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Her Excellency
Beata Szydło
MEP
Beata Szydło MEP (2024).jpg
Official portrait, 2024
Prime Minister of Poland
In office
16 November 2015 – 11 December 2017
President Andrzej Duda
Deputy Mateusz Morawiecki
Piotr Gliński
Jarosław Gowin
Preceded by Ewa Kopacz
Succeeded by Mateusz Morawiecki
Deputy Prime Minister of Poland
In office
11 December 2017 – 4 June 2019
Serving with Piotr Gliński, Jarosław Gowin
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki
Preceded by Mateusz Morawiecki
Succeeded by Jacek Sasin
Member of the European Parliament
Assumed office
2 July 2019
Preceded by Edward Czesak
Constituency Lesser Poland and Świętokrzyskie
Chairman of the Social Committee of the Council of Ministers
In office
11 December 2017 – 4 June 2019
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki
Deputy Rafał Bochenek
Preceded by Office established
Succeeded by Piotr Gliński
Member of the Sejm
In office
25 September 2005 – 4 June 2019
Preceded by Janusz Kozik
Succeeded by Krzysztof Kozik
Constituency 12 – Chrzanów
Personal details
Born
Beata Maria Kusińska

(1963-04-15) 15 April 1963 (age 62)
Oświęcim, Poland
Political party Law and Justice
Spouse Edward Szydło
Children 2
Education Jagiellonian University
Signature

Beata Maria Szydło (Polish: [bɛˈata ˈmarja ˈʂɨdwɔ], née Kusińska [kuˈɕij̃ska]; born 15 April 1963) is a Polish politician who has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019. A member of Law and Justice (PiS), she previously served as the prime minister of Poland from 2015 to 2017. Szydło became the third woman to hold the office, after Hanna Suchocka and her immediate predecessor Ewa Kopacz. She currently is a vice-chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament. She is considered to have been a de iure leader of Poland, with the de facto leader being Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of the party Szydło is a member of.

She successfully led the presidential campaign of Andrzej Duda, Law and Justice's nominee for President of Poland, to victory. In June 2015, Szydło won internal endorsement to be her party's candidate for prime minister at the forthcoming parliamentary election. On 25 October, Law and Justice went on to win majority government for the first time in the country's history; Szydło was duly appointed Prime Minister on 16 November by President Duda.

She was a vocal critic of numerous European Union policies, particularly on immigration, and robustly defended her government from criticism by other EU leaders. During her time in office, she was ranked 31st in Forbes magazine's ranking of the world's 100 most powerful women and the 10th among the most influential female political leaders. In December 2017, she was forced to resign as prime minister after Jarosław Kaczyński, the Chairman of Law and Justice, withdrew confidence from her to continue as the party's lead election candidate within the Sejm. Her resignation was accepted by President Duda, who at the same time designated her deputy, Mateusz Morawiecki to be the new prime minister. Morawiecki took office three days later, and immediately appointed Szydło his Deputy Prime Minister.

Szydło stood for the European Parliament at the 2019 European Parliament elections, and was elected to represent the constituency of Lesser Poland and Świętokrzyskie; she received the highest number of individual votes of any candidate historically in Poland. She subsequently resigned as deputy prime minister.

Early years and education

Szydło was born in Oświęcim and raised near Brzeszcze, where her father was a miner. She graduated from Jagiellonian University in Kraków in 1989 where she completed studies at the Department of Ethnography. Between 1989 and 1995, she was a PhD student at the Philosophy and History Faculty of that university. In 1997, Szydło completed post-graduate studies for managers of culture at Warsaw School of Economics, whereas in 2001 at Kraków University of Economics - management of local government in the European Union.

Early political career

Szydło was elected Mayor of Gmina Brzeszcze at the age of 35, holding this position for seven years. During her campaign, along with locals she helped renovate the school in a small town of Pcim, which lost its roof in a storm. In 2004, she participated in International Visitor Leadership Program. In September 2005, she was elected to the Sejm, the lower house of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland receiving 14,499 votes in 12 Chrzanów district, as a candidate of the conservative Law and Justice party. She was elected member of the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Parliament of the Republic of Poland. Szydło was appointed vice-chairman of the Law and Justice Party on 24 July 2010, after which she succeeded Stanisław Kostrzewski as the treasurer of the Law and Justice party in September 2014.

