Secretary of State, Government Plenipotentiary for Climate Policy, Ministry of the Environment, Poland
Marcin Korolec is a lawyer, long-standing government administration worker, and negotiator. Minister of the Environment in the years 2011-2013. In the years 2005-2011 Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Economy, responsible for horizontal European issues (energy, the single European market, competitiveness, foreign trade and climate change).
Within the environmental policy, he strives to balance the needs of ecology and economy in order to harmoniously unite environmental protection with economic growth. He sees environmental protection as an interdisciplinary domain, mostly based on international standards and agreements, which directly influences a number of other areas.
He derives his model of professional public function from the French standards, as he completed studies at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration in Paris. Previously he studied at the University of Warsaw, at the Faculty of History, and later at the Faculty of Law and Administration.
Professionally, he has been involved in issues concerning Polish integration into EU structures. As a long-standing partner of Jan Kułakowski, Government Plenipotentiary for Poland’s membership in the EU, he was responsible for such areas of negotiation as free flow of goods and people, agriculture, competition and consumer protection policies. In the years 2001-2004 he worked at the Office of the Committee for European Integration in the cabinet of Minister Danuta Hübner, where he supervised preparations for Poland’s accession to the EU.
He gained his diplomacy experience while working as a lawyer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as a private consultant within the area of European funds.
Involved in managing institutions concerned with environment and climate protection, both Polish and international, he has been a member of the Supervisory Board at the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management since 2010. Until 2011 he represented Poland in the Council of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Member of the EU-Russia Gas Advisory Council.
As an academic lecturer, he is also an author of scientific publications on the subject of Polish accession negotiations.