Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz has resigned from his office, marking the second major resignation in Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s government after Łukasz Szumowski’s resignation as health minister on Tuesday.
Czaputowicz led the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs since January 2018, after he took over from Witold Waszczykowski.
“The minister previously stated that the period after the presidential elections is a good time for a change in the leadership of Polish diplomacy. He believed that his successor will continue in the current direction of our diplomacy and support the further strengthening of Poland’s position on the international arena,” the ministry informed.
In the last few weeks, Czaputowicz led Polish diplomacy through the current crisis in Belarus. Following his call to action, the EU’s council for foreign affairs was called to convene and green lit sanctions against individuals involved with rigging the elections in Belarus.
The foreign minister also appealed for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Belarus many times and urged Belarusian authorities to respect human rights, including the ceasing of using violence against peaceful protesters.
Czaputowicz focused his diplomatic activity on regional policy in the last few months. This included cooperation as part of the Baltic States, the Visegrad Four and the Three Seas Initiative.
Alongside the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, he supported the initiation of EU accession talks with the Western Balkans nations of Albania and North Macedonia. The talks took place this year.
He also conducted actions concerning the peace process in the Middle East as part of the UN agenda for abiding religious freedom and its legal framework.
