 A German-born Irish citizen, Prondzynski is an authority on employment and commercial law and on certain EU and competition policy matters, as well as an active commentator on aspects of academic affairs and public policy.Prondzynski's family, then named Pradzynski, were originally of Pomeranian-Kashubian origin, with earliest records going back to 1366, but his lineage can be traced back with greater certainty to 1550.He is a direct descendant of Ferdinand von Prondzynski, a 19th-century Prussian general from Groschowitz, near Oppeln in Silesia (now Groszowice, near Opole within Poland).