Jerzy Buzek | prime minister of Poland | Britannica.com prime minister of Poland Alternative Title: Jerzy Karol Buzek Jerzy Buzek Jerzy Buzek, (born July 3, 1940, Śmiłowice, Poland [now Smilovice, Czech Republic]), Polish engineer, educator, and political leader who served as prime minister of Poland (1997–2001) and as president of the European Parliament (2009–12). Jerzy Buzek delivering a speech to the European Parliament, 2009. Georges Gobet—AFP/Getty Images Buzek earned a degree in technical sciences from the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice. He later taught there as well as at the Opole University of Technology; he also held positions at Polonia University in Częstochowa and at the Polish Academy of Sciences. Buzek joined the Solidarity trade union in 1980 and served as chairman of its first national congress in 1981.

Following the communist government’s suppression of the union in December 1981, Buzek continued to be a leader of the organization after it went underground. After Solidarity reemerged in 1989, first as a legal opposition movement and then as the country’s first postcommunist ruling party, Buzek remained a prominent member of the union. In September 1997 Buzek, as a candidate of the conservative Solidarity Electoral Action (Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność; AWS) coalition, was elected to the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish legislature. The AWS won a plurality of seats in the election, but the group’s leader, Marian Krzaklewski, declined the post of prime minister. The AWS then turned to Buzek, whose nomination was confirmed by Polish Pres. Aleksander Kwaśniewski in October. Buzek oversaw the formation of a centre-right coalition government with the liberal-democratic Freedom Union (Unia Wolności; UW) party, and his cabinet was sworn in on October 31, 1997. The following month Buzek’s government survived a vote of confidence.

Buzek was largely unknown at the time of his appointment, and some detractors claimed that he would be little more than a puppet of Krzaklewski. Others expressed a lack of confidence in Buzek’s ability to stifle far-right elements of the AWS. Nevertheless, many Poles welcomed the choice of a political outsider who was committed to fostering economic growth. Free-market proponents saw a friend in Buzek, an economic liberal who supported the privatization of state-owned industries, such as coal mining. In addition, Buzek was a practicing Protestant in an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country, and this was seen as evidence of his comfort with opposing viewpoints. Indeed, he was described as a consensus builder and a mediator. During his term as prime minister, Buzek focused on privatization as well as on administrative reform. In 1999 Poland’s local government was restructured, and the country’s health care, pension, and education systems were reformed. In the international arena, Buzek began accession talks with the European Union (EU), and in 1999 he gained Poland’s admission into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization .

Buzek stepped down in 2001, after parliamentary elections resulted in a left-wing victory. Britannica Stories Jerzy Buzek - Biography of the President of the European Parliament : Jerzy Buzek Biography of the President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek was born on 3 July 1940 in Śmiłowice, a town in south-eastern Silesia which is now in the Czech Republic. President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek's personality and skills, combined with his professional approach to politics honed in the Polish Government and in opposition, led to his election to the office of President of the European Parliament on 14 July 2009. He obtained 555 of the 644 votes cast: the biggest majority of any EP President since the first direct elections in 1979. He is the first President to hail from one of the EU's new Member States.

In his inaugural address in September last year he set out the priorities for his term of office: promoting the idea of a European energy community, promoting democracy and defending human rights, strengthening cooperation with the EU's southern and eastern neighbours, enhancing the EU's role in a multipolar world, ensuring that the EU's multiannual budget can meet the needs and fulfil the ambitions of the enlarged Union, and ensuring the European Parliament is ready to play a greater role after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. In carrying out his duties the President is in constant contact with the President of the European Commission, the President of the European Council and the country holding the EU Presidency. He also represents the European Parliament during visits abroad. His day-to-day duties include organising Parliament's business and chairing plenary debates. He has set himself the goal of making the European Parliament a forum for interesting, lively political debate and has the ambition of bringing Parliament closer to the people. He will be in office for two and a half years. Best Polish MEP In 2004 Jerzy Buzek was elected to the European Parliament with the largest majority in Poland. Once in Brussels, he threw himself into his work. He became Vice-President of the European Energy Forum.

He represented the European Parliament during the elections in Ukraine, supporting the Orange Revolution. He was the European Parliament's rapporteur for the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Development 2007-2013 legislative package, and for the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan. Between 2004 and 2009 he was a member of the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and its Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. He was also a member of the European Parliament's Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and its Delegation for relations with the countries of Southeast Asia and ASEAN. His commitment and skills have been recognised on many occasions. He was named 'MEP of the Year 2006' in the research and technology category - a title awarded by The Parliament Magazine published in Brussels. He was also awarded the Polish engineers' Biały Węgiel award in 2006. He was 'Best Polish MEP' in 2008, according to the rankings compiled by Wprost magazine and the Rzeczpospolita newspaper.

In the last European Parliament elections he won almost 400 000 votes in Silesia, thus recording the best election result in Poland for the second time in succession. Polish Prime Minister In February 1997 he became coordinator of the panel of economics experts within the Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS) party. The AWS party manifesto drawn up at that time was a key element in the party's winning campaign in the elections to the Sejm. Jerzy Buzek was elected to the Sejm in what was its third parliamentary term, following which the AWS nominated him for the office of Prime Minister. Jerzy Buzek's government was sworn in on 31 October. He continued in the office of Prime Minister until the end of the parliamentary term on 19 October 2001, during which time he took Poland into NATO and negotiated the term's of Poland's accession to the European Union. Jerzy Buzek's coalition government undertook one of the most ambitious reform programmes in Poland since 1989, initiating and carrying through reforms in the local government, pensions, healthcare, education and mining sectors.

