The fonds has been deposited by Danuta Hübner (DH) at the Historical Archives of the European Union in three successive transfers in November 2018, November 2019 and February 2023.
It is composed of paper files collected and produced between 1991 and 2022 during her mandates in the Polish Government during Poland's pre-accession to the European Union phase (1994 – 2003), as Minister for European Affairs in the Government of Poland during the accession negotiations (2003 - 2004), as European Commissioner responsible for regional policy of the Barroso I Commission (2004 - 2009) and as member of the European Parliament in the group of European People's Party (EPP) (2009 - ongoing).

The archival treatment consisted in physical preparation for permanent detention, in drawing up a classification based on offices held by Danuta Hübner and on thematic sectors structuring the files composing the fonds. In some cases, documents have been re-arranged so to create files open for immediate consultation. Besides these cases, the original structure and arrangement of the files has been retained. The descriptions are on file level and respect the international normative standards in archival description.

The fonds consists in three major groups of papers:

The first group is mostly composed of briefing, background and information files prepared for Danuta Hübner (DH) in the context of her EU institutional functions between 2004 and 2014. These files typically include official documents and internal notes produced by the European Commission and its services, the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament, academic expert studies and handwritten notes by DH. The documents relate to the regional and cohesion policy by DH and various policy areas of the European Commission between 2004 and 2009 such as European Union finances, enlargement and neighbourhood policy. A smaller group of files pertains to the period of her coming into office as European Commissioner and deals with the organisation and workflow issues of the cabinet.

The second group of papers consists in a rich collection of speeches and statements given by DH (2003 – 2018) and by Commissioners of the Barroso I European Commission (2004 – 2009) and in a set of files documenting her activities as reflected in the European press (2005 - 2009).

The third group of files cover DH's 7th, 8th and 9th parliamentary terms of the European Parliament elected in the list of the Polish 'Civic Platform' (Platforma Obywatelska) and member of the group of the European People's Party (EPP) (2009 – ongoing). They have been created during her activities as chair of the Committee on Regional Development (REGI) (7th term, 2009 - 2014) and chair of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) (8th and 9th terms (2014 – 2019) and (2019 – ongoing)), as well as member and substitute member in numerous other parliamentary committees, special committees and conferences. The files are generally working files by DH containing all documents and materials pertaining to the specific office and topic: briefing and preparatory files in view of a date or files constituted during the procedure. They include numerous handwritten notes by DH.

A smaller additional set of files pertains to DH’s membership in various high level political and economic working groups such as the Commission on Growth and Development (2006 – 2007), the Action Committee for European Democracy (2006 – 2007), the Group of Eminent Persons of the Council of Europe (2010 – 2011) and the Spinelli Group (2012 – 2016).
The fonds includes also material constituted in preparation of the lectures on European regional policy delivered by DH at the European College in Parma (2009 – 2011).
The predominant languages in the files are English and Polish, the texts of the speeches are, with some exceptions for Polish, French and Spanish, in English, whilst the press coverage file contain documents in numerous European languages.
The files are open for consultation according to the 30 year rule governing access to European Union’s institutional archival material. The rich collection of DH's public speeches and statements is, as well as the 'press coverage' files, open for consultation.

Florence, Ruth Ingeborg Meyer, November 2018 and December 2023

Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish

Textual

Good condition.

Danuta Hübner: MEP and Platforma Obywatelska

Contract of deposit signed between Danuta Hübner and the Historical Archives of the European Union on 17/11/2017.