Graduated from Foreign Trade Department at the Central School of Planning and Statistics, and completed post-graduate German and International Law Studies. Joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1972. 1978-1982 the Second Secretary at the Polish Embassy in the Hague, 1988-1989 Counsellor at the Polish Embassy in Brussels,1989-1993 Counsellor-Minister Plenipotentiary at the Permanent Mission to the European Communities in Brussels,1996-2001 Ambassador to the European Union in Brussels. In 2001 Under Secretary of State at Chancellery of President of Poland, responsible for European integration matters. In 2005 State Secretary in the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since October 2005 Director of the Polish-German Cooperation Foundation (Stiftung für Deutsch-Polnische Zusammenarbeit).
Experts
Jan Truszczyński
Karolina Tyniec - Margańska
MA in Journalism, Social Communication and International Relations at the Warsaw University. 2002- 2003 Journalist for Channel 3 of Polish Radio. 2003-2004 the Deutsche Welle correspondent in Poland. Since 2004 has worked as the Public Relations specialist in DaimlerChrysler Automotive Poland.
Magdaléna Vašáryová
A member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic. Chairwoman of the oldest Slovak women’s association „Živena“ and chairwoman of the Institute for cultural policies. In the past she served as a State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic. Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to Poland (2000 – 2005), between 1990 – 1993 Czechoslovak Ambassador to Austria. Founder and in years 1993 – 2000 the director of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association - SFPA (today honorary chair). Lectured at the Institute of International Relationships and Law Harmonization at the Faculty of Law of the Comenius University in Bratislava, and currently she is lecturer at the CEVRO Institute (Prague). In 2010 she was awarded with a Gold Medal for Meritorious for Culture – Gloria Artis. An author of several books and articles in domestic and international press.
Michal Vašečka
Doc. PhDr. Michal Vašečka, PhD (1972) is sociologist by background and focuses his interests on issues of ethnicity, race, antisemitism, and migration studies. As an Associate Professor he operates at the Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts (BISLA) since 2015 and he is a director of Bratislava Policy Institute. He operated at the Faculty of Social Studies of Masaryk University in Brno in 2002-2017 and at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of the Comenius University in 2006-2009. As a visiting scholar he operated at the New School University in New York (1996-1997) and at the University of London (1998), in 2008-2009 he lectured at the Georgetown University in Washington, DC, in 2015 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, in 2016 he was a scholar-in-residence in the ISGAP at Oxford University. Michal Vašečka is a founder of the Center for the Research of Ethnicity and Culture, he served a director of the CVEK (2006-2012). In 1998-2005 he operated at the Slovak think-tank Institute of Public Affairs as a program director on expert analysis of the Slovak transformation process with a focus on national minorities and the state of civil society in Slovakia. He has been a consultant for the World Bank in 2000-2008 and in 2011-2012. Since 2012 Michal Vašečka serves as a representative of the Slovak Republic in the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), human rights body of the Council of Europe. He is also as a vice-chairman of the governmental committee VRAX tackling extremism and racism in Slovakia. Michal Vašečka serves as a non-resident research associate at the European Centre for Minority Issues in Flensburg. In 2018 Michal became a laureate of the Award for special contribution in the field human rights of Minister of Justice of Slovakia.
Luboš Veselý
Born in Prague. Graduated at the Institute for International Studies at Charles University (BA) in 2002. Student of Russian and Eastern European Studies at the Institute for International Studies at Charles University (MA). Part-time employment at the Foreign Politics Department of the Office of the Czech President in 2001-2002. Founding member, and since 2001 President of the Association for International Affairs. Former member of Prague Model United Nations Secretariat. Since 1998 works for People in Need Foundation (Human Rights and Democratization Projects). Author of several articles in International Policy, Respekt and Literární noviny magazines. Co-author of the Czech part of The Dictionary of Dissidents.
Nina Witoszek-Fitzpatrick
Polish professor at Oslo University and Oxford University. After graduating with a degree in linguistics from Wrocław University, in 1988 Witoszek received a doctorate in comparative cultural history from the University of Stockholm. At the beginning of 2005 she was included among the top 10 most outstanding Norwegian intellectuals in a ranking published by Dagbladet magazine. Witoszek is also a novelist and screenwriter. The collection of short stories entitled Fables of the Irish Intelligentsia and published under her pseudonym garnered a prestigious literary award in Ireland and the story The Loves of Faustyna (translated into polish) have created a sensation on the British literary market. In 2005 she was awarded the prestigious Freedom of Expression Prize for "bringing novel, Eastern European perspectives into the Scandinavian public debate". She donated part of the award to establishing the Solidarity Europe Association. Her recent books include Culture and Crisis (Oxford, New York, 2003) and Daimons (New York, 2003).
