The former prime minister of Poland will discuss his country's role in the new Europe at a 7 p.m. lecture Sept. 26. The program, to be held in Gambrell Hall auditorium, is free and open to the public.

Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, who also was Poland's former minister of foreign affairs from 2001 to 2005, will be the featured guest speaker for the lecture, sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, the Richard L. Walker Institute of International and Area Studies, and the European Studies Program.

On April 16, 2003, Cimoszewicz and Leszek Miller, Poland's prime minister, signed the Accession Treaty to bring Poland into the European Union.

A native of Warsaw, Cimoszewicz graduated from the law department at Warsaw University in 1972 and earned a doctoral degree in legal sciences in 1978. A Fulbright fellow at Columbia University from 1981 to 1985, Cimoszewicz was a lecturer at Warsaw University's Institute of Law until 1985. He founded the Democratic Left Alliance in Poland and the Poland in Europe Foundation of Social Initiatives.

Cimoszewicz held numerous government posts in Poland, including deputy prime minister, minister of justice and deputy speaker of the Sejm, the lower house of Parliament. He was chair of the Committee for European Integration. In 2005, he was speaker of the house for the Polish Parliament.

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