Beata Szydło

Early years and education

Szydło was born in Oświęcim and raised near Brzeszcze, where her father was a miner. She graduated from Jagiellonian University in Kraków in 1989 where she completed studies at the Department of Ethnography. In the years 1989 – 1995, she was a PhD student at the Philosophy and History Faculty of that university. In 1997, she completed post-graduate studies for managers of culture at Warsaw School of Economics, whereas in 2001 at Kraków University of Economics - management of local government in the European Union.

Political career

Szydło was elected mayor of Gmina Brzeszcze at the age of 35. In 2004, she participated in International Visitor Leadership Program. In September 2005, she was elected to the Sejm, the lower house of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland receiving 14,499 votes in 12 Chrzanów district, as a candidate of the conservative Law and Justice party. She was elected member of the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th parliament of the Republic of Poland. She was appointed vice-chairman of the Law and Justice party On 24 July 2010, and later in September 2014, she succeeded Stanisław Kostrzewski as the treasurer of the Law and Justice party.

Following her successful leadership of Andