Rafał Trzaskowski | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Trzaskowski in 2024 | |
| Mayor of Warsaw | |
| Assumed office 22 November 2018 | |
| Deputy Mayor | Robert Soszyński Michał Olszewski Renata Kaznowska |
| Preceded by | Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz |
| Minister of Administration and Digitization | |
| In office 3 December 2013 – 22 September 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | Donald Tusk |
| Preceded by | Michał Boni |
| Succeeded by | Andrzej Halicki |
| Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Secretary of State for European Affairs | |
| In office 22 September 2014 – 16 November 2015 | |
| Prime Minister | Ewa Kopacz |
| Minister | Grzegorz Schetyna |
| Preceded by | Piotr Serafin |
| Succeeded by | Konrad Szymański |
| Member of theSejm | |
| In office 12 November 2015 – 21 November 2018 | |
| Constituency | Kraków |
| Member of the European Parliament forPoland | |
| In office 14 July 2009 – 2 December 2013 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1972-01-17)17 January 1972 (age 53) Warsaw,Poland |
| Political party | Civic Platform (since 2004) |
| Other political affiliations | Civic Coalition (since 2018) Yes! For Poland (since 2020) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent | Andrzej Trzaskowski (father) |
| Alma mater | College of Europe (MA) University of Warsaw (PhD) |
| Awards |  Legion of Honour |
| Signature |  |
Rafał Kazimierz Trzaskowski[a] (born 17 January 1972) is a Polish politician who has been serving ascity mayor of Warsaw since 22 November 2018. He is also apolitical scientist, specializing inEuropean studies.
He is considered as being a member ofCivic Platform's progressive wing,[1] even though he self-identifies as an centrist.[2] He publicly supports European integration, ecological transformation[3] and a greater role for local governments in voivodeships.[4]
He served as aMember of the European Parliament (2009–2013),Minister of Administration and Digitization (2013–2014) as well as the Secretary of State in theMinistry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland (2014–2015). He was elected a Member of thePolish Parliament in 2015. In November 2017, it was announced that he would be the joint candidate for theMayor of Warsaw of the Civic Platform and theModern political party in the2018 Polish local elections.[5] He subsequently went on to win the elections on 21 October 2018 in the first round and was elected Mayor of Warsaw after defeating his major rivalPatryk Jaki of theLaw and Justice party.[6][7][8] He received a total of 505,187 votes (56.67%).[9]
In May 2020, Trzaskowski became theCivic Platform's candidate forPresidency of Poland to stand in thepresidential election.[10] He made it into the second round of the election but then went on to lose against incumbentAndrzej Duda, receiving 10,018,263 votes or 48.97% of the vote.[11][12]
In April 2024, he was reelected Mayor of Warsaw in the first round of voting, receiving 444,006 votes or 57.41% of the vote. His major rivals in the election wereTobiasz Bocheński (PiS) andMagdalena Biejat (Left Together).[13] In November 2024, he became theCivic Coalition's candidate forPresidency of Poland to stand in the2025 Polish presidential election.[14]
Rafał Kazimierz Trzaskowski was born on 17 January 1972 in Warsaw,[15][16] the son of Polish jazz musician and composerAndrzej Trzaskowski and Teresanée Arens.[17] His half-brother Piotr Ferster was the director of thePiwnica pod Baranami cabaret inKraków.[18] His great-grandfather,Bronisław Trzaskowski [pl], was alinguist who established some of the first girls' secondary schools (gimnazja) in Poland.[19] As an 8-year-old, he appeared on "Our Backyard" (Polish:Nasze podwórko), a 1980 Polish children'stelevision series, and had a promising career as an actor.[20]
Trzaskowski attended11th Mikołaj Rej Liceum [pl], Marcellin College in Sydney, andCranbrook Kingswood School, a private school inBloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA (1990–1991).[21] He then studiedinternational relations andEnglish philology at theUniversity of Warsaw, graduating in 1996.[15][18] He subsequently graduated inEuropean studies from theCollege of Europe inNatolin (1997).[15] He was granted a scholarship at theOxford University in 1996 as well as theEuropean Union Institute for Security Studies inParis in 2002. In 2004, he obtained hisDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in political science at the University of Warsaw's Faculty of Journalism and Political Science, after completing a dissertation titled "The dynamics of the European Union's institutional reform" under the supervision ofStanisław Parzymies.[22][23]
