Former Minister of the Tusk Government with a position in Ukraine. They already remind her of her old words

Elżbieta Bieńkowska has a fresh position. The erstwhile minister in Donald Tusk's government got a occupation on the Ukrainian Railways, and the election was decided by an open competition. We already know what the politician would do for the next 3 years. And her opponents already remind her of an old message about Polish railway.


In total, the Ukrainian Railway Board consists of 7 members. 3 of them are elected by state authorities. Among them were: Alexander Kamyszyn – erstwhile head of Ukrainian Railways, Serhiy Leschenko – erstwhile MP and David Lomdzharia – president of the supervisory board of the state arms manufacturer.

Elżbieta Bieńkowska with a fresh position in Ukraine

The remaining 4 representatives shall be cast under global competitions. These were announced in mid-May this year. 1 of them was won by Elżbieta Bieńkowska and thus became an independent associate of the supervisory board of the state railway in Ukraine.

Ukrainian Railways are both infrastructure manager and carrier. The company is the largest employer in the country, employs around 190 1000 people. During the war in Ukraine, it plays a key function – it transports troops and supplies, as well as transports energy resources.

Let us remind that Bieńkowska served as Minister of Regional improvement in Donald Tusk's government from 2007 to 2014 and was then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Development. In 2014, she took the position of European Commissioner for the interior Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.

Independent members in addition to Bieńkowska were also: Gebhard Hafer – a German logistics expert (formerly in the German Railways), Anatolij Amielin – a private businessman and Maxim Mokliak – erstwhile head of Ukrainian taxation administration.

The word of office of each associate of the Supervisory Board shall be 3 years. However, Ukrainian law allows you to service for a further three-year period without restrictions.

For those words about delays on the Polish railway Bieńkowska was powerfully criticized

The fresh position for Elżbieta Bieńkowska has generated considerable comments in Poland. Opponents of the Civic Platform in social media remind the erstwhile Deputy Prime Minister in the context of the Polish railway.

In 2014, her words echoed after the icy of traction networks and hours of train delays. The politician then appeared on TVN24, where she reacted to the question about this issue with the words: "Passagerom it can only be said as if: sorry, we have specified a climate, unfortunately".

These words were considered to be a manifestation of arrogance of power and deficiency of empathy of the politician. In the opinion of any media, Bieńkowska's message may besides have affected the decline in support of Donald Tusk's government, which at the time decreased by 4 percent points. Tusk's words were considered "unfortunate wording" and apologized to those offended by her statement.