Jarosław Kaczyński
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Jarosław Kaczyński pronounced [jaˈrɔswaf kaˈtʂɨɲski] (born June 18, 1949) is a Polish politician who was Prime Minister from July 2006 to November 2007. He presently is the chairman of the Law and Justice party, which he co-founded in 2002. He has a Doctor of law degree.
After the 2007 electoral defeat of PiS Kaczyński stepped down from office as Prime Minister, after the first meeting of the new Sejm. [2]
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[edit] Family background
Jarosław Kaczyński is the identical twin brother of Lech Kaczyński, the President of Poland. Jarosław and Lech were born in Warsaw, Jaroslaw 45 minutes before Lech.[3] The Kaczyński brothers are sons of Rajmund (an engineer who served as a soldier of the Armia Krajowa in World War II and a veteran of the Warsaw Uprising) and Jadwiga (a philologist at the Polish Academy of Sciences). As children, the brothers starred in the 1962 Polish film The Two Who Stole the Moon (Polish: O dwóch takich, co ukradli księżyc), based on a popular children's story by Kornel Makuszyński.[4].
Jarosław Kaczyński has never married.
[edit] Early career
Jarosław Kaczyński was a member of the Solidarity Trade Union in the 1980s. He was the executive editor of Tygodnik Solidarność weekly in 1989-1991. In 1991, together with Lech, he created the right wing "Porozumienie Centrum" party, and later on he became its chairman (until 1998). During 1991-1993 and 1997-2005 he was a member of the Polish Parliament (Sejm).
[edit] Elections, 2005
Jarosław Kaczyński was the "Law and Justice" prime minister candidate in the September 2005 Polish parliamentary election[5]. However, when the party emerged as winner of the election, Jarosław pledged that he would not take the position, expecting that his nomination would reduce the chances of Lech who was a candidate for the October presidential election.
Jarosław Kaczyński was the architect of the coalition with the left wing populist "Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland" (Polish: "Samoobrona") and the deeply conservative Christian "League of Polish Families" party. Party-member Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz was appointed Prime Minister.
Lech won the presidential election and was appointed President on December 23, 2005. Soon after, during a live TV broadcast Lech addressed his brother saying "I report mission accomplished", a statement that raised controversy about the president's independence.
In the succeeding months, Jarosław Kaczyński was described as a frontbench MP and the leader of his party. Many also described Jarosław Kaczyński as Poland's most influential politician. He was said to have enormous influence on the Prime Minister's decision-making process.
[edit] Controversial incidents involving Jarosław Kaczyński
- On October 1, 2006 Jarosław Kaczyński, at a pro-government rally in Gdańsk Shipyard, compared the opposition to ZOMO, a paramilitary riot police unit during the communist period.[6]
- In December 2006 Kaczynski joined the 15th anniversary celebrations of the controversial Radio Maryja, which has been accused of anti-Semitism and criticized by the Vatican, and praised the station as a source of “comfort and hope”.[7][8] Kaczynski warned that "an attack on Radio Maryja is an attack against freedom".[9]
- Asked for the role which Poland's neighbor Germany plays for him, Kaczyński replied: "All I know about Germany is the toilets in Frankfurt Airport, and that is enough anyway" (cited in the German news broadcast Tagesschau from June 20, 2007).[10]
- During a television debate on October 12, 2007 his opponent Donald Tusk described how in the early 1990s he met Kaczynski in an elevator of the Sejm building and Kaczynski pulled out a gun and said "to me, killing you is like spitting on you". Kaczynski denied this incident later, but admitted carrying a gun in the parliament during those times.[11]
- On 6 march 2008, during an interview published on the Party Web site, he critisized plans to introduce online voting saying "I am not an enthusiast of a young person sitting in front of a computer, watching video clips and pornography while sipping a bottle of beer and voting when he feels like it."[12][13]
[edit] Prime Minister
Following reports of a rift between Marcinkiewicz and Jarosław Kaczyński, Marcinkiewicz tendered his resignation on July 7, 2006 and Jarosław was appointed Prime Minister by the President Lech Kaczyński on July 10 and officially sworn in on July 14, following the formation of cabinet and a confidence vote in the Sejm.[14] [15] [16] During Lech Kaczynski's election campaign in 2005, he had pledged that should he win, Jaroslaw would not become Prime Minister.[17]
[edit] Electoral defeat, 2007
Even though Law and Justice gained votes, overall it lost the parliamentary election on October 21, 2007, finishing a distant second behind the Civic Platform. Kaczyński has become a leader of the opposition and has lost his position as prime minister.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Premier: nie akceptuję gry politycznej Giertycha", Wirtualna Polska, 2006-03-20. Retrieved on 2007-04-10. (Polish)
- ^ BBC NEWS | Europe | Massive win for Polish opposition
- ^ Day, Matthew. "Twins who stole the Moon are poised to run away with Poland", The Guardian, September 27, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-07-08.
- ^ Araloff, Simon. "Kaczynski Brothers: Movie Stars That Turned Politicians", Axis News, 2005-09-23. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
- ^ Easton, Adam. "Polish twins in leadership race", BBC News Online, 2006-09-21. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
- ^ "J. Kaczyński: precz z komuną i postkomuną!", Wirtualna Polska, 2006-10-01. Retrieved on 2007-04-10. (Polish)
- ^ "Poland PM Praises Catholic Radio Station", Washington Post, 2006-12-07. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- ^ "Poland's premier praises controversial Radio Maryja on its 15th anniversary", International Herald Tribune, 2006-12-07. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- ^ "Atak na Radio Maryja to atak przeciwko wolności", Radio Maryja, 2006-05-02. Retrieved on 2007-10-22. (Polish)
- ^ Rautenberg, Thomas (2007-06-20). Polens Ablehnung der EU-Reform (German). Tagesschau. Retrieved on 2007-06-20.
- ^ Czy Kaczyński mierzył do Tuska z "malutkiego pistoleciku"? (Polish). Gazeta Wyborcza online (2007-10-12). Retrieved on 2007-10-14.
- ^ Internet for pornography, not voting: Ex Polish PM (English). Reuters online (2008-03-12). Retrieved on 2008-03-12.
- ^ Internauci oglądają pornografię i piją piwo (Polish). TVN 24 online (2008-03-11). Retrieved on 2008-03-12.
- ^ "Poland's prime minister resigns", BBC News Online, 2006-07-07. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
- ^ "Polish President Appoints His Twin Brother as Premier", Bloomberg, 2006-07-10. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
- ^ "Polish head swears in twin as PM", BBC News Online, 2006-07-14. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
- ^ Two for the price of one, in the shape of Tweedledum and Tweedledee | April 2007 | New Internationalist
[edit] External links
- (Polish) Portret Postkomunizmu
| Preceded by Michał Janiszewski |
Chief of the Office of the President 1990-1991 |
Succeeded by Janusz Ziółkowski |
| Preceded by Lech Kaczyński |
President of the Law and Justice 2002- |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Preceded by Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz |
Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland 2006–2007 |
Succeeded by Donald Tusk |
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