Szynkowski vel Sęk was officially appointed to the post by President Andrzej Duda at a ceremony in Warsaw’s Belweder Palace on Thursday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Deputy Prime Minister and Culture Minister Piotr Gliński and several government and presidential officials were among those taking part in the ceremony.
Szynkowski vel Sęk takes on the European affairs portfolio after more than four years as a deputy foreign minister, news outlets noted.
The president described him as “a very good choice” for the position, adding that "Poland will be well represented."
“You are taking on a very important government brief, involving big responsibility,” Duda told Szynkowski vel Sęk. “A difficult job, but one that absolutely falls within your undoubted, big and demonstrated abilities.”
A politician with Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, Szynkowski vel Sęk has been a member of the Sejm lower house of parliament since 2015. His experience includes sitting on the EU affairs and foreign affairs committees, as well as chairing a bilateral Polish-German parliamentary group, the PAP news agency reported.
In June 2018, Szynkowski vel Sęk was appointed a deputy foreign minister, with a brief that included European policy, relations with Polish communities abroad, as well as public and cultural diplomacy, according to officials.
He now succeeds Konrad Szymański, who vacated the post of minister for European affairs on Wednesday, the wpolityce.pl website reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, wpolityce.pl, 300polityka.pl