As Polish Prime Minister he also set up the government's Strategic Programme for Oświęcim, the main aim of which is to turn Oświęcim into an international centre for human rights education. He is still involved in this initiative. He helped set up the Oświęcim Academy, which, together with the Jagiellonian University, is putting together an educational programme centred around the Paweł Włodkowic School of Culture and Human Rights. In 1998, alongside the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, he took part in the March of the Living from Auschwitz to the gates of Birkenau. He was the first Polish Prime Minister to do so, thus providing a boost to the development of this extremely important initiative. In January 1999 he became President of the AWS Social Movement. When the AWS lost the parliamentary elections in the autumn of 2001, Jerzy Buzek withdrew from active politics for a number of years. Scientist Jerzy Buzek attended the Juliusz Słowacki secondary school in Chorzów.

After passing his school-leaving exams in 1957, he went on to study in the mechanical and energy engineering department at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, graduating in 1963. He then started work at the Institute of Chemical Engineering in the Polish Academy of Sciences in Gliwice. He defended his doctoral thesis in 1969. Jerzy Buzek continued his scientific work throughout the 1970s. He spent 1971 on a research placement at the University of Cambridge. During the following decade he began research in the field of environmental protection. He was a highly regarded lecturer at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, and later at the Opole University of Technology. Jerzy Buzek's achievements in scientific research and in teaching were recognised when he was appointed Professor of Engineering. Solidarność activist In September 1980 Jerzy Buzek became a member of Solidarność and was appointed Chair of the Works Committee. In summer 1981 he became a delegate to the First National Congress of Delegates of Solidarność. He became an increasingly important member of the movement.

He chaired the fourth, fifth and sixth National Congresses. Having avoided internment on 13 December 1981, he continued his political activities in the underground movement. He published 'S', an illegal underground pamphlet, the first issue of which appeared in January 1982. He suspended his activities in 1987 as his daughter, Agata, was seriously ill. Following Solidarność's triumph in 1989 he became a full-time academic. Community activist and educationalist At the end of the 1990s he established the annual Pro Publico Bono prize for the best civic initiatives in Poland. Between 2002 and 2004 he was vice-rector of the science faculty at Polonia University in Częstochowa. He also founded the Polonia School of Diplomacy and the Family Foundation.

Multimedia Milestone for Eastern Europe: European Parliament Elects Former Polish Prime Minister as President - SPIEGEL ONLINE Milestone for Eastern Europe: European Parliament Elects Former Polish Prime Minister as President Milestone for Eastern Europe European Parliament Elects Former Polish Prime Minister as President The European Parliament elected former Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek as its president on Tuesday, making him the first Eastern European to hold one of the top European Union posts. July 14, 2009 06:15 PM Jerzy Buzek, 69, the former prime minister of Poland, became the first Eastern European to hold a top EU position on Tuesday when the European Parliament elected him as its president. DPA Poland's Jerzy Buzek was elected European Parliament president on Tuesday. He received 555 of the 644 votes cast, easily beating his only rival for the post, Swedish left-wing politician Eva-Britt Svensson, who got 89 votes. Buzek succeeds German conservative Hans-Gert Pöttering, who will stay on as an ordinary MEP.

The post is largely ceremonial but Buzek's appointment is a symbolic victory for the new EU member states from Eastern and Central Europe, which often complain their views aren't given enough attention by the 27-nation bloc's western members. "I see my election as a sign to these countries. I also regard it as a tribute to millions of citizens of our countries who did not bow to a hostile system," Buzek told the assembly in the French city of Strasbourg. "There is no you and us. This is now our shared Europe." He will serve a term of two-and-a-half years under a deal among parliamentary groups which will allow a Socialist candidate to hold the post for the second half of the parliament's five-year mandate. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Buzek's election was a sign that European integration had been a success since eight countries from Eastern and Central Europe, including Poland, joined the EU in 2004. Two more became members in 2007. "Twenty years after the Berlin Wall came down, five years after enlargement, your election today is, I think, a resounding victory for a united Europe," Barroso told the parliament.

Buzek, who was a member of the Solidarity trade union that ended Communist rule in Poland and later served as prime minister from 1997 to 2001, said the European Parliament must do more to explain Europe to its citizens. "The biggest crisis that we must overcome is the crisis of the lack of trust from our citizens," he said. "Our citizens often do not understand us -- we must do everything to change this." He also underlined the importance of all EU member states approving the Lisbon Treaty, which aims to reform EU institutions and streamline decision-making. Ireland is to hold a referendum on the treaty on October 2. cro -- with wire reports Poland's Jerzy Buzek elected president of European Parliament - France 24 Poland's Jerzy Buzek elected president of European Parliament Text by NEWS WIRES Latest update : 2009-07-14 Polish ex-Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek was elected president of the European Parliament on Tuesday, making him the first leader from a former Soviet bloc country to hold one of the European Union's top posts.

REUTERS - The European Parliament elected ex-Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek as its president on Tuesday, making him the first leader from a former Soviet bloc country to hold one the European Union's top posts. Buzek, 69, won the parliament's support at its first session since an election in June at which his centre-right allies emerged as the strongest force but voters showed their discontent with EU leaders with a record-low turnout. Although the post is largely ceremonial, his appointment is a symbolic gesture to the new EU member states from eastern and central Europe which often complain their views are not heard by the 27-nation Union's traditional powers. "I see my election as a sign to these countries. I also regard it as a tribute to millions of citizens of our countries who did not bow to a hostile system," Buzek told the 736-member assembly in the French city of Strasbourg. "There is no you and us. This is now our shared Europe," he said, celebrating the enlargement of the EU which brought in 10 new member states in 2004 and two more in 2007, most of them from central and eastern Europe.

