Jan Rokita

Jan Maria Rokita Piotr Wladyslaw ( born June 18, 1959 in Krakow, Poland ) is a Polish former Conservative politician of the " Civic Platform " ( Platforma Obywatelska ) in the Polish Parliament ( Sejm ) of the 5th parliamentary term until 2007.

Career

Solidarity / Komitet Obywatelski

Rokita studied law at the University of Krakow and was active as a student in anti- Communist circles; inter alia, he was head of the Solidarity Group at the University of Krakow. In the first semi- free elections in 1989, he was for the Solidarity related selected " Citizens Committee " ( Komitet Obywatelski ) as one of the youngest MPs in the Sejm and Vice Chairman of the Group. He was also Chairman of the Sejm Committee for the record holdings of the Polish secret police counterpart ( sluzba Bezpieczeństwa ).

UD / UW

As the Solidarity movement began to split into several branches, and Rokita graduated in 1991, first the liberal " Democratic Union " ( Unia Demokratyczna ) led by Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, where he belonged to the conservative wing. Under Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka (1992-1993) was Rokita chief of the Office of the Council of Ministers ( Urząd Rady Ministrów ) - a function that is roughly equivalent to that of the German Chancellery Minister. As such, he had a great informal influence on government policy, so he was referred to as " secret Premier ".

After the UD 1994 in the successor party to the Freedom Union ( Unia Wolności ) had risen, he was one of the first to continue, profiled, however, within this strongly influenced by liberal intellectuals party as a representative of the conservative wing. In particular, he spoke out against the presidential candidacy of the left-liberal Jacek Kuroń for the Freedom Union.

SKL / AWS / PO

However, at the final break with the Freedom Union did not occur until 1997. Rokita then joined the Conservative People's Party ( Stronnictwo Konserwatywno-Ludowe/SKL ) in that same year as part of the conservative party alliance AWS ( Solidarity Electoral Action ) won the Sejm elections. 2000 Rokita Chairman of the SKL, but in 2001, founded by conservative part of the liberal Freedom Union and the liberal conservative part of the AWS in the beginning of this year the new bourgeois party PO opened. 2001 moved Rokita as PO deputy again in the Sejm. In 2002 he was defeated in the election for almost Krakow mayor.

Committee of Inquiry into Rywin affair

2003/2004 learned Rokita a huge boost in popularity for his role in the Committee of Inquiry into Rywin affair, in which he distinguished himself by his aggressive questioning style as a kind of tribune and quickly become the most famous politicians of the PO climb, whose poll numbers simultaneously improved greatly.

" Nice or death "

In the discussion on the EU constitution was negotiated, inter alia about the voting system in the Council of the European Union. The negotiating proposals had to revise the disproportionate weighting of the medium-sized EU countries by the Treaty of Nice, and had an impact so that, inter alia, to the detriment of the Polish voting strength. As leader of the strongest opposition party in the Sejm Rokita coined in September 2003, the populist slogan " Nice or death " (in reference to Fidel Castro's slogan socialismo o muerte ). He provoked a corresponding mood in the population and forced the SLD -led government to a ( ultimately unsuccessful ) uncompromising adherence to the weighting of votes of the Treaty of Nice.

Election defeat in 2005

Before the Sejm elections in 2005 Rokita was long regarded as the most promising candidate for the premiership after a loud surveys to expect the parliamentary victory of the PO. Before the elections he called for a coalition with the right-wing Law and Justice party ( Prawo i Sprawiedliwość / PiS) to the brothers Jaroslaw and Lech Kaczynski. After this, however, relatively surprisingly emerged as the strongest party in the elections, the PO refused to enter as a junior partner in a PiS - led coalition and went into opposition. Rokita lost the parliamentary leader of the PO party leader Donald Tusk, who was defeated in the presidential elections immediately after the parliamentary elections also against the PiS candidate Lech Kaczyński. Rokitas popularity has since declined significantly.

Personal

Rokita, the earlier the two first names " Jan Maria " led, called about 2004 onwards only " January Rokita " or " January Władysław Rokita " - supposedly to be at that time acquired image as a hardliner not by the female name "Maria" to compromise.

Rokita is married in second marriage with the (Russia ) Germans Nelli Rokita Arnold, the emigrating from Kazakhstan in 1977 in the Federal Republic of Germany and is located since 2007 in the Sejm itself - but for the right-wing conservative PiS party.

Retirement from politics

On September 14, 2007 Rokita announced in the transmitter TVN24 that he would not run in the upcoming elections for a parliamentary seat and was withdrawing from public life. This decision was made in the context of a few hours previously announced nomination Nelli Rokitas for the post of adviser to President Lech Kaczyński in women's affairs. He underlined at the same time, he would vote in the elections for the PO and press his party colleagues crossed. He declared that he would remain a member of the PO and may return to politics in the future.

Negative Press

In February 2009, the Polish politicians had to be performed from a start prepare Lufthansa plane after a big row with a stewardess and pilots at the Munich airport in handcuffs. Reason for the arrest of the following dispute was to strap after his refusal to. Since he was violent towards the stewardess, the pilot directed the former politician of the machine, but because it wanted to leave the aircraft voluntarily, the pilot called the police. On the grounds of the board powers, it was, according to the police spokesperson is a legitimate approach to look at a passenger as a security risk and remove with the help of the police from the danger area.

Rokita, who had been brought by Prime Minister Donald Tusk before the 2007 General Election as a possible prime minister or foreign minister this week, accused the German authorities ' unlawful action and anti-Polish attitude. " You had him " like a dog " treated, he told the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza. His wife Nelli Rokita, members of the law and Justice party ( PiS), the Polish President Lech Kaczyński reimbursed, against a police complaint for libel. the Landshut prosecutor identified the other hand against Rokita on suspicion of assault, trespassing and breach of the Civil Aviation Act. In various conservative Polish media, the incident of anti- German reporting was used.