Agencja Gazeta

Tomasz Tomczykiewicz, vice president of Civic Platform (PO) and leader of its Silesia branch, has become the new head of the party’s parliamentary club. He has replaced Grzegorz Schetyna, who was appointed speaker of the Sejm after Bronisław Komorowski’s July presidential election win.

Mr Tomczykiewicz’s candidacy was recommended by party leader Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has described the Silesian politician as a competent and conciliatory person who will champion unity in the parliamentary club. The candidacy was supported by 147 PO MPs, with 46 against.

Mr Tomczykiewicz is said to be on good terms with both Mr Tusk and Mr Schetyna, considered the two most influential people in the party. He is viewed as an efficient organizer but also a second-tier politician – outside PO he is not particularly well recognized, nor has he had much presence in the media.

After assuming the post Mr Tomczykiewicz was expected to propose candidates for the other leadership seats in PO’s parliamentary club. As WBJ went to press, Sławomir Rybicki (Olsztyn MP), Andrzej Halicki (Warsaw MP) and Danuta Pietraszewska (Katowice MP) were all being tipped for the posts of vice president, secretary and treasury, respectively.

The new management was also expected to include from three to five women, among them Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska (Warsaw MP), Iwona Sledzińska-Katarasińska (Łódź MP) and Health Minister Ewa Kopacz. Controversial PO MP Janusz Palikot (Lublin), currently vice president of the party’s parliamentary club, will not be recommended, Mr Tomczykiewicz declared.

Born in 1961 in Pszczyna, Silesia voivodship, Mr Tomczykiewicz studied engineering at Tadeusz Kościuszko Cracow University of Technology. In the 1990s he was council member and then mayor of his native city. Mr Tomczykiewicz has been a member of the Sejm since 2001. He is married and has two children.