Buzek said in a brief speech before the vote, in which he won 555 of the votes cast, that his priority would be combating Europe's economic crisis. He also said it was important for the parliament to gain the trust of the nearly 500 million Europeans. "We have to realise we are in crisis now. Europeans are expecting a resolution of this problem. And we also have to remember we should improve the work of the European Parliament," Buzek said. Challenges ahead The assembly's priorities include tightening regulation of the financial system to help prevent another global economic crisis and helping the EU agree a common position for talks in Copenhagen on a new global deal to limit harmful emissions. Its approval is also needed for the EU's annual budget and for the appointment of a new European Commission, whose five-year term expires in November. EU leaders have backed Portugal's Jose Manuel Barroso for a second term as European Commission president but his foes in the assembly have put off an approval vote until at least September. A former member of the Solidarity trade union that ended Communist rule in Poland in 1989, Buzek is the first leader from eastern Europe to head one of the EU's three big institutions.

The European Parliament shares powers with the executive European Commission, a powerful regulatory body, and the Council of EU heads of state and government. Its main function, shared with the other institutions, is drafting and passing laws. These powers will grow if the Lisbon treaty, intended to overhaul EU institutions and streamline decision making in the Union, is passed by all member states. Buzek was prime minister of a coalition government in Poland from 1997-2001 and has been a member of the European Parliament since 2004, shortly after Poland joined the EU. He was elected parliament's president for a term of 2-1/2 years under a deal between parliamentary groups which will allow a Socialist candidate to hold the post for the second half of the parliament's five-year mandate.

Date created : 2009-07-14 A Little-Known Solidarity Figure Is Chosen as Poland's Prime Minister - The New York Times The New York Times World |A Little-Known Solidarity Figure Is Chosen as Poland's Prime Minister Search Continue reading the main story A former anti-Communist underground activist, Jerzy Buzek, was named Poland's Prime Minister today, marking a distinct change in the complexion of government after four years of rule by former Communists. Mr. Buzek, 57, a chemistry professor from the southern industrial region of Silesia, will lead a coalition of two parties rooted in the anti-Communist movement, the union-based Solidarity Election Action and the market-oriented Freedom Union. In parliamentary elections last month, the two parties together easily defeated the former Communists, who had presided over four years of economic growth but had left many voters uneasy about their return to power. In a landmark day eight years after the collapse of Communism, Poland also ushered in a new Constitution that enshrines the rule of law, dilutes the power of the President and strengthens the role of Parliament.

The Constitution, which was approved by referendum in May but took years of wrangling to settle, replaces a Stalinist-era document. But most attention was on Mr. Buzek, a self-effacing but skilled political organizer for Solidarity before and during martial law. Advertisement Continue reading the main story President Alexander Kwasniewski, a former Communist, formally designated Mr. Buzek as Prime Minister at the presidential palace tonight after he was chosen by Solidarity members of Parliament earlier in the week. Mr. Buzek has two weeks to form a Cabinet. The President and the Prime Minister now come from opposite ends of the political spectrum. Mr. Kwasniewski was a Communist-era editor and then a member of the Communist Government when Mr. Buzek was doing all he could to unseat it. But in Poland's maturing democracy, the two men must manage to get along in a posture of cohabitation similar to that in France. Mr. Buzek was selected on the strength of what is described as his mentor relationship with the Solidarity leader, the strong-willed Marian Krzaklewski, 47, and for his grasp of economic issues. In many ways, Mr.

Buzek is an unusual choice. He is little known except in a tight circle of Solidarity activists. He is a Protestant in an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country and belongs to the Evangelical Augsburg Church, the largest Protestant group in Poland. Solidarity veterans remember Mr. Buzek as an able organizer who in 1981 was the chairman of the first Solidarity congress in Gdansk, the birthplace of the independent union movement. ''He was very good at managing 1,200 people with a lot of energy and a lot of ideas,'' said Leszek Waliszewski, who was a regional Solidarity leader and now runs the General Motors division, Delphi Automotive Systems, in Poland. Mr. Waliszewski added that he believed that as Prime Minister, Mr. Buzek would be ''good for business.'' Mr. Buzek used the pseudonym Karol during his days in the underground. Unlike many of his colleagues, he was able to elude the secret police and was never jailed. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up He encouraged Mr.

Krzaklewski to pursue his doctoral thesis in computer science and got him involved in the Solidarity movement, colleagues say. From those days he has inspired Mr. Krzaklewski and the close circle around him. Advertisement Continue reading the main story ''For many people I wouldn't give my word, but for Professor Buzek I would give my head,'' said Marek Kempski, a colleague of Mr. Krzaklewski's who is among the candidates for Interior Minister. Mr. Buzek is not a professional economist -- he teaches science at the Gliwice Institute of Industrial Chemistry -- but was in charge of writing the economic election platform for Solidarity. The platform includes a pledge to start reforming the overmanned and ailing heavy industries that were left untouched by the former Communists. Foreign investors and Polish businessmen, who had generally favored the re-election of the former Communists, appear to have been reassured by Mr. Buzek's free-market credentials and the absence of fire-and-brimstone populist language in his statements. In his first interviews, Mr. Buzek has sought to project a calming influence, saying there are ''no extraordinary social demands'' from Solidarity.

