Przemysław Czarnek | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Education and Science | |
| In office 19 October 2020 – 27 November 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Mateusz Morawiecki |
| Preceded by | Dariusz Piontkowski (MEN),Wojciech Murdzek (MNiSW) |
| Succeeded by | Krzysztof Szczucki |
| 9th Voivode of Lublin | |
| In office 8 December 2015 – 11 November 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Beata Szydło Mateusz Morawiecki |
| Preceded by | Wojciech Wilk |
| Succeeded by | Lech Sprawka |
| Personal details | |
| Pronunciation | [pʂɛˈmɨs.wafˈt͡ʂarnɛk] |
| Born | (1977-06-11)11 June 1977 (age 48) |
| Citizenship | Poland |
| Political party | Law and Justice |
| Spouse | Katarzyna Czarnek |
| Children | 2[1] |
| Alma mater | John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin |
Przemysław Czarnek (born 11 June 1977) is a Polish politician and academic, who wasvoivode of theLubelskie Voivodeship from 2015 to 2019.[2] He waselected in 2019 as a member of the 9thSejm as a member ofLaw and Justice. Czarnek served asMinister of Education andScience from 2020 to 2023. He competed for his party's nomination in the2025 Polish presidential election, ultimately being defeated byInstitute of National Remembrance directorKarol Nawrocki, who would go on to win the election.
Czarnek grew up inGoszczanów in the county ofSieradz in theŁódź Voivodeship of western Poland. His mother was a nurse and his father was a truck driver. He moved toLublin to live with an uncle at the age of 15.[3]
Czarnek graduated from theJohn Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) in 2001 in law, obtained his doctorate in constitutional law from KUL in 2006, and obtained hishabilitation at KUL in 2015.[4]
Czarnek was appointed as auniversity professor at KUL on 1 October 2019.[3] According to an analysis byOKO.press, at the time Czarnek's publications had no citations inScopus, only three citations of his habilitation thesis inGoogle Scholar. Overall, Czarnek is the author of 19 academic publications according to the Polish Scientific Bibliography.[5]
Czarnek was awarded a medal for services rendered toMaria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS) on 28 October 2019. During the award ceremony, activist Anna Dąbrowska held up a banner "Medal for the hater – shame". UMCS staff memberTomasz Kitliński said that the decision to award the medal had not been consulted with university staff and was a surprise and that it took place in a context of decreased democracy within the university.[6] Kitliński also stated in an online post: "The governor of Lublin Region prides himself in offending Ukrainians, Muslims, the LGBT community and women, for whom he sees no social role other than the reproduction of children". Czarnek sued Kitliński for allegedly slandering a public official. Art professionals started an online petition to support Kitliński.[7]
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Czarnek was appointed as thevoivode of theLublin Voivodeship in 2015. He was elected as a member of parliament in the2019 Polish parliamentary election, resigning from his position as voivode.[3] In the2023 parliamentary election he was reelected to the Sejm.[8] According to Catholic University of Lublin professor of theologyAlfred Wierzbicki [pl], Czarnek's politics come "from the extreme right of theNational Radical Camp".[9]
In early October 2020, Czarnek was announced as the likely new minister of education and science (which was earlier divided into theMinistry of Science and Higher Education, MNISW, and theMinistry of National Education, MEN), shortly before he tested positive forSARS-CoV-2. His nomination was delayed after his SARS-CoV-2 positive status was announced.[10][11] Czarnek was formally appointed Minister of Science and Education on 19 October 2020.[12]
The heads of 79universities in Poland released a joint statement criticizing Czarnek's proposed reforms, arguing that they infringed on the autonomy of the universities and obstructed academic freedom while allowing pseudoscientific views to be taught in universities.[13]
In 2021 the Czarnek's Ministry proposed a reform of the Polish educational system, dubbed in Polish media "Lex Czarnek". It has been described as controversial due to its implied criticism of the teachings on liberal issues such asLGBT rights andsex education, and was vetoed by the President in 2022.[14][15][16]
A 2020 international petition signed by more than 170 academics called for an international boycott of Czarnek for his “homophobic, xenophobic and misogynistic views," and hundreds of Polish academics have called for his dismissal on similar grounds.[17][18] He has denied the claims of the petitions, claiming that he cannot be misogynistic due to his respect for the Virgin Mary and his wife.[18]
Czarnek competed for his party's nomination in the2025 presidential election. His most prominent opponents for the nomination wereMEPTobiasz Bocheński andInstitute of National Remembrance directorKarol Nawrocki. Ultimately, the party nominated Nawrocki, who won the presidential election.[19]
Czarnek is a supporter of the ultra-conservative Catholic organizationOrdo Iuris.[20][21]
