Flżbieta Bieńkowska Chair of the Board of the Centre for European Policy Studies (Brussels). Minister for Regional Development from 2007 to 2013; Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Development from 2013 to 2014. EU Commissioner for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs from 2014 to 2019. A graduate of the Jagiellonian University, the National School of Public Administration and postgraduate studies at the Warsaw School of Economics. A scholarship holder of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the German Marshall Fund. In October 2025, she was appointed to the Supervisory Board of Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) for a three-year term. Elżbieta Bieńkowska has held various national and international political posts and has helped shape the state’s development policies, taking responsibility for key areas relating to regional development, infrastructure investment and the economy. As Minister for Regional Development, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Infrastructure and Development, and European Commissioner, she played a significant role in Poland’s modernisation process and the effective use of European funds. In 2014, she was appointed European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Industry and Services, where her responsibilities included the digital single market and industrial policy. She held this post until 2019. In November 2013, Elżbieta Bieńkowska was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Development, combining responsibility for transport policy and European funds. In 2011, Elżbieta Bieńkowska was elected to the Senate as an independent candidate on the Civic Platform list. Elżbieta Bieńkowska initially worked in the regional administration as the Silesian Voivode’s representative for the regional contract and regional development strategy. From 1999 to 2007, she headed the Regional Development Department at the Marshal’s Office of the Silesian Voivodeship, where she oversaw the drafting of the Regional Innovation Strategy and the Regional Operational Programme for the Silesian Voivodeship for 2007–2013. In 2007, she became director of the Silesian Centre for Entrepreneurship. She also collaborated with the Silesian University of Technology as a lecturer on cohesion policy and European funds).