Elżbieta Bieńkowska has often stressed: “I am not a politician. I am a technocrat.” As minister for regional development in 2007-13, she made her reputation as an effective manager of European Union funds. But in a reshuffle on 20 November, Prime Minister Donald Tusk put her in the front line, despite her professed dislike for the limelight and party politics.
Poland is favoured with the largest allocation of EU funds of any member state: Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called it Poland’s “Marshall Plan.” In February 2013, the Polish government secured €105.8 billion from the EU budget for 2014-20. “We don’t accept that it is simply aid for Europe’s poor. It is Europe’s most important driver of growth,” Bienkowska has said.
Bienkowska now heads Poland’s ‘superministry’, the ministry of infrastructure and development, formed from a merger of the regional development and transport ministries that was announced during the November reshuffle.
Yet from the start, determination has been Bienkowska’s strong point. At the age of 29, with a masters in Iranian studies from Kraków’s prestigious Jagiellonian University and two small children at home, she passed the entrance exam for Poland’s National School of Public Administration (KSAP). But she was turned down by the selection committee, who doubted whether she could combine a career with family life.
Over the next decade, she worked in regional administration in Katowice, her native Upper Silesia, south-western Poland, rising to head of the department responsible for managing EU funds. In 2007, she was summoned to Warsaw and offered the position of minister of regional development. It was initially meant to be a temporary position to sort out the pension system.
In Warsaw, Bienkowska soon gained a reputation as an effective manager. Outside working hours, she enjoys attending rock concerts and has been known to stay out until 2am, only to get up at 4.30am to attend an important meeting in Brussels.
1964: Born in Katowice, the capital of Poland’s Silesia region.
1988: Masters in Iranian Studies, Jagiellonian University, Kraków
1996: Completes studies at Poland’s National School of Public Administration
1996-2007: Works at regional administration in Katowice, where she became responsible for EU funds
1998: MBA from Warsaw School of Economics (SGH)
2007: Joins first Tusk cabinet as minister for regional development
2011: Elected to Senate as an independent candidate
2011: Retains regional development portfolio in second Tusk cabinet
2013: Appointed deputy prime minister and head of the new ministry of infrastructure and development
The Polish media has been quick to adopt Bieńkowska. Shortly after the reshuffle, the Polish edition of Newsweek ran a cover story crowning her “Elżbieta I”
At the same time, Bienkowska remains little known for a minister with such great responsibility. In a November poll, two-thirds of respondents did not recognise her – although by the following month, with her new appointment, that figure had shrunk to just below a half of respondents. The tabloid press only recently began writing about her, albeit focusing on her fondness for high heels and perfume. “For six years, she kept a low profile, managing EU funds,” says Smoczynski. “Now Tusk needs her at the forefront, to carry the government’s investment programme fuelled by EU funds for 2014-20.”
Meanwhile, Bienkowska has big ambitions, for Poland if not on a political level. Last week (8 January) Tusk, with Bienkowska seated at his side, announced that Poland will be among the world’s 20 largest economies by 2022, which would enable it to join the G20.