He said restructured state companies would be sold off so that in four years about 80 percent of the Polish economy would be in private hands. The private sector now accounts for about 64 percent of gross domestic product. He stressed that Poland must enter the European Union, a matter that has raised some opposition among protectionist factions in Solidarity. ''Entry is a great chance for us, but whether we will take advantage of this chance is a different matter,'' he cautioned. One of Mr. Buzek's chief tasks will be to manage the often rancorous relationship between the two leaders of the coalition parties, Mr. Krzaklewski and Leszek Balcerowicz, the leader of Freedom Union. Mr. Balcerowicz is likely to be a Deputy Prime Minister with an economic portfolio. But in the last two days, negotiations between the two coalition parties -- which are riven by personality clashes as well as some policy differences -- have been tense. The Solidarity bloc, with 201 seats in the 460-seat Parliament, compared with 60 seats for Freedom Union, has the ability to ride roughshod over the junior partner if it so chooses. The former Communists won 164 seats.

Mr. Krzaklewski chose not to take the Prime Minister's job but has made it clear that he plans to be the power behind the new Government and then run for the presidency in three years against Mr. Kwasniewski. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Among the changes in the new Constitution that Mr. Buzek and Mr. Krzaklewski will be able to take immediate advantage of is that the Prime Minister is now free to nominate three of the most powerful Cabinet ministers: Interior, Defense and Foreign Affairs. Previously the selection was up to the President. A real gentleman: an exclusive interview with Jerzy Buzek » Poland Today Poland Today > Magazine > Poland Today Issues > Poland Today ... > A real gentleman: ... A real gentleman: an exclusive interview with Jerzy Buzek In an exclusive interview with Poland Today, former Polish prime minister and President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek talks about the lessons Poland can offer to fledgling democracies Share Jerzy Buzek inaugurating the Esplanade Solidarność at the European Parliament in 2011.

Photo: Francois Lenoir (Reuters) As president of the European Parliament he was Poland’s most senior international official and the first politician from the former Eastern Bloc to hold one of the key posts of the European Union, but for Jerzy Buzek the most memorable moment of his time in office was when he gave his bodyguards the scare of a lifetime. Two days after Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was killed in October 2011, Mr Buzek became the first Western politician to travel to Libya; he immediately demanded to be taken to the Martyrs Square in central Tripoli, where tens of thousands of people, most of them armed, were celebrating the fall of the old regime after months of a bloody uprising. As his security detail were getting increasingly nervous, Mr Buzek felt right at home - the outpour of cathartic, mass jubilation at the demise of a totalitarian rule reminded him of his days as one of the leaders of Solidarity, the Polish trade union that helped bring down the Iron Curtain.

‘Thank you Europe’ So he just walked out of the armoured car to soak up the atmosphere, despite his guards’ terrified pleas that were disappearing in the roar of gunfire as the crowd began shooting at the sky with automatic weapons. “The square was full of people and they realized that I was coming from the EU, so they gathered around to greet us, shouting ‘thank you Europe’,” Mr Buzek said. “Almost everyone had a gun and they were shooting in the air for joy; my bodyguards were terrified and they shouted ‘please Mr President, we can’t possibly stay outside,’ but people were just happy.” The anecdote seems to perfectly encapsulate the driving force behind Mr Buzek’s distinguished political career. Initially one of the key figures of Solidarity, the former Polish prime minister - the first to complete a full term after the fall of Communism - became a member of the European Parliament in 2004 and was then elected president of EU’s assembly by the largest ever MEP majority. Mr Buzek’s experience as a former leader allowed him to act with the gravitas of a statesman on the international political stage.

During his stint as president of the Parliament, between 2009 and 2012, he left his mark on a number of key policy issues ranging from energy to privacy laws, but strengthening democracy and human rights always remained at the very heart of his political agenda; a deeply-felt, principal motive of his personal engagement. The charismatic 72-year-old speaks with firm conviction about the importance of a common European energy policy and the need for a generous EU budget, the main topics he focuses on as an MEP, but only when the conversation shits to civil liberties and the struggle for democratic change in Europe’s neighbourhood does he become truly animated with the undiminished passion of a veteran activist. ‘Once people’s awareness of what democracy and freedom means is raised, the clock cannot be turned back’ Walking the long road to democracy When Poland Today met Mr Buzek at his parliamentary office overlooking the centre of Brussels, he was preparing for a new trip to Tripoli, this time as a representative of the Club of Madrid, the world’s largest forum of former leaders of democratic countries, whose members include high-profile figures such as the once presidents of the US and the former Soviet Union, Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev.

The Club of Madrid selected Mr Buzek to discuss Libya’s transition to liberal democracy with key local politicians including Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, because of his credentials as a Polish democracy activist and former prime minister. “One of the most important points is that I am a Pole, with all of my experience in the Solidarity movement,” Mr Buzek said. “They ask me how to tackle the problem of autocracy, how to reform the country, how to learn from our experience in Poland.” Mr Buzek, a liberal-conservative Civic Platform MEP for Silesia, avidly supports the initiatives of the current Foreign Affairs Minister Radek Sikorski for Poland to gain more clout in European and international politics, particularly in the immediate neighborhood of Eastern Europe and Northern Africa. He is convinced that Poland must be leading the EU in its engagement with countries such as Ukraine and Moldova, as well as the Western Balkan countries, all of which aspire to membership in the bloc.

