7th Prime Minister of Poland
Jozef Oleksy
(
pronounced
[?juz?f
??l?ks?]
ⓘ
; 22 June 1946 ? 9 January 2015) was a Polish left-wing politician who served as
Prime Minister of Poland
from 7 March 1995 to 7 February 1996, when he resigned due to espionage allegations. He was chairman of the
Democratic Left Alliance
(
Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej
, SLD).
Early life and education
[
edit
]
In his youth he lived in
Nowy S?cz
, and was an altar boy at St. Margaret church.
[1]
He graduated from Kazimierz Brodzi?ski High School in Tarnow. Later on, he graduated from the Faculty of Foreign Trade of the Warsaw School of Planning and Statistics (currently
SGH Warsaw School of Economics
). He obtained a doctoral degree in economics. He was a dean and lecturer at the Faculty of International Relations at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics and the
Vistula University
in Warsaw.
[2]
Career
[
edit
]
From 1968 to 1990 he was a member of the communist
Polish United Workers' Party
(PZPR).
[3]
He was a member of the board of the main Socialist Union of Polish Students. He chaired the National Council of Young Scientists. He was the secretary of the PZPR University Committee at the Warsaw School of Planning and Statistics. In 1977 he went to work in party apparatus at the Department of Ideological and Educational Work of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party. From 1981 to the X Congress of the Party, he headed the office of the Central Committee of the Party. In 1987-1989 he was the First Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee in Biala Podlaska. In 1989, he served as Minister-Council member for cooperation with trade unions. In the same year he took part in the round table talks on the government side. Oleksy represented the Communist leadership in round table talks with the opposition Solidarity movement in early 1989.
[4]
In 1990 he was one of the founders of the
Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland
, he was the chairman of this party from 28 January 1996 to 6 December 1997, and co-founded the
Democratic Left Alliance
in 1999. In the years 1989?2005, he was the member of the
Sejm
.
[5]
In the years 1993-1995 he was the
Marshal of the Sejm
. From 7 March 1995 to 7 February 1996, he served as
Prime Minister of Poland
. He resigned after being accused by Interior Minister
Andrzej Milczanowski
for spying for Russia under the pseudonym "Olin".
[6]
These allegations have never been confirmed.
[7]
In the years 2001-2005 he was a chairman of the European Union Committee in the Sejm which was responsible for aligning all Polish laws and regulations before Poland joined
European Union
in 2004. In 2004 he was a member of the
European Parliament
and the
Convention on the Future of Europe
, which was responsible to produce a draft constitution for the European Union for the European Council to finalise and adopt.
In early 2004 he took the office of the
Minister of Internal Affairs
. Between 21 April 2004 and 5 January 2005 he was the
Marshal of the Sejm
.
[8]
A record of a private conversation Jozef Oleksy had with one of Poland's richest businessmen
Aleksander Gudzowaty
"leaked" to the media on 22 March 2007. The tapes suggested corruption in the SLD party. Oleksy accused former president
Aleksander Kwa?niewski
of illegal financial procedures, and spoke very harshly of then SLD leader
Wojciech Olejniczak
and several other members of the party.
[9]
He soon left the SLD.
[10]
He re-joined the SLD on 1 February 2010 and on 12 May 2012 he became vice-president of this party.
Private life
[
edit
]
Jozef Oleksy was married to Maria Oleksy. He had two children.
[11]
Since 2005 he had been struggling with cancer. He died on 9 January 2015. Funeral ceremonies with representatives of the state authorities, including President
Bronisław Komorowski
, Prime Minister
Ewa Kopacz
and Marshal of the Sejm
Radosław Sikorski
, took place on 16 January 2015 in the
Field Cathedral of the Polish Army in Warsaw
. Jozef Oleksy was buried at the
Pow?zki Military Cemetery
.
[12]
Honours and awards
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Ministers of the Interior (1990?1996)
| | |
---|
Ministers of the Interior and Administration (1997?2011)
| |
---|
Ministers of the Interior (2011?2015)
| |
---|
Ministers of The Interior and Administration (2015?)
| |
---|