# Patryk Jaki

Patryk Tomasz Jaki (born 11 May 1985) is a leader of the European Conservatives in the European Parliament. Vice-president of the Law and Justice party since 2024. Member of the European Parliament in the IX and X terms (since 2019). Polish political scientist and politician holding a PhD in security sciences and serving as an academic lecturer.
He was a member of the Parliament (Sejm) of the Republic of Poland in the VII and VIII terms (2011–2019). He served as Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice (2015–2019) and is the vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Eastern Partnership – Euronest (since 2019).

## Biography
### Education

He graduated from the University of Wrocław and obtained a master's degree in political science in 2010. He also completed the ARGO Top Public Executive program organized by the National School of Public Administration in collaboration with IESE Business School in Barcelona (2018) and training at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. In 2019, he defended his doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of National Security of the War Studies University. He conducted classes for students at the Opole University in the security policy workshop.

### Political career

In 2003, he joined the Young Forum of Law and Justice. He worked, among other positions, as a marketing specialist at the International School of Logistics and Transport. He published in the journal "Logistyka" (Logistics). He was a member of the political cabinet of the Opole Voivode, an assistant to MEP Ryszard Legutko, and a member of the "Gazeta Polska" club in Opole. He also served as the vice-president of the "Stop Corruption" Association.
In 2006, he joined the Civic Platform party and was elected to the Opole City Council on its slate for the first time. Shortly after the elections, he left this party and rejoined Law and Justice. In 2009, he completed his political science studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Wrocław. In 2010, he was re-elected in the local government elections and assumed the role of chairman of the Law and Justice councillors' club that same year.
At his initiative, Opole was expanded by including parts of villages from the surrounding municipalities within its borders. This decision was made despite protests from the residents of the annexed villages (over 90% of those voting in consultations opposed it). The Council of Ministers adopted the project (which came into effect at the beginning of 2017) on July 19, 2016.
On 18 November 2015, Jaki became the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice responsible for, among other things, supervision over the Prison Service. He was also appointed Plenipotentiary of the Minister of Justice for the Implementation of the Electronic Monitoring System. He drafted an amendment to the existing law to prohibit depriving parents of the right of custody of their children on grounds of their bad financial situation. He has been entrusted with oversight over the establishment of the Museum of Cursed Soldiers and Political Prisoners of the Polish People's Republic. He is also the chairman of the Team for the Protection of Family Autonomy and Family Life in the Ministry of Justice.
Jaki initiated the establishment of the Verification Committee for Reprivatisation and became its chairman on 11 May 2017. He has been the author of a registry of sex offenders in Poland since 1 October of the same year, as well as a government programme for the employment of prisoners which has helped to increase employment among convicts by 50%.
Jaki is the chairman of the Polish Council of Penitentiary Policy. He stated that "stopping Islamization is his Westerplatte".
On 11 October, Jaki received the "Polski Kompas" (Poland's Compass) award granted by the Gazeta Bankowa monthly for his "fight against a reprivatisation mafia".

#### Later career

Jaki gained almost 260,000 votes in the 2019 European Parliament election in Poland. He is responsible for the "Save the Heroes" campaign promoting the restoration of streets named in honor of generals Emil August Fieldorf "Nil" and Zygmunt Szendzielarz "Łupaszka”, as well as the legislation initiative "Let's Restore History Lessons at Schools”

## Awards

* 10th place on the list of 50 most influential Poles in 2017, published in the weekly "Wprost"
* Polish Compass Award, awarded on 11 October 2017 by "Gazeta Bankowa" for "fighting the reprivatization mafia"
* Title of "Man of the Year 2017" in the Opole voivodeship, in the plebiscite of "Nowa Trybuna Opolska", for effectively attracting large investments to the region
* 10th place on the list of 50 most influential Poles in 2018, published in the weekly "Wprost"

## Personal life

On 14 September 2013, Jaki married Anna Kuszkiewicz (in Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Cross, Opole). They have a son named Radosław, who was born with Down syndrome in 2014, and a daughter named Aleksandra (b. 2020).