“They seek our support; they see Poland, maybe also partly because most of them are Slavic countries, as a country that can help them a lot with our example, with our experience of how to conduct reforms.” Mr Buzek has personally visited all of those countries as an MEP and president of the Parliament and he was one of the most vocal European politicians during the Arab Spring. Point of no-return The trained engineer and accomplished academic, who entered politics as a pro-democracy activist in communist Poland, was one of the first European politicians to condemn the “inhuman brutality” of Gaddafi’s regime, calling the crackdown on the civilian population a “point of no-return”. He travelled to Cairo and Tripoli during a time of turmoil to demonstrate the EU’s support as president of the European Parliament, but also, he says, as a Pole with experience in the struggle for democracy. He urges Europeans not to be discouraged by the setback in democratic reform that has been observed in countries such as Ukraine or Georgia, but to remember instead the long process of change in Poland, which took decades of small steps toward full democratisation. “Once people’s awareness of what democracy and freedom means is raised, the clock cannot be turned back,” Mr Buzek says.

“It is now clear that most Ukrainians want to live in an independent country. This was not clear even during the Orange Revolution, but now we know that even with a very low level of democracy they are absolutely conscious of their independence. “We should not despair over setbacks but push them towards democracy, human rights, freedom of expression, free market economy and independent judiciary, which is perhaps the most important thing.” Poland’s duty However, his vision is not only strategic, but also deeply ideological: Mr Buzek believes that it is Poland’s duty as a nation to support struggling young democracies because his country emerged victorious from its troubled history and has a responsibility to share its experience in overcoming totalitarianism. “This is the biggest responsibility of our country and most citizens understand this responsibility, because in the 1960s, the 1970s and the 1980s - especially in the 1980s - we had constant support from all over the democratic world,” Mr Buzek says, his eyes lighting up as he recounts what he considers the seminal period of Poland’s recent history.

“All democratic countries were ready to help us create civil society, to support our dissidents and even to go ahead with sanctions against the autocratic regime. “And we know we should pay this back - this is our own national, sovereign debt, if you will,” Mr Buzek says, in reference to the sovereign debt crisis that has put Europe to the most serious test since its foundation. ‘All the democratic countries were ready to help our citizens to create civil society. We should pay this back - this is our own big national sovereign debt’ Good deal Unlike most of the EU, the former Soviet Bloc countries in particular, Poland has so far managed to sail unharmed through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, with the country’s economy steadily growing despite the woes of the euro zone. Part of that success is due to the efficient use of EU funds, which is why the negotiating team around Prime Minister Donald Tusk has been under immense pressure to get a good deal for Poland during the recent marathon negotiations of the bloc’s seven-year budget. In the end, although the compromise of European leaders produced the first ever cut in EU spending, Poland came out of the negotiations as one of the nations that actually benefited from the arrangement.

Mr Buzek, who fought hard for the European Parliament to have more say in the budget negotiations, claims that Poland has managed to secure a good arrangement, both in terms of past and future subsidies. Under the new deal, Poland will receive a bit less funding for agricultural subsidies but it will retain its payments for regional and structural development. According to Mr Buzek, one of the key reasons why the Polish economy has performed so well in the crisis is because the country cleverly tapped the funds that have been allocated in the past budget period. Poland’s so-called absorption rate - the amount of EU funds allocated to a country that actually get spent - is approaching 80%. That is far from typical in the EU; the figure stands in stark contrast to the absorption rates in countries such as Romania, which only manages to actually utilize around 8% of the funds it receives. “(EU) funds helped improve many parts of our country, especially the eastern part, which used to be much poorer and less developed,” Mr Buzek says, adding that after seven years of funding via the EU budget the gap between the East and the more prosperous regions has become much less pronounced.

“We were a very good example during the budget negotiations of a country in which European money could be used in a very fruitful and efficient way - and that also helped Poland’s negotiating position.” But Mr Buzek warns that in light of the budget cuts the country should move on from reliance on generous EU funding packages and focus on fostering growth and improving internal and external competitiveness. From coal to natural gas With equal sense of urgency he speaks about the need to tackle Poland’s reliance on Russian gas, which is supplying over 80% of the country’s consumption. After his tenure as president, the work on a framework for a single European energy market has become Mr Buzek’s flagship project. If completed, the so called European Energy Community - which at this stage is a bold concept - would enable full access to all producers, distributors and consumers across Europe and eventually bring down energy prices. To illustrate the significance of the initiative, he quotes the example of Bulgaria, where the centre-right government was recently forced to resign following violent unrest that was largely due to the exorbitant energy prices imposed by a monopolized market.

“Prices of most things and competitiveness in general largely depend on the energy costs and this is most important for both the business community and the consumers, which is why we have to improve the networks and the supply,” Mr Buzek says. Poland currently produces electricity with 100% of own resources - mainly coal - which Mr Buzek deems “extraordinary and unique” in Europe. But at the same time he warns that using highly polluting coal plants to generate energy is not going to be sustainable in the long term because of the ever more stringent climate regulation of the EU. Shifting from coal to natural gas, Mr Buzek says, would enable Poland to meet the climate targets. One way to achieve that without becoming ever more dependent on Russian exports would be for Poland to come up with a viable way to extract the allegedly vast reserves of shale gas, a type of natural gas contained in sedimentary rocks. “We would become much more independent if we started extracting our own shale gas,” Mr Buzek said. “In America, we can say that extracting shale gas has changed geopolitics: Saudi Arabia will not be so important for the USA as it was ten or fifteen years ago.

