Grzegorz Pietruczuk is FEPS Progressive Person of the Year

FEPS Progressive Person of the Year 2023

26/01/2023

This year we have chosen Grzegorz Pietruczuk, Mayor of Bielany in Poland, as our FEPS Progressive Person of the Year. He was awarded during the Progressive Yearbook 2023 launch event, one of our flagship yearly publications.

Grzegorz is a champion of local political leadership and humanitarian assistance. He has been at the forefront of supporting refugees (mainly women and children) from Ukraine, ensuring that those who arrive feel the solidarity of fellow Europeans and keep their faith in the possibility of a better life in the community of EU nations.

Since the first edition of the Progressive Yearbook, we introduced the tradition of choosing a Progressive Person of the Year in order to focus the limelight on a hardworking progressive who can show the way for others. It is someone who has delivered an outstanding achievement and who can inspire others; someone who can motivate progressives to renew and reinforce their commitment to our common cause.

In choosing Grzegorz, we highlight an outstanding example of behaviour within Poland and an example that should serve as a model of selfless support to those escaping the tragic conditions created by Vladimir Putin’s cruel and unprovoked war. Our political family badly needs the examples of composure, solidarity and sacrifice that Grzegorz embodies far away from the high offices of Brussels.

Mayor Grzegorz Pietruczuk kindly welcomed the FEPS delegation in Warsaw and showed us his work in support of Ukrainian refugees. Read the interview by FEPS Secretary General László Andor in the Progressive Yearbook 2023.

Unexpectedly for most Europeans, the year 2022 became overshadowed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The war has not only devastated Ukraine but also affected every country in Europe and many others in the rest of the world. In one way or another, nearly one third of the Ukrainian population became displaced in 2022, and millions decided to flee to Poland, the largest EU member state sharing a border with Ukraine. It is not an exaggeration to say that the shock of the war electrified Poland, and the whole country came to have just one priority – to provide military as well as humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, almost without limit. However, the work of local actors – municipal leaders and volunteers – is often hindered not only by the shortage of financial resources but also by disinformation on migration – a topic FEPS has studied in various contexts in recent years.

Grzegorz Pietruczuk is the fourth high-level personality of the progressive political family to be selected as Progressive Person of the Year. Before him, the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri; the current Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans; and Sanna Marin, Prime Minister of Finland, were awarded this recognition.

Find all related publications
Publications
16/11/2023

The political economy of migration policies

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the question of migration across the EU has been somehow downplayed. […]
18/10/2023

Beyond humanitarian aid: the EU’s approach to alleviating food crisis in the Sahel at a time of global insecurity

'12 years of crises in the Sahel' series
11/10/2023

Forging Europe’s leadership

Global trends, Russian aggression and the risk of a regressive world
06/10/2023

Communicating on migration

Policy Brief series
Find all related events
Events
Past
29/11/2023
Helsinki, Finland (Hybrid)

From Russia’s aggression to progressive recovery of Ukraine

How to ensure Ukraine’s democratic future?
20/11/2023
Vienna, Austria (Expert meeting)

Conflict, leadership and change: Europe’s response to Russian aggression and global shifts

'Forging Europe's Leadership' book launch
15/11/2023
Online

State of the Unions

Ties that bind: Testing the resilience of US-EU relations in an age of turbulence
Find all related news
News
22/11/2023

Ann Linde is FEPS’ new Foreign Affairs Special Advisor

Ann Linde, former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, becomes Special Advisor on Foreign Affairs […]
14/09/2023

FEPS President at the SDG Summit and United Nations General Assembly in New York

FEPS President Maria João Rodrigues is in New York this week on the occasion of […]
12/09/2023

Call for tender – Research and analysis for the project “Progressive paths to rebuild Ukraine”

This call for tender closed on 26/09/2023
19/07/2023

President Lula da Silva meets with FEPS and Plataforma CIPÓ

The Brazilian President was present in Brussels in the context of the EU-CELAC Summit
Find all related in the media
In the media

Une réforme de l’UE qui intéressera forcément les Suisses

by Le Temps 24/11/2023
'EU reform bound to be of interest to the Swiss', an opinion piece in Le Temps on EU Treaties changes by Maria João Rodrigues, FEPS President, Guillaume Klossa, Director of think tank EuropaNova and Daniela Schwarzer, Executive board member Bertelsmann Stiftung

« Le moment est venu de lancer un débat sur la réforme de l’Union européenne »

by Le Monde 22/11/2023
'The time has come to launch a debate on the reform of the European Union', an opinion piece in Le Monde on Eu Treaties changes by Maria João Rodrigues, FEPS President, Guillaume Klossa, Director of think tank EuropaNova and Daniela Schwarzer, Executive board member Bertelsmann Stiftung

Is it time to turn down the volume on the migration debate?

by IPS Journal 13/11/2023
IPS Journal article about FEPS policy briefs 'Communicating on migration'

A Europa em tempo de guerras

by Público 06/11/2023
'Europe in times of wars'. With two wars unfolding in the European neighbourhood, FEPS President, Maria João Rodrigues, reflects in Público on the EU's capacity to play its role as a major international actor and exert its own strategic autonomy