Born on 27 May 1949 in Chorzów, Nowina-Konopka earned a doctorate in economics from the University of Gdańsk, where he taught until 1989. During martial law he served as former Polish president and anti-communist icon Wałęsa’s spokesman, translator and adviser, later joining the Solidarity freedom movement’s delegation at the 1989 Round Table talks.
After the transition he became a state minister in Polish communist strongman Wojciech Jaruzelski’s office, mediating between the presidency, Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki and Solidarity leaders.
Elected to parliament in 1991 for the Democratic Union (later Freedom Union), he chaired the European Integration Committee and helped launch Poland’s EU accession talks.
From 1999 to 2004 he was vice-rector of the College of Europe. In the European Parliament’s administration he became director for relations with national parliaments and, in 2009, founded the legislature’s liaison office in Washington.
Appointed ambassador to the Vatican and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in 2013, he served until mid-2016. His honors included Poland’s Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, France’s Légion d’Honneur, Belgium’s Order of Leopold II and Germany’s Federal Cross of Merit.
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Source: PAP