“The same would happen to the Russian presence on our continent if we start shale gas extraction here. It is very important for the security of supply and also from a geopolitical point of view.” But this is where Mr Buzek says the cuts in the EU budget will have a negative effect, because proposed spending for research and development, new technologies and energy infrastructure has been rejected by European leaders, most of whom are struggling with austerity measures at home. In order to counter that negative effect, Mr Buzek says, the European Parliament, which has power to veto the EU budget, will now engage in tough negotiations with the bloc’s leaders before approving their compromise. Mr Buzek and other MEPs demand that the European Council, the forum of heads of states and governments, be more flexibile in the allocation of budget monies, which would allow for funds to be moved from one area into another as well as between fiscal years in order to be able to respond to financial challenges as they emerge. This will be a pre-condition for the parliament’s approval of the budget, Mr Buzek says, but at the same time he is confident that a compromise between MEPs and EU leaders will eventually be forthcoming. Euro zone?

The greatest challenge for Poland in this decade, according to Mr Buzek, will be to join Europe’s common currency, the euro, at a time when the euro zone is undergoing fundamental changes as it struggles to overcome the worst crisis since its inception over a decade ago. Poland’s good economic performance has brought it to the doorstep of the euro zone, and, according to Mr Buzek’s estimates, the country will fulfil the entrance criteria set by the Maastricht Treaty in three to four years. Under rules set by the Treaty, every EU member must eventually joint the common currency, except Britain and Denmark, who have secured so-called opt outs from the euro. However, the people of Sweden have refused to join the euro zone when the proposal was put to a referendum. The governments of the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, who are in a similar situation to Poland, have openly said that they would postpone their entry until the problems of the euro zone are resolved. And while Mr Tusk’s government has been relatively vague about when and how Poland is supposed to join the euro, Mr Buzek clearly says that his country must wait for the euro zone to reform itself before deciding to join the common currency.

“First and probably most importantly (for Poland to join the euro) the euro zone must be healthy,” Mr Buzek says. “We would not like to pay for the sovereign debt of any other country, because we are not prepared for that.” A real gentleman Mr Buzek’s mandate as an MEP expires in 2012, but he refuses to reveal any future plans or political ambitions, saying only that he needs to fully focus on his work at the European Parliament - without indicating any intention to retire after that. Leading EU politicians have heaped praise on Mr Buzek’s for his role in European politics after he finished his term as president of the parliament. For Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council and former prime minister of Belgium, Mr Buzek is first and foremost a “real gentleman” and man with “strong European convictions, always looking for ‘more Europe’.” “Fortunately, Jerzy will remain actively engaged in European issues as he moves on to new challenges. I look forward to our future encounters,” Mr Van Rompuy added.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that Mr Buzek’s great commitment to the European idea was of “priceless value,” while Jacques Delors, the former president of the European Commission, the EU’s executive, called Mr Buzek a “point of reference” for a Europe that is “united in its diversity, influential, generous, and able to overcome even the greatest of crises.” Through successful leadership in Brussels Mr Buzek also a performed great service to his home country, according to Norman Davies, one of the most prominent historians of contemporary Europe and a leading expert on Poland. “He has raised the profile of his home country, Poland; has proved that the recent entrants of the EU can participate at the highest level, and has demonstrated that differences among members of the European family can be overcome by a spirit of purposeful cooperation,” Mr Davies said. Proudest moment But for all the acclaim for his work in European politics, when asked about his proudest moment in the almost four-decade-long political career, Mr Buzek returns to the core beliefs that have guided his political activism since his early days of trade union activism.

Animated once again, he leans over the table to recount the seminal 1981 Solidarity congress in Gdansk that shaped his life and political career. “My proudest achievement was to be elected chairman of the first national congress of independent, self-governing trade unions - Solidarity,” Mr Buzek declares. “There was a communist ocean around us, with Soviet warships in the Baltic sea and 140,000 Soviet soldiers waiting for orders to invade - and yet we were in a completely free hall in Gdansk with 1000 delegates and had elections in purely democratic way on behalf of 10 mln members of Solidarity. We were feeling, as a matter of fact, quite free in a communist country. It was very risky, but incredible. “You can be a prime minister, or a president of the European Parliament, but only one time in history you can lead such a congress.” by Bojan Pancevski Jerzy Buzek Jerzy Buzek, born July 3, 1940, is a prominent Polish politician and Member of the European Parliament. He is affiliated to Civic Platform (PO).

Buzek is originally from Śmiłowice in the Zaolzie region, which now belongs to the Czech Republic. An alumnus of the Silesian University of Technology, he is an accomplished scientist and professor of chemical engineering. A member of the anti-communist opposition before 1989, Buzek was elected to the Polish parliament in 1997, and was prime minister for the 1997–2001 term. With nearly 400,000 votes, he was the most popular Polish politician to be elected to the European Parliament in 2004. After his re-election in 2009, he was chosen as president of the European Parliament for a 2.5 year term. His daughter Agata is a well-known Polish actress. Above: President Buzek talking to Libyans on Martyr Square in October 2011, two days after the death of Muammar Gaddafi.

