Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

Read Kaczyński's speech delivered on September 14, 2006

Location: The Heritage Foundation's Allison Auditorium

Jarosław Kaczyński was appointed Prime Minister of Poland in July of this year. He was born in 1949, graduated from Warsaw University and holds a Ph.D. in Law. In the early 1970s he was involved in the dissident movement and cooperated with the Workers' Defense Committee (KOR). He was a member of the underground authorities of the Independent Trade Union NSZZ Solidarność. In 1989-1990, he served as the chief editor of the weekly newspaper Tygodnik Solidarność. During the first free elections in 1989, he was elected as a Senator representing the Citizen's Parliamentary Party (OKP). He represented Solidarność in negotiations to form the government headed by Tadeusz Mazowiecki. He served as Deputy to the Sejm for the years 1991-1993, 1997-2001, 2001-2005; and he was Head of the Chancellery of the President Lech Wałęsa in 1990-1992. He was Founder and Chairman of the "Centrum Agreement" Party in 1990-1998, then in 2001 co-founder of the Law and Justice Party (PiS). In 2003 he was elected Chairman of PiS, succeeding his brother, Lech Kaczyński. In September 2005 he was re-elected to the Polish Parliament.