Radosław Sikorski

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland

Radosław Sikorski was born on 23^rd February 1963 in Bydgoszcz, Poland.  He is a graduate of the University of Oxford with a B.A. and M.A. in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE).

Sikorski headed the students’ strike committee during the unrest in Bydgoszcz in March 1981.  He was granted political asylum in Great Britain in 1982-89.  He was a war correspondent in Afghanistan and Angola in 1986-89. He won the World Press Photo award in 1987 for a photograph taken in Afghanistan.

As Deputy Minister of National Defence in 1992, Sikorski initiated Poland’s NATO entry ambitions.  In 1998-2001 he served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Honorary Chairman of the Foundation for Assistance to Poles in the East.

From 2002 to 2005 he was resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. and executive director of the New Atlantic Initiative.  He was editor of the analytical publication European Outlook, and organised international conferences on topics such as UN reform and the 25-year anniversary of the Solidarity movement.  He appeared before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Foreign Affairs as an expert on Atlantic issues. He is a member of the Board of Advisors of the American Committees on Foreign Relations.

Sikorski was elected senator for Bydgoszcz in 2005, and served as Minister of National Defence in 2005-2007.  In 2007, he was elected to the Lower House of the Polish Parliament (the Sejm) from the Civic Platform party.

He was sworn in as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland on 16^th November 2007. 

He is Chairman of the Committee on European Affairs since 1^st January 2010.

He was elected Vice-Chairman of the Civic Platform party in October 2010.

Sikorski is the author of several books, including Dust of the Saints, The Polish House: An Intimate History of Poland and Strefa Zdekomunizowana [The Commie-Free Zone].

Awards:

• Odznaka Zasłużony Działacz Kultury (Polish award for the promotion of culture);
• Wiktor 2006 award for ‘most popular politician’;
• Lithuanian ‘Millenium Star’ medal, 2008;
• Ukrainian Order of Merit, first class (No. 407), 2009;
• Maltese National Order of Merit, grade of ‘Companion’, 2009;
• Gold Badge of the Union of Poles in Lithuania, 2010;
• Royal Order of the Polar Star of Sweden, 2011.

Sikorski is married to the American journalist and writer Anne Applebaum, who received the Pulitzer Prize for her book Gulag in 2004.  They have two sons, Alexander and Tadeusz.