Polish Ex-Premier to Lead European Parliament, a First for Eastern Europe - The New York Times The New York Times Europe |For Poland, a Milestone in Choice for European Post Search Continue reading the main story STRASBOURG — The job brings no real power and no extra pay. But the election Tuesday of a new president of the European Parliament was a significant moment for the 27-nation European Union , and certainly for Poland . Jerzy Buzek, a former center-right prime minister of Poland, was elected president of the assembly with 555 votes out of 713 votes cast, becoming the first politician from an Eastern European country to hold one of the bloc’s high-profile posts. “Once upon a time,” Mr. Buzek told the Parliament on Tuesday, “I hoped to be a part of the Polish Parliament in a free Poland. Today I have become the president of the European Parliament — something I could never have dreamed of.” Never mind that the position is largely ceremonial. It carries prestige, a few perks and a lot of symbolism, and Warsaw wanted it badly.

The vote Tuesday was the culmination of months of lobbying by the Polish government, which wants to silence those who argue that the former Communist nations are underrepresented in Europe’s decision making. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Before the vote, Eugeniusz Smolar, senior fellow of the Center for International Relations, a research institute in Warsaw, said that the election of Mr. Buzek would “be symbolic to many people in Central and Eastern Europe of an evenhanded approach — and that the old-boy network ceases to be in place.” Poland’s minister for Europe, Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, said, “The fact that Buzek can become the president of the European Parliament is proof that enlargement of the E.U. has been a resounding success.” Even some political opponents agree, and before voting, deputies from the Green Party had promised to back Mr. Buzek, not because they agreed with his center-right politics, but to send an upbeat political signal as part of the Parliament, which has grown in power even as turnout for elections has declined. Only 43 percent of eligible voters participated in elections to the assembly last month. As president, Mr. Buzek will serve as chairman of parliamentary sessions.

The job also involves representing the Parliament at summit meetings of European Union leaders and international events. All official travel is paid, and the president has the V.I.P. trappings of an international leader. The president also has a cabinet, which totals 39 members, including support staff and advisers. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy But there is no extra pay, and the ability to make policy is limited, existing mostly on a procedural level. Still, Poland, which joined the European Union in 2004, was so eager to win the post that, according to one senior European Union official, speaking on condition of anonymity according to the organization’s protocol, Prime Minister Donald Tusk held no fewer than 15 meetings to lobby other heads of state and party leaders. Until a rival Italian candidate withdrew, Mr. Buzek’s prospects were uncertain. But he had no challenger from the center-right, and, under a political deal, he will probably serve for two and a half years as president of the Parliament. After that, a center-left politician is likely to take over for the same period of time.

Parliamentary elections are held every five years. Mr. Buzek, 69, is expected to bring to the post a new focus on Europe’s eastern neighbors, including Russia. Certainly his career contrasts sharply with that of his predecessor, Hans Gert Pöttering of Germany, who has been a member of the European Parliament since 1979 — a time when Mr. Buzek, then an academic and chemical engineer in Communist Poland, was about to join Solidarity, the movement that helped overthrow the government. Born in the border region of Silesia, which at the time was a German-occupied part of Czechoslovak territory, he is a Protestant in a country where Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion. After coming to power in 1997, Mr. Buzek became Poland’s first post-Communist prime minister to serve a full four-year term of office, enacting a series of domestic reforms. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Mr. Dowgielewicz, a political ally, said Mr. Buzek has a good domestic profile: “He is seen in Poland as someone who worked humbly in the European Parliament even though he is a former prime minister.

Instead of searching out the TV cameras he was working hard within the Parliament.” Mr. Dowgielewicz rejected the argument that Poland should have concentrated diplomatic efforts on securing a more powerful European Union post in a year when several jobs are likely to be decided. “If this time there were no appointment of somebody from a new member state,” he said, “it would be very difficult for people to swallow. Each summit of E.U. leaders opens with a session with the president of the European Parliament. This president of the Parliament will speak Polish. Some people will say that this is just prestige, but sometimes you need prestige.” EU assembly gets first president from Eastern Europe | Reuters Tue Jul 14, 2009 | 12:17 PM EDT EU assembly gets first president from Eastern Europe 1/4 Newly elected European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek of Poland is applauded by members of EU parliament at the EU parliament in Strasbourg July 14, 2009. Reuters/Yves Herman + 2/4 Jerzy Buzek of Poland reacts after being elected as the new president of the EU parliament in Strasbourg July 14, 2009.

Reuters/Jean Marc Loos + 3/4 Members of the European Parliament attend the first session of the EU parliament in Strasbourg July 14, 2009. Reuters/Yves Herman + 4/4 Newly elected European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek of Poland is congratulated by members of the parliament in Strasbourg July 14, 2009. Reuters/Jean-Marc Loos + By Julien Toyer | STRASBOURG, France STRASBOURG, France The European Parliament elected ex-Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek as its president on Tuesday, making him the first leader from a former Soviet bloc country to hold one of the top European Union posts. Buzek, 69, won the parliament's overwhelming support at its first session since a June election at which his center-right allies emerged as the strongest force but voters showed their discontent with EU leaders with a record-low turnout. Although the post is largely ceremonial, his appointment is a symbolic victory for the new EU member states from eastern and central Europe which often complain their views are not heard by the 27-nation Union's traditional powers. "I see my election as a sign to these countries.