Since 1995, he worked as asimultaneous interpreter and anEnglish teacher. In 1998, he became an academic teacher at theNational School of Public Administration, and in 2002 at theCollegium Civitas. His scientific interests primarily concern the European integration andinternational affairs. Since 2002, he has also worked as an analyst at the European Centre in Natolin.[24]
Between 2000 and 2001, he started working forJacek Saryusz-Wolski at Poland's Office of the European Integration Committee. In the years 2004–2009, he was an advisor of theCivic Platform political party at theEuropean Parliament. In 2009, having received 25,178 votes, he was electedMember of the European Parliament representing the Platforma Obywatelska party.[25] During his election campaign he was supported by well-known Polish personalities and artists such asTomasz Karolak,Grzegorz Turnau,Michał Żebrowski andUrszula Dudziak. At the European Parliament, he was a member of theEuropean People's Party. In 2010, he was the head of the election campaign ofHanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz running for the post of the mayor ofWarsaw in the2010 Polish local elections.[26]
On 27 November 2013, Trzaskowski was sworn in as theMinister of Administration and Digitization byPresidentBronisław Komorowski. During his ministry, Trzaskowski created a system of notifying the Government Security Center warning citizens, about violent meteorological phenomena. He was responsible for cooperation with local governments, supervision over voivodes and assistance to victims in connection with natural disasters, for example during thefloods in 2014, as well as cybersecurity, accessibility of content on the Internet for people with disabilities and protection of personal data on the web. On 24 September 2014, he became Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland and dealt with co-ordinating matters relating to the EU across the different ministries of theDonald Tusk cabinet. At that time, Trzaskowski was the main negotiator in relations with the EU on behalf of the prime minister and coordinated the work of ministries in relations with EU institutions.[27]
In 2015, he participated in the2015 Polish parliamentary elections and won a seat in theSejm having received 47,080 votes.[28] In 2016, he became a National Council Member of the Civic Platform party. In the same year, he assumed the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs in theshadow cabinet created by the Civic Platform.[29] On 29 March 2017, he became the vice-chairman of the European People's Party.[30] As a Member of the Sejm, Trzaskowski was a member of the European Union Affairs Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee and the Digitization, Innovation and Modern Technologies Committee. In parliamentary activities, Trzaskowski mainly dealt with issues related to foreign affairs, European policy, defence, as well as health policy, protection of civil and minority rights, and self-government support. During his time, he submitted over 150 interpellations and over 70 parliamentary questions.In 2017, he received the order of theLegion of Honour for his contributions to strengthening the Polish-French relations.[31]
In February 2020, he was elected asCivic Platform's vice-chairman.[32]
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In November 2017, it was announced that he would be the joint candidate for theMayor of Warsaw of the Civic Platform and theModern political party in the2018 Polish local elections.[5] He subsequently went on to win the elections on 21 October 2018 in the first round and was elected Mayor of Warsaw after beating his major rivalPatryk Jaki of theLaw and Justice party.[6][7][8] He received a total of 505,187 votes (56.67%).[33] During his mayoral term, Trzaskowski introduced, among others, a free nursery program for Warsaw kids, increased funding under the Warsaw in vitro program and carried out record purchases of clean public transport vehicles. In the first years of his term in office, six new stations of the second metro line were commissioned and works on the construction of the third metro line were started.[citation needed]
Along with the mayors of the capitals of the otherVisegrád Group countries, Trzaskowski signed thePact of Free Cities in December 2019 to promote "common values of freedom, human dignity, democracy, equality, rule of law, social justice, tolerance and cultural diversity".[34] In August 2020, the mayors released a joint statement, which expressed solidarity with theprotesters in Belarus and condemned the violence used by the state authorities. It also appealed to theEuropean Union "to review its policy towards Belarus and introduce measures against those responsible for the violent crackdown".[35]
On 18 February 2019, Trzaskowski signed a 12-pointLGBT Declaration aimed at combating discrimination of the LGBT community and providing guidance in the area of personal security, education, culture, sport, administration, and employment.[36][37] Trzaskowski also declared his intention to followWorld Health Organization guidelines.[clarification needed] His action and the declaration itself met with criticism from the national conservativeLaw and Justice (PiS) party.[38]
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On 15 May 2020, he was chosen by the Civic Platform party leader Borys Budka to be their candidate forPresidency of Poland to stand in thepresidential election, afterMałgorzata Kidawa-Błońska's resignation from her candidacy.[10] On 28 June 2020, he earned second place in the first round of the2020 Polish presidential election, winning 30.46% of the votes, and advanced to the second round, which took place on 12 July 2020.[39][40] In the second round of voting, Trzaskowski won 48.97% of the votes, losing the election to the incumbentAndrzej Duda, who won 51.03% of the votes.[41]
On 17 October 2020, Trzaskowski inaugurated what he termed as "a social and civic movement" named "Wspólna Polska".[42] A part of it, called "New Solidarity", was to be a trade union for the self-employed and those working on term contracts. Around 11,000[43] members registered within days of the announcement.[44] As of May 2023, the movement's website has not been updated since May 2021,[45] and as of July 2023, it has been taken down altogether. The movement's Twitter account has not been active since December 2021.
In May 2024 he signed a law that forbade religious symbols from Warsaw city hall.[46]
On 22 November 2024, he was chosen in a primary by the Civic Platform party to be their candidate forPresidency of Poland to stand in the2025 Polish presidential election, defeating foreign ministerRadek Sikorski after winning 75% of the vote.[47][48]
He is a Catholic[51] and he says that he greatly admired the latePope John Paul II.[52]
He is married to Małgorzata, a graduate ofKraków University of Economics.[53][54] They have two children: Aleksandra (born 2004) and Stanisław (born 2009).[55]
The Polish right-wing to far-right weekly newspaperGazeta Polska published an article describing the alleged collaboration of Trzaskowski's mother with the Communistsecret police.[citation needed] Teresa Trzaskowska is said to have been an informant operating under the pseudonym of "Justyna" and reported about US diplomats and Polish musicians, especiallyjazz musicians. She was also said to have spied onJerzy Matuszkiewicz andLeopold Tyrmand.[56] These allegations were widely publicised by Trzaskowski's opponents during the 2020 Polish presidential race. Trzaskowski never confirmed or denied them.[57]
| Year | Office | Party | District | Primary | Secondary | Result | Ref. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | % | P. | Total | % | P. | ||||||||
| 2009 | European Parliament | 7th | Civic Platform | No. 4 | 25,178 | 3.04% | 5th | — | Won | [58] | |||
| 2015 | Sejm of Poland | 8th | Civic Platform | No. 13 | 47,080 | 8.67% | 2nd | — | Won | [59] | |||
| 2018 | Mayor of Warsaw | 47th | Civic Coalition | — | 505,187 | 56.67% | 1st | — | Won | [60] | |||
| 2020 | President of Poland | 6th | Civic Coalition | — | 5,917,340 | 30,46% | 2nd | 10,018,263 | 48.97% | 2nd | Lost | [61] | |
| 2024 | Mayor of Warsaw | 48th | Civic Coalition | — | 444,006 | 57.41% | 1st | — | Won | [62] | |||
Marszałek Sejmu Elżbieta Witek poinformowała w środę, że wybory prezydenckie w 2020 roku odbędą się 28 czerwca.
Tworzymy Ruch@Wspolna_Polska! Dlaczego? Bo wierzę, że są wartości i sprawy, które są wspólne dla nas wszystkich. Dołącz do ludzi, którzy nie są obojętni na stronie
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Minister of Administration and Digitization 2013–2014 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Mayor of Warsaw 2018–present | Incumbent |
| Candidates |  | |
|---|---|---|
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
