Janusz Antoni Cieszyński (born ) is a Polish politician who was Minister of Digital Affairs under Prime Minister

Mateusz Morawiecki Mateusz Jakub Morawiecki (; born 20 June 1968) is a Polish economist, historian and politician who served as the prime minister of Poland between 2017 and 2023. A member of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, he previously served in the Cabinet of ...

in his second cabinet since .

Early life and education

Janusz Cieszyński was born on in

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. He graduated from SGH Warsaw School of Economics with a degree in finance and accounting.

Career

From 2009 to 2014, Cieszyński worked at the Polish telecommunications company

Orange Polska Orange Polska SA (formerly Telekomunikacja Polska) is a Polish telecommunications provider established in December 1991. It is a public company traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, with a controlling stake owned by Orange S.A., the latter control ...

, in its finance and marketing departments. Cieszyński was an advisor to

, at the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

and the Ministry of Development, during the latter's time as

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

from 2015 to 2017. Cieszyński was also the head of the Department of Small and Medium Enterprises at the Ministry of Development from 2016 to 2017. In addition, from 2016 to 2018, he served as the chairman of a board supervising a corporation that the state treasury established to support Polish export activities. On , Cieszyński was appointed Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Health, responsible for computerizing the health sector and supervising the Centre for Health Care Information Systems. At the beginning of the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, in the middle of March, Cieszyński approved the purchase of 100,000 masks for 5 million PLN from a skiing instructor who was friends with Łukasz Szumowski, the minister of health at the time. The masks were found to not meet any health standards and were deemed useless. On , Cieszyński completed a deal with a former arms trade company, purchasing over 1,200

ventilator A ventilator is a type of breathing apparatus, a class of medical technology that provides mechanical ventilation by moving breathable air into and out of the lungs, to deliver breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathi ...

s for 200 million PLN. The company only delivered some of the ventilators ordered, and although they were paid an advance of 154 million PLN, as of 2023, 70 million PLN of it had yet to be returned. Facing criticism due to the ventilator purchase, Cieszyński resigned on . Cieszyński was appointed Minister of Digital Affairs on .

Personal life

Janusz Cieszyński is married.

References

External links

Ministerial profile
on gov.pl {{DEFAULTSORT:Cieszyński, Janusz 1988 births Living people Government ministers of Poland SGH Warsaw School of Economics alumni Members of the Polish Sejm 2023–2027 Law and Justice politicians