Grażyna Gęsicka
Grazyna Gęsicka ( born December 13, 1951 in Warsaw, † 10 April 2010 Smolensk, Russia) was a Polish sociologist, politician, Minister for Regional Development in the government of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz and Jarosław Kaczyński and since 2007 Member of the Sejm in the VI. Legislature.
Scientific activity
In 1974 she completed her studies at the Sociological Institute of the University of Warsaw. In 1985 she received her PhD in the Department of Sociology. She worked 1985-1993 as a research assistant in the Department of Sociology, University of Warsaw. She was a member of the Polish Sociological Society and the International Association of Langue Francaise de Sociologues. Gęsicka was author or co- author of several dozen monographs and over 30 articles in Polish and foreign scientific publications in the field of sociology and economics.
Political activity
In 1989 she took part in the deliberations of the Round Table in the Commission for the mining industry. From 1989 to 1991 she was a research coordinator of the Research Institute of Solidarity of the Mazovia region. From 1990 to 1997 she was a consultant and issued opinions on the subject of regional development, among other things, for the European Commission, the World Bank, the Government, the Sejm, as well as various local and regional administrations. From September to December 1991, she was a consultant in the Labour and Social Affairs.
In 1993 and 1994 she was part of a group of experts for Central and Eastern Europe in the LEDA Programme ( Local Employment Development Action ) of the European Commission. In 1995, she was an independent consultant Extraordinary Commission of the Sejm to the principles of national regional policy. From 1995 to 1996 she held the position of Deputy Head of the PHARE program " Local initiatives for the socio- economic development ". She worked in the years 1996 to 1998 as the representative of the Director-General of the Polish Foundation for Promotion and Development of Small and Medium enterprises.
From 1998 to 2001 she was Deputy State Secretary, Labour and Social Affairs Ministry, while she was responsible for programs that would support employment and from international funds (PHARE, World Bank) were financed, as well as for labor safety and hygiene and the introduction of the European Social Fund. In August 2001, she was Vice President of the Polish Industrial Development Agency. In the parliamentary elections in 2005, she advised the Platforma Obywatelska ( Civic Platform PO). She was a candidate of Jan Rokita (PO) for a ministerial post and represented the PO in the coalition negotiations with the Prawo i Sprawiedliwość ( Law and Justice - PiS), especially on the subject of use of EU funds.
On 31 October 2005 she was appointed Minister of Regional Development in the PiS government of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz. On 14 July 2006 she took over this function in the government of Jarosław Kaczyński. From this post was released on September 7, and simultaneously appointed State Secretary in the Ministry of Regional Development. On 11 September 2007 she was re- appointed Minister for Regional Development. In the 2007 parliamentary elections, she was elected with 28 982 votes on the list of PiS for the constituency of Rzeszów in the Sejm. She was deputy chairman of the Sejm Commission for Local Self- Government and Regional Development.
On April 10, 2010 Gęsicka belonged to a Polish delegation headed by President Lech Kaczyński, who was to travel on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the Katyn massacre to the memorial to Russia. However, in a plane crash of the delegation near the military airfield Smolensk - North they came together with other high-ranking representatives of Poland died.
Posthumously Gęsicka was awarded on 16 April 2010 the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta ( Krzyż Komandorski Orderu Odrodzenia Polski ).