Since 2005 Member of the Lower house of the Parliament of Poland. From 2004 till 2014 Member of the European Parliament, chairman of Stowarzyszenie Maj77 and Villa Decius Association. Former director of the Polish Institute in Paris and minister plenipotentiary at the embassy of the Republic of Poland in France (1990–1996) and director of “Kraków 2000 – European City of Culture” Festival (1996–2002). Director of the Department of Promotion at the Krakow Municipal Office (2003–2004). Awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1993) and the Order of Merit for achievements in the field of Polish Culture (1999). In the European Parliament, he was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Subcommittee on Human Rights, the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, and responsible for negotiations on the REACH directive. His most significant success was the report concerning the influence of extraction of shale gas on environment which gave the “green light” to the extraction of shale gas in Europe.
