Paweł Kowal

Speaker's Bio

Member of the Sejm, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Government Plenipotentiary for Polish-Ukrainian Development Cooperation, Poland

Paweł Robert Kowal is a distinguished Polish politician, historian, and expert in Eastern European affairs, born on 22 July 1975 in Rzeszów. A graduate of the Jagiellonian University with advanced academic credentials from the Polish Academy of Sciences, he has combined scholarly research with active public service throughout his career. He worked in several government ministries in the early 2000s, co-founded the Warsaw Uprising Museum, and established himself as a leading specialist on Poland’s eastern policy and EU-Ukraine relations. As an academic, he has served as a lecturer at the University of Warsaw, a senior fellow at the College of Europe (Natolin), and a professor at ISP PAN.

In politics, Kowal has held prominent roles at both national and European levels. First elected to the Polish Sejm in 2005, he later served as Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as a Member of the European Parliament, where he chaired the Delegation for EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation. After returning to the Sejm in 2019 with the Civic Coalition, he became a key voice on foreign affairs and currently chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee. In 2024 he was appointed Chairman of Poland’s Council for Cooperation with Ukraine, reflecting his long-standing commitment to strengthening ties with Ukraine and advancing European security.