By virtue of the Act on Committee for European Integration of 8 August 1996 the Committee for European Integration (Komitet Integracji Europejskiej, KIE) was established. The Committee provided a venue for making decisions concerning matters of strategic importance for the process of Poland's integration with the European Union. The works of the Committee were supported by the Office of the Committee for European Integration (Urząd Komitetu Integracji Europejskiej, UKIE).

The Committee for European Integration was the head body of government administration dealing with the programming and coordination of policies in areas related to Poland's integration with the European Union, with the programming and coordination of activities aimed at accommodation of Poland to the European standards, as well as with the coordination of the activities of state administration in the area of received foreign aid.

The Chairperson of the Committee for European Integration was usually the Prime Minister, who appointed the Secretary of KIE. The Secretary of the Committee acted at the same time as the head of the Office of the Committee for European Integration.

Moreover, the members of KIE were Ministers responsible for: public finance, economy, labour, agriculture, State Treasury, interior, foreign affairs, environment, transport, health, as well as the Minister of Justice. The meetings of the Committee could also be attended, with the right to vote, by a minister not being a member of the KIE, provided that he/she was in charge of the issue under consideration. The Chairperson of the KIE could also appoint as members of the Committee three persons whose experience or functions fulfilled by them could be of vital importance for performance of tasks related to the European integration process.

Chairpersons of the Committee for European Integration:

• from 15 October 1996 till 31 October 1997 - Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz (Democratic Left Alliance), Prime Minister
• from 31 October 1997 till 27 July 1998 - Ryszard Czarnecki (Solidarity Electoral Action)
• from 27 July 1998 till 19 October 2001 - Jerzy Buzek (Solidarity Electoral Action), Prime Minister
• from 19 October 2001 till 2 May 2004 - Leszek Miller (Democratic Left Alliance), Prime Minister
• from 2 May 2004 till 31 October 2005 - Marek Belka (Democratic Left Alliance), Prime Minister
• from 31 October 2005 till 9 May 2006 - Stefan Meller (non-partisan), Minister of Foreign Affairs
• from 9 May 2006 till 14 July 2006 - Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz (Law and Justice), Prime Minister
• from 14 July 2006 till 16 November 2007 - Anna Fotyga (Law and Justice), Minister of Foreign Affairs
• from 16 November 2007 till 31 December 2009 - Donald Tusk (Civic Platform), Prime Minister