Tomasz Siemoniak

Tomasz Siemoniak (born 2 July 1967) is a Polish politician of the Civic Platform (PO) served as Minister of the Interior and Administration in the government of Donald Tusk from May 2024 to July 2025. he also served as Minister of National Defence in the governments of Prime Ministers Donald Tusk and Ewa Kopacz He also studied at the University of Duisburg, where he went on a scholarship. During his university education, he was the head of the Independent Students' Association (NZS).

Career in government From November 2007 to August 2011, Siemoniak held the post of secretary of state in the Ministry of Interior and Administration under the leadership of successive ministers Grzegorz Schetyna and Jerzy Miller.

Minister of Defense, 2011–2015 On 2 August 2011, Siemoniak was appointed Minister of National Defense in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Siemoniak replaced Bogdan Klich in the post. After the elections in October 2011, Tusk reshuffled his cabinet and Siemoniak retained his post as defense minister. By 2013, he oversaw Poland's biggest-ever increase in military equipment spending, with plans of investing $43 billion over the course of a decade in a procurement programme.

Also under Siemoniak's leadership, Poland accelerated the withdrawal of its troops from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan over the course of 2014. Instead, Siemoniak called on NATO to station significant numbers of troops in eastern Europe after Russia's military intervention in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. In 2015, he announced that Poland stood ready to assist the US should U.S. President Barack Obama decide to send arms to the Ukrainian military in its war against pro-Russian separatists.

Later career In the 2019 elections, Siemoniak successfully ran for parliamentary re-election on behalf of the Civic Platform, receiving 45,395 votes.

In January 2020, Siemoniak announced his intention to run for the position as chairman of the Civic Platform, with the endorsement of outgoing leader Grzegorz Schetyna. As a result of the vote in the same month, he came in second place among four candidates with about 11% of the vote, losing to Borys Budka.

On 13 December 2023, he became minister-member of the Council of Minister (so called minister without portfolio). On 13 May 2024, he was nominated Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration. He was replaced by his predeccesor, Marcin Kierwiński on 24 July 2025 and now coordinates the secret services.

Political positions In 2015, Siemoniak criticized the government of Beata Szydło when it replaced the head of a NATO-affiliated Counter Intelligence Centre of Excellence in Warsaw and defence ministry officials and military police staged a night-time raid on its office; he denounced the raid as "unprecedented" and "probably the first time in NATO's history that an alliance member has attacked a NATO facility."

When the Szydło government revived discussions in 2017 on whether Poland could demand reparations from Germany for the damage and loss of life it suffered during World War II, Siemoniak told reporters that while Poland does have the right to seek compensation, the government's effort was a "propaganda game" that would worsen relations with Germany and end up helping Russia.

Ahead of the 2020 presidential elections, Siemoniak endorsed Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska as the Civic Platform's candidate for President of Poland.

Personal life Siemoniak is married with two children.