Paweł Zalewski

Polish politician

Paweł Ksawery Zalewski (born 25 September 1964 in Warsaw) is a Polish politician and unaffiliated member of the Sejm and the European Parliament. He has been a member of the Sejm from 1991—1993, 2005—2007, and 2019—2023 Until May 2021, he was affiliated with Civic Platform (PO).

Zalewski grew up in Żoliborz, son of Jerzy Zalewski, an Operation Storm veteran. During high school, he became a School Olympiad academic laureate in history and was admitted to University of Warsaw's School of History without taking entrance examinations. While at university, he joined the Forum of the Democratic Right, also known as the Democratic Union. his thesis was centered on Polish diplomats during the early days of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During his term, he served as the deputy chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Despite being the party's vice president, he left Law and Justice in 2007 along with fellow member Kazimierz Ujazdowski after an argument with former Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński. He joined the Civic Platform (PO) in 2009 and was a member of the European People's Party Group by 2012. He was reelected to the Sejm in 2019 as a member of the PO with 12248 from the 20 Warsaw electoral district. Throughout his time as an MEP, he has served on a number of committees as well as on the European Parliament. He has also been the vice chairman of the European Parliament Committee on International Trade twice. In August 2021, he voted as an independent MEP against a proposal for increasing the president's salary. In September, still without a party, he voted in favor of aiding Afghan refugees.

On 14 May 2021, Zalewski and Ireneusz Raś were removed from the Sejm at the request of the Civic Coalition (KO). They were summarily removed from PO and relieved of all committee responsibilities. Both appealed their respective removal, which the PO defended by criticizing Zalewski for sharing his contrary opinions with the media but refusing to speak up during diplomatic meetings during his years as a Sejm member. The formal hearing has been postponed twice and is currently scheduled for 29 September 2021.

Zalewski and his ex wife have two daughters. and lost his mother. In December 2020, his father died of COVID 19, age 93.