Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka becomes first woman deputy defence minister in Poland, tasked with overseeing SAFE programme and arms exports
Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka, the government plenipotentiary for the EU’s SAFE instrument, was named secretary of state in the Ministry of National Defence on Friday, becoming the first woman to hold a deputy minister post in the ministry’s history.
The appointment
Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka received her nomination on Friday morning at the Ministry of National Defence in Warsaw. The decision, signed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk on 17 June and effective from 18 June, was announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. She is the first woman in Poland to serve as a deputy minister of national defence.
She proved herself in building and organising the Polish presidency, which was an undoubted success. The SAFE programme was born there, Prime Minister Tusk's proposal submitted in Brussels, pushed through the European Commission, the first decision in history enabling financing of the modernisation and transformation of our army from the European budget.
New responsibilities
Sobkowiak-Czarnecka will oversee the transformation of the armed forces, the promotion and sale of Polish defence equipment abroad, and the coordination of purchases for the Polish military. She will also continue to steer the SAFE programme, which provides Poland with roughly 43.7 billion euros in European loans for defence investments. At the Warsaw Defence Fair, she noted that eight countries have already made concrete declarations to spend their SAFE allocations in the Polish defence industry, and talks with Spain are scheduled for the following week.
I take on this huge responsibility. I am aware of its weight, but I also promise to do everything so that we build the state's resilience so that a real threat never comes.
From journalism to the defence ministry
Born in Poznań on 20 May 1984, Sobkowiak-Czarnecka studied global economics at the Poznań University of Economics and diplomacy at Collegium Civitas and SGH Warsaw School of Economics. She worked as a journalist for Polsat and TVP, occasionally contributing to CNN, and later served at the European Commission in Brussels, handling economic, defence and space policy. Between 2019 and 2023 she headed the advisory team of Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and ran his 2020 presidential campaign. She went on to hold the post of undersecretary of state for EU affairs before becoming government plenipotentiary for the SAFE instrument in October 2025.
Asset declaration
Her most recent asset disclosure shows savings of 162,752.58 Polish złoty, 639.61 euros and 588.33 US dollars. She co-owns a 131.2-square-metre house with an adjacent 152-square-metre garden, covered by marital joint property. She listed a 2016 Volvo XC60 as her only vehicle and reported a 240,000 złoty loan from her parents for the purchase and finishing of the property. She declared no shares, bonds or other securities.
Reactions
Confederation spokesman Wojciech Machulski suggested that media speculation about her potential future role as prime minister may have been deliberately circulated by the ruling camp. He argued she could be "kept on a political leash" and expressed fears that SAFE funds would be squandered, comparing the situation to the earlier National Recovery Plan (KPO). At the same time, Kosiniak-Kamysz said her organisational skills and determination were already evident during the Polish EU presidency and the launch of SAFE.