I also regard it as a tribute to millions of citizens of our countries who did not bow to a hostile system," Buzek told the 736-member assembly in the French city of Strasbourg. "There is no you and us. This is now our shared Europe." European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also hailed Buzek's election as a sign that European integration had been a success since eight countries from eastern and central Europe joined the EU in 2004. Two more became members in 2007. "Twenty years after the Berlin Wall came down, five years after enlargement, your election today is, I think, a resounding victory for a united Europe," Barroso told the parliament. Buzek won 555 of the votes cast, defeating leftist candidate Eva-Britt Svensson of Sweden, who won 89 votes. He will serve a term of 2-1/2 years under a deal among parliamentary groups which will allow a Socialist candidate to hold the post for the second half of the parliament's five-year mandate.

CHALLENGES AHEAD Buzek is the first leader from eastern Europe to head one of the EU's three big institutions -- the European Parliament, whose main function is to pass legislation, the executive European Commission and the Council of EU heads of government. Buzek, who was a member of the Solidarity trade union that ended Communist rule in Poland and prime minister from 1997 to 2001, told the assembly it must now help end Europe's economic crisis and win the trust of the nearly 500 million Europeans. "We have to realize we are in crisis now. Europeans are expecting a resolution of this problem," he said. He also underlined the importance of all EU member states approving the Lisbon treaty, which is intended to overhaul EU institutions and streamline decision-making. Ireland holds a referendum on the treaty on October 2. The assembly's priorities include tightening regulation of the financial system to help prevent another global economic crisis and helping the EU agree a common position for talks in Copenhagen on a new global deal to limit harmful emissions.

Its approval is also needed for the EU's annual budget, for the appointment of a new European Commission -- whose five-year term expires in November -- and for the re-appointment of Barroso for a new term as Commission president. Parliament has put off a vote on Barroso because of opposition to his candidacy from the left, the Greens and some Liberals, but Buzek said he hoped the stand-off would end as quickly as possible. ADVERTISEMENT BBC NEWS | Europe | Euro parliament elects new leader Euro parliament elects new leader Jerzy Buzek: 'Human rights will be a priority' The European Parliament has elected former Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek as the chamber's president. The vote on the 69-year-old Polish conservative was the first job of the newly-elected parliament in Strasbourg. Mr Buzek is the first politician from the former communist bloc to chair the parliament. He received 555 votes in a first ballot. The elections last month produced an assembly of 736 MEPs with the centre-right forming the biggest bloc. Mr Buzek headed a coalition government in Poland in 1997-2001.

He joined the European Parliament in 2004, the year of Poland's EU accession. "Human rights will be a priority," Mr Buzek told MEPs, recalling the key role of the Solidarity trade union movement in democratising Poland in the 1980s. NEW PARLIAMENT IN FIGURES Half of MEPs were re-elected, half are new Highest proportion of newly-elected MEPs is from Lithuania Youngest MEP - Emilie Turunen (Danish), 25 Oldest MEP - Ciriaco De Mita (Italian), 81 Women MEPs - 35.3% (31.2% in old parliament) Finland has most women MEPs (61.5%) Malta has no women MEPs See distribution of seats within the European Parliament He replaced German conservative Hans-Gert Poettering as parliament president. In the vote, Eva-Britt Svensson MEP, a Swedish leftist, came second with 89 votes. Mr Buzek will hold the post for two-and-a-half years - half of the parliament's five-year mandate. Under a deal struck before Tuesday's vote, a Socialist MEP will serve as president for the other half.

"We have to realise that we're in a crisis now. Europeans are expecting a resolution of this problem," he said. He called his election "a tribute to the millions of people who didn't bow to a hostile system" - a reference to the democratisation of the former Soviet bloc. "There is now no 'you' and 'us' - we live in a shared Europe," he stressed. Nationalist gains MEPs will postpone for at least two months a vote on reappointing European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, a veteran Portuguese conservative. The new parliament includes far-right groups that made gains in June, including the British National Party. It is not clear how British MEPs from the political mainstream will interact with their two colleagues from the BNP. The BNP has failed to form a new bloc with other far-right MEPs, who include politicians from Hungary's Jobbik, France's National Front, Belgium's Vlaams Belang, Bulgaria's Ataka, the Danish People's Party and the Dutch Freedom Party. Strongest bloc June's election produced a clear victory for centre-right parties across Europe.

Although the 25 British Conservative Party MEPs have left the European People's Party to form the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR), the EPP remains the strongest bloc in parliament with 264 seats. The centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in Europe (PASDE) is the second largest bloc with 183 MEPs, followed by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) with 84. Quite how influential the ECR will be in the new parliament should become clear when the members and chairmen of the powerful committees are decided, says the BBC's Dominic Hughes in Strasbourg. The president sets the tone of the parliament and can rule on points of order, our correspondent says. The post holder also represents the assembly to heads of state and government. Absent from the session, however, will be a vote on the reappointment of Mr Barroso as president of the European Commission, the EU's executive arm. The former Portuguese PM has the support of all 27 member states, but his centre-right allies in the assembly do not have a majority.

The Swedish presidency, which took over from the Czech Republic on 1 July, will lay out its priorities for the next six months on Wednesday. EPP - European People's Party (Christian Democrats) S&D - Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in Europe (centre-left) ALDE - Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (liberal) GUE/NGL - European United Left-Nordic Green Left (left-wing) Greens/EFA - Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens and regionalists/nationalists) ECR - European Conservatives and Reformists Group (right-wing) EFD - Europe of Freedom and Democracy (Eurosceptic) NA - Non-attached (MEPs not part of any group) The number of MEPs will increase to 754 if the Lisbon Treaty comes into force. Bookmark with:

Question: Jerzy Buzek was elected Prime Minister of which European country in October 1997?
Answer: Poland