Mr Jan KULAKOWSKI, Polish Diplomat and former Member of the Administrative Council of the College of Europe has died at the age of 81

Mr Jan KULAKOWSKI, Polish diplomat and former Member of the Administrative Council of the College of Europe (2002-2007) has died at the age of 81.

At the age of 14, Mr Jan KULAKOWSKI took part in the Warsaw Uprising (in the BASZTA Regiment as a Liaison Officer). After the Second World War he fled to Belgium where, in 1953, he obtained a degree in Law at the Catholic University of Leuven. He became Secretary-General of the European Organisation of the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions, and Secretary-General of the World Confederation of Labour. For many years he supported the anti-Communist opposition in Poland and the Solidarity movement. His home in Brussels in the eighties was called “a small Embassy of Poland”. In 1990 he became the first Polish Ambassador to the EU; was Chief Negotiator for Poland’s accession to the EU and later was elected as one of the first of the Polish representatives in the European Parliament (2004-2009).

The Rector, the Vice-Rector and the entire College of Europe community would like to extend their sincere condolences to Poland and the family and friends of Mr Jan KULAKOWSKI.