The move signals Trzaskowski’s effort to project cross-party competence and continuity on national security, one of the key issues in the final stretch of the campaign.
"I’m glad that Minister Jacek Siewiera has accepted my invitation to serve as a civic advisor," Trzaskowski said on Wednesday.
"On the most important issues, we need to seek input from experts across the political spectrum," he added.
Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw and a leading figure in the governing Civic Coalition, stressed the need for long-term thinking on defense and national policy.
“Poland’s security is too important to be overhauled every few years,” he said. “We need smart, long-range strategies, and openness to different viewpoints.”
Siewiera, who led the National Security Bureau under President Andrzej Duda until early 2025, responded on social media that institutional memory and experience should serve the state, not personal agendas.
“The memory of recent events is not private property—it should serve to strengthen the security of the Republic,” he wrote, referring to a maritime incident in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday, when a Russian "shadow fleet" vessel was spotted near an undersea power cable linking Poland and Sweden.
He added that Trzaskowski’s outreach deserved a clear response: “The only answer could be yes.”
The two men’s exchange was echoed in Warsaw at the Polish Economic Congress, where Siewiera appeared alongside Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak.
During a panel discussion, Siemoniak publicly asked whether Siewiera would accept an offer to advise a future President Trzaskowski.
“The Republic needs you again,” he said. “Security requires wise people who can work across divisions.”
Siewiera answered that his knowledge, both public and classified, gained during his three years as national security chief was not his private possession but a resource belonging to the state.
“If Rafał Trzaskowski asks for help, support or knowledge, I am at his disposal. That’s what the national interest demands,” he said.
Siewiera served as head of Duda's National Security Bureau from 2022 until January this year, when he resigned to take up a fellowship at the University of Oxford.
A physician and legal scholar by training, he previously led Poland’s military medical mission to the United States and headed the Polish-Italian COVID-19 relief effort in Lombardy.
He has been decorated twice with the Cross of Merit for Bravery.
The second round of Poland’s presidential election will be held on June 1. Trzaskowski faces Karol Nawrocki, the conservative backed by the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP