New Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland
Czeslaw Siekierski is an experienced politician - for many years he worked not only in the Polish Parliament, but also in the European Parliament.
New Minister is 71 years old and come from Świetokrzyskie (Central-North PL – mostly rural region). He grew up on a small farm run by his parents. Siekierski studied agricultural economics at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. where he later worked for many years (from 1976). In 1986 he received his doctorate in economics. He was associated with the university for many more years as a lecturer. Since the beginning of his political career, Siekierski has been associated with the people's movement. From 1971 to 1977 he was active in the Union of Rural Youth. From 1981 to 1982, he was head of the organizational department of the Supreme Committee of the United Peasant's Party (communist times in Poland). From 1994 -1998 he served as director of the Foundation of Assistance Programs for Agriculture (FAPA). He first came as MP on 1997, after which he was re-elected for another four years. At the time, he also served as vice-chairman of the PSL (Polish Peasant's Party) Supreme Council.
Siekierski also has experience working in the Ministry of Agriculture, as he held the position of Secretary of State at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for two years, starting in 2001. After Poland joined the EU, Siekierski joined EP as an MEP for the Polish Peasant 's Party. He joined the Group of the EPP, as well as the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the EP Committee on Fisheries. In 2009 he successfully ran for re-election. His third term in the EP brought him the position of chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI). Siekierski therefore returned to the Polish Sejm. In the 2019 elections, he won a seat as an MP. He repeated this success in the last elections as well.
Privately, Siekierski is married to Elżbieta and has a daughter Izabela and three grandchildren.