Following her successful leadership of Andrzej Duda's presidential campaign, at the Law and Justice party convention on 20 June 2015 Szydło was named as Law and Justice's candidate for prime minister in the Polish parliamentary election. She was widely seen as being more moderate than Law and Justice chairman Jarosław Kaczyński.

At the October 2015 election, Law and Justice won a decisive victory, becoming the first Polish party to win an outright majority since the end of Communism. Szydło was sworn in as prime minister on 16 November 2015.

Prime Minister of Poland (2015–2017)

Informal Lunch-BRATISLAVA SUMMIT 16 SEPTEMBER 2016 (29637459391)
Beata Szydło with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas during the Bratislava Summit, 2016
Beata Szydło (1)
Beata Szydło speaking on National Independence Day in Kraków, 2016

On 18 October 2015 she made her keynote address (Exposé), further receiving 236 votes in favour of her government. One of her first decisions was to remove the European Union flag from press conferences at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister and to replace the clock in the meeting hall of the Council of Ministers with a Cross. In meetings with voters, she promised to reduce the retirement age and raise the minimum wage. She declared introducing the 500+ programme will be her priority as prime minister. The programme was introduced on 1 April 2016, supplying families with 500PLN for every child, starting from the second child. It is intended to serve as a demographic stimulus, and enhance population growth.

One of the biggest controversies during her administration, the Polish Constitutional Court crisis, 2015 was officially criticized by the European Parliament, which, on 13 April 2016, passed a resolution declaring that the Parliament "is seriously concerned that the effective paralysis of the Constitutional Tribunal in Poland endangers democracy, human rights and the rule of law".

Spotkanie premier Beaty Szydło z Theresą May (27994291763)
Szydło with British Prime Minister Theresa May in Warsaw, 28 July 2016

Szydło's government was strongly opposed to the UK's effort to stop EU immigrants claiming in-work benefits for four years if they moved to Britain. Increasing the support for Brexit, Beata Szydło did offer support in return for a permanent base of NATO troops on Polish territory. She resigned from office along with all members of her cabinet on 7 December 2017. The next day, her resignation was accepted by the President Andrzej Duda, who at the same time designated Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki as the new prime minister.

Later career

Szydło was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Poland by her former deputy, Mateusz Morawiecki, several days after her resignation as prime minister.

Szydło later stood for the European Parliament at the 2019 European Parliament elections, and was elected to represent the constituency of Lesser Poland and Świętokrzyskie. In that election, she received the highest number of individual votes of any European Parliamentary candidate in Poland's history. She resigned as deputy prime minister on 4 June in order to take her seat in the European Parliament.

In April 2024, she criticized the European Green Deal, saying, "People can’t pay their bills, people see no future, because of the Green Deal, and we will see this in the elections. The green ideology, which you’ve tried to ram down the throats of Europeans, doesn’t give Europe a future."

Personal life

Szydło is married to Edward Szydło. The couple has two sons: Tymoteusz (born 1992), a Catholic priest (he has since left priesthood again), and Błażej (1994). She is a devout Catholic and declares her adherence to conservative Christian values.

Security incidents

On 21 November 2016, Szydło's vehicle was involved in a 5 vehicle crash in Israel which included a police car and ambulance. She was in Israel for the government to government talks and to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Just a few months later, on 10 February 2017, Szydło and 2 security officials were injured in a car crash in her hometown, Oświęcim. Her Audi limousine swerved and hit a tree to avoid a small Fiat whose driver was later charged with involuntary violation of traffic safety. She suffered bruises and was hospitalised in Warsaw.

State visits gallery

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Beata Szydło para niños

  • Cabinet of Beata Szydło
  • History of Poland (1989–present)
  • List of political parties in Poland
  • List of politicians in Poland
  • Politics of Poland
  • 2015 Polish parliamentary election
  • 2015 Polish presidential election
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