Marek Siwiec

Marek Maciej Siwiec ( born March 13, 1955 in Piekary Śląskie ) is a Polish politician. From 1991 to 1997 he was a deputy in the Sejm, since 2004 he is Member of the European Parliament from 2007 to 2012 and was deputy chairman of the Union of the Democratic Left ( SLD).

Political career

After studying physics at the Academy of Mining and Metallurgy in Krakow Siwiec also studied journalism. In 1977 he joined the Polish United Workers' Party one ( PZPR ). Between 1987 and 1990 he also worked as chief editor of the weekly magazine " ITD ".

After the political upheaval, he served as co-founder of the Social Democratic Party of the Republic of Poland ( SdRP ) and was also the first editor of the daily newspaper " Trybuna ". At the same time, he was from 1991 to 1997 deputy in the Sejm, one of the two chambers of the Polish Parliament. From 1996 he was further as Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the President and 1997 Chief of Bureau worked for National Security.

Caused a stir Siwiec 1997, when he was in Kalisz in the presence of then-President Aleksander Kwasniewski knelt down after landing his helicopter in front of cameras and kissed the grass. The jocular guests was denounced by conservative politicians as Papstlästerung.

After Poland's accession to the European Union Siwiec was elected to the European Parliament with 36 985 votes in 2004, in 2009 he secured his mandate, now with 64 976 votes. Meanwhile, he has also held the post of deputy chairman of the Union of Democratic Left and supported since 2013 together with Aleksander Kwasniewski and Janusz Palikot, the bipartisan political initiative Europa Plus.

Siwiec lives in Warsaw.