Prior to the 2018Equality March in Lublin in favor ofLGBT rights and therights of other minorities including thedisabled,refugees,ethnic minorities andreligious minorities, Czarnek described the march as promoting "perversion,deviance and denaturing" and called for the march to be forbidden by the authorities.[22]
Czarnek described the 2018Lublin Equality March as "promotingpedophilia", and said that it should be banned, in contrast to the right offreedom of assembly.[23] Polish OmbudsmanAdam Bodnar stated that this can be consideredhate speech against participants in the march.[23]Bartosz Staszewski, one of the organizers of the march, sued Czarnek, demanding that Czarnek publicly apologize.[24] The court ruled that he had to apologize, but then he repeated the statement.[25]
During the2020 Polish presidential election campaign Czarnek stated in a live television broadcast that "[we] should stop listening to this nonsense about human rights, or any equality. These people [LGBT] are not equal to normal people".[26][27][28][29] According toThe Guardian, this was "the most homophobic outburst so far" from a member of the ruling party.[29] The PolishNational Broadcasting Council stated that Czarnek's statement was legal under Polish law.[30]
On 3 August 2020, Czarnek stated that it was certain that "LGBT ideology was derived fromneo-marxism and came from the same roots as German Hitleriannational socialism."[31]
When asked in an interview if anti-LGBT rhetoric would lead to young people developing mental health issues, he responded that those issues were not due to anti-LGBT rhetoric but rather "propaganda and LGBT ideology."[32]
On the issue ofwomen's rights,[33] Czarnek has expressed disapproval of women prioritizing career over children, declaring that "Career first, maybe later a child, leads to tragic consequences. If the first child is not born [when the mother is aged] 20–25 years, only at the age of 30, how many children can [the mother] bear? Those are the consequences of telling a woman that she doesn't have to do what she was destined to do by the Lord God."[3]
One of Czarnek's research themes is thatcorporal punishment for children is allowed by the Polish constitution, as he says it is a method of raising children.[31]
In relation toartistic freedom, Czarnek wrote in a publication that "There is also a lack of justification for privileging artistic freedom andfreedom of speech at the cost ofreligious freedom and the associated right to protection of religious sentiment".[31]
In July 2018, a commemoration of theSahryń massacre, in which hundreds of Ukrainian civilians were killed by the PolishHome Army on 10 March 1944, was held. Czarnek described the commemoration as a "great provocation".[6] He officially informed the police that the commemoration was, according to him, a crime by the president of the Lublin Ukrainians' Association under theAct on the Institute of National Remembrance.[31]
In 2019, Czarnek opposed a memorial by Polish artistDorota Nieznalska that commemorated Jews who were killed by Poles during and after the Holocaust. He called the memorial a "scandal" and "anti-Polish" and said that it should be removed.[7][34]Tomasz Kitliński, who commissioned the memorial, refused to comply.[7]
In the aftermath of theYaroslav Hunkascandal Czarnek stated in aTwitter post that he had taken steps towards the possibleextradition of Hunka.[35][36] Czarnek asked theInstitute of National Remembrance to urgently research whether Hunka was wanted for "crimes against the Polish Nation and Poles of Jewish origin".[37][38]
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Według informacji PAP w grze o nominację na kandydata PiS są: prezes IPN Karol Nawrocki, b. minister edukacji i nauki Przemysław Czarnek, oraz europoseł i były kandydat na prezydenta stolicy Tobiasz Bocheński.
Prawybory mają wyłonić kandydata PiS w wyborach prezydenckich — podaje Niezależna. Kandydatami mają być Karol Nawrocki, Tobiasz Bocheński, Mariusz Błaszczak i Marcin Przydacz.
W grze o kandydata na prezydenta PiS są: prezes IPN Karol Nawrocki, b. minister edukacji i nauki Przemysław Czarnek, a także europoseł i były kandydat na prezydenta stolicy Tobiasz Bocheński.
Bogdan Rymanowski zwrócił się także do europarlamentarzysty czy prawdą jest, że w grze o nominacje pozostały już tylko dwie osoby - właśnie Tobiasz Bocheński, a także Karol Nawrocki.
Finaliści do inwestytury – kandydaci PiS w wyborach prezydenckich to dziś: Karol NAWROCKI, Mateusz MORAWIECKI i Przemysław CZARNEK.
Poseł PiS, Ryszard Terlecki, w rozmowie z Polsat News ujawnił, że "w tej chwili rozstrzyga się wybór między dwoma nazwiskami". - Chodzi o Przemysława Czarnka i Karola Nawrockiego - dodał, nie wykluczając przy tym możliwości niespodzianek w tym procesie.
Wcześniej Telewizja Republika, a następnie Polsat News podały, że kandydatem na prezydenta z ramienia Prawa i Sprawiedliwości będzie szef Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej Karol Nawrocki, który w wyścigu o nominację miał pokonać m.in. Przemysława Czarnka i Tobiasza Bocheńskiego.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)| International | |
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