. ↑ "Grupa parlamentarzystów PO i KO: bez zmian nie wygramy wyborów" (in Polish). onet Wiadomości. 2021-05-07. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  27. ↑ "Zalewski liczy na powrót? "Donald Tusk kończy lewicowy eksperyment. Platforma wraca do centrum z szansą na pozyskanie poparcia"" (in Polish). wPolityce. 2021-07-03. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  28. ↑ "Robert Kropiwnicki o wyrzuceniu Zalewskiego: Wiedział, że opuszcza szeregi PO" (in Polish). Polsat News. 2021-05-14. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  29. ↑ Stankiewicz, Adam (2021-09-23). "NASZ NEWS. Wróci do PO? Znamy termin rozprawy Pawła Zalewskiego. Wiemy też, jaki będzie skład orzekający" (in Polish). wPolityce. Retrieved 2021-09-25.
  30. ↑ "Le onorificenze della Repubblica Italiana". www.quirinale.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-05-12.
  31. ↑ "Polscy europosłowie otrzymali gruzińskie odznaczenia państwowe-Unia Europejska-rp.pl" (in Polish). 2015-11-22. Archived from the original on 2015-11-22. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
  32. ↑ "Zaproszenia na ślub i zawiadomienia" (in Polish). Piotr Wietrzykowski. n.d. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  33. ↑ "Smutne wyznanie polityka, kilka dni przed Dniem Matki odeszła jego mama" (in Polish). Fakt. 2018-05-27. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
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