Beata Szydło facts for kids

In this article, the family name is Szydło.

Quick facts for kids Her Excellency Beata Szydło MEP
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
Incumbent
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 (born 15 April 1963) is a Polish politician. She has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019. She is a member of the Law and Justice party, often called PiS.

Before becoming an MEP, she served as the prime minister of Poland from 2015 to 2017. Beata Szydło was the third woman to hold this important position in Poland. She is currently a vice-chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament.

In 2015, she successfully led the campaign for Andrzej Duda to become President of Poland. Later that year, her party, Law and Justice, chose her to be their candidate for prime minister. On 25 October 2015, Law and Justice won the election, gaining a majority in the government for the first time. Beata Szydło was then appointed Prime Minister on 16 November by President Duda.

During her time as prime minister, she often spoke out against some European Union policies, especially those about immigration. She also strongly defended her government when other EU leaders criticized it. In December 2017, she stepped down as prime minister. Her resignation was accepted by President Duda, who then appointed Mateusz Morawiecki as the new prime minister. Morawiecki later appointed Szydło as his Deputy Prime Minister.

In 2019, Szydło ran for the European Parliament elections. She was elected to represent the Lesser Poland and Świętokrzyskie area. She received the most votes of any candidate in Poland's history for that election. After winning, she resigned from her role as deputy prime minister.

Early Life and Education
Starting Her Political Journey
Prime Minister of Poland (2015–2017)
After Being Prime Minister
Personal Life
- Safety Incidents
State Visits Gallery
See also

Early Life and Education

Beata Szydło was born in Oświęcim, Poland. She grew up near Brzeszcze, where her father worked as a miner. She studied at Jagiellonian University in Kraków and graduated in 1989. She also completed special post-graduate studies for managers in culture in 1997 and for local government management in the European Union in 2001.

Starting Her Political Journey

Szydło became the Mayor of Gmina Brzeszcze when she was 35 years old. She held this job for seven years. During her campaign, she helped local people fix a school that had lost its roof in a storm.

In September 2005, she was elected to the Sejm, which is the lower house of the Polish Parliament. She was a candidate for the conservative Law and Justice party. She was elected to the Parliament four times. On 24 July 2010, Szydło became the vice-chairman of the Law and Justice Party.

After successfully leading Andrzej Duda's presidential campaign, Beata Szydło was chosen as the Law and Justice party's candidate for prime minister in June 2015. Many people saw her as being more moderate than the party's leader, Jarosław Kaczyński.

In the October 2015 election, Law and Justice won a big victory. They became the first Polish party to win a clear majority since the end of Communism. Szydło was sworn in as prime minister on 16 November 2015.

Prime Minister of Poland (2015–2017)

Szydło with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas during the Bratislava Summit, 2016

Beata Szydło speaking on National Independence Day in Kraków, 2016

On 18 October 2015, she gave her main speech as prime minister. Her government received 236 votes in favor. One of her first decisions was to remove the European Union flag from press conferences at the Prime Minister's office. She also replaced a clock in the meeting hall with a Cross.

When meeting with voters, she promised to lower the retirement age and increase the minimum wage. She also said that introducing the 500+ program would be a top priority. This program started on 1 April 2016. It gives families 500 Polish złoty (PLN) for every child, starting from the second child. This program was meant to encourage population growth.

During her time in office, there was a disagreement about the Polish Constitutional Court. The European Parliament expressed serious concerns about this situation in April 2016.

Szydło with British Prime Minister Theresa May in Warsaw, 28 July 2016

Szydło's government was against the UK's efforts to limit benefits for EU immigrants. She also offered support for Brexit if NATO troops could have a permanent base in Poland.

She resigned from her position as prime minister on 7 December 2017. The next day, President Andrzej Duda accepted her resignation. He then named Mateusz Morawiecki, who was the Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, as the new prime minister.

After Being Prime Minister

Beata Szydło was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Poland by Mateusz Morawiecki, just a few days after she stepped down as prime minister.

In 2019, Szydło ran for the European Parliament elections. She was elected to represent the Lesser Poland and Świętokrzyskie area. She received the highest number of votes of any European Parliamentary candidate in Poland's history. She resigned as deputy prime minister on 4 June 2019 to take her seat in the European Parliament.

In April 2024, she spoke out against the European Green Deal. She said that people were struggling with bills and saw no future because of it. She believes that this "green ideology" does not help Europe's future.

Personal Life

Beata Szydło is married to Edward Szydło. They have two sons: Tymoteusz (born 1992), who was a Catholic priest, and Błażej (born 1994). She is a very religious Catholic and believes in conservative Christian values.

Safety Incidents

On 21 November 2016, Szydło's car was in a crash in Israel. It involved five vehicles, including a police car and an ambulance. She was in Israel for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A few months later, on 10 February 2017, Szydło and two security officials were hurt in a car crash in her hometown, Oświęcim. Her car swerved and hit a tree to avoid a small Fiat. The driver of the Fiat was later charged with causing the accident. She had bruises and was taken to a hospital in Warsaw.

State Visits Gallery

Visegrád Group Leaders: Robert Fico, Szydło, Bohuslav Sobotka, Viktor Orbán (2015)
Polish Prime Minister Szydło with Pope Francis (2016)
Polish Prime Minister Szydło with Viktor Orbán (2016)
Polish Prime Minister Szydło with Juan Carlos Varela (2016)
Polish Prime Minister Szydło with Donald Tusk, Robert Fico, Jean-Claude Juncker (2016)
Polish Prime Minister Szydło with Edi Rama (2016)
Polish Prime Minister Szydło with Angela Merkel (2017)
Polish Prime Minister Szydło with Jüri Ratas (2017)
Polish Prime Minister Szydło with Xavier Bettel (2017)
Polish Prime Minister Szydło with Emmanuel Macron (2017)