Mateusz Morawiecki

Mateusz Jakub Morawiecki (born 20 June 1968) is a Polish economist, historian and politician who served as the prime minister of Poland between 2017 and 2023.

Mateusz Morawiecki was born 20 June 1968 in Wrocław, Silesia, to Kornel Morawiecki (physicist and Fighting Solidarity leader) and his wife Jadwiga.

Morawiecki stated in a press interview that at the age of 12 he helped his father copying underground political literature and in August 1980 he plastered the streets of Wrocław with posters calling for a general strike.

In the 1980s, at the age of 12, he edited an illegal political newspaper Lower Silesia Bulletin and was active in the Independent Students' Association.

He continued taking part in political demonstrations until the late 1980s and participated in occupation strikes at the University of Wroclaw in 1988 and 1989.

He co-organized the Club for Political Thought "Free and Solidary".

After martial law was declared in 1981, he helped print and distribute underground Solidarity magazines.

As a son of a well known opposition activist, he was sometimes detained and intimidated by the police.

In an interview, he said he threw Molotov cocktails at police cars and was on many occasions stopped and beaten by Poland's secret police (Służba Bezpieczeństwa, SB).

Another reason for this was his sympathizing with the Hippie movement as an early teenager, a time during which he underwent an arrest due to alleged cannabis possession.

This was also the time he first encountered Ryszard Terlecki – a precursor of the Hippie movement in Poland, and later one of his close coworkers.

In connection to this, Morawiecki has mentioned that his colleague from the PiS party "knows perfectly well what fighting for freedom means".

In 1991 Morawiecki began work at Cogito Company and co-created two publishing firms, Reverentia and Enter Marketing-Publishing.

That same year he co-founded the magazine Dwa Dni (Two Days), later becoming editor-in-chief.

Morawiecki is an alumnus of the University of Wrocław (history, 1992), Wrocław University of Technology (1993), Wrocław University of Economics (Business Administration, 1995), the University of Hamburg (European Law and Economic Integration, 1995–97), and the University of Basel (European Studies, 1995–97).

While at the Wrocław University of Technology, he studied abroad at Central Connecticut State University and completed an advanced executive program at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

In 1995 he completed an internship at Deutsche Bundesbank in credit analysis, financial restructuring, banking supervision, and financial market supervision.

From 1996 to 2004, Morawiecki lectured at the Wrocław University of Economics, as well as from 1996 to 1998 at the Wrocław University of Technology.

In 1996–97 he conducted banking and macroeconomic research at the University of Frankfurt.

From 1996 to 2004 Morawiecki lectured at the Wrocław University of Economics, and from 1996 to 1998 also at the Wrocław University of Technology.

He sat on policy committees at many institutions of higher education.

From 1998, Morawiecki worked for Bank Zachodni WBK from the Santander Group, where he was promoted to the position of managing director and eventually chairman.

In 1998, as deputy director of the Accession Negotiations Department in the Committee for European Integration, he oversaw and participated in numerous areas, including finance, of the negotiations for Polish accession to the European Union.

With Frank Emmert, he co-authored the first textbook on The Law of the European Union published in Poland.

From 1998 to 2001 he was a member of the supervisory boards of the Wałbrzych Power Company, Dialog (a local telephone-service provider), and the Industrial Development Agency.

From 1998 to 2002 he was a member of the Lower Silesian Regional Assembly.

From November 1998 Morawiecki worked for Bank Zachodni WBK, Santander Group, where he began his career as deputy chair of the supervisory board, and supervisor of the economic analysis bureau and the international trade department.

In 2001 he became managing director and a member of the board.

In 2007–15 Morawiecki was chairman of Bank Zachodni WBK.

A member of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, he previously served in the cabinet of prime minister Beata Szydło as deputy prime minister from 2015 to 2017, Minister of Development from 2015 to 2018 and Minister of Finance from 2016 to 2018.

Prior to his political appointment, Morawiecki had an extensive business career.

Born in Wrocław, Morawiecki became heavily engaged in anti-communist movements in his youth.

He attended the University of Wrocław and extended his education at the University of Hamburg and University of Basel.

He obtained degrees in arts, business administration and advanced studies.

On 16 November 2015, President Andrzej Duda appointed Mateusz Morawiecki as both Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development in the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Beata Szydło.

(This took place soon after Mateusz Morawiecki's father, Kornel Morawiecki, was elected to Poland's lower chamber of the parliament and the Law and Justice party won the 2015 parliamentary elections.)

On 11 December 2017, following prime minister Szydło's resignation, Morawiecki was nominated to succeed her by the chief staff of the Law and Justice party, which he joined in 2016.

On 27 November 2023, after the United Right had failed to secure majority in the Sejm in the 2023 Polish parliamentary election, Morawiecki became the leader of a caretaker government.

On 11 December 2023, Morawiecki lost the vote of confidence from the Sejm, effectively terminating his cabinet's tenure.

He remained acting prime minister until 13 December 2023, when his successor and leader of the opposition Donald Tusk was sworn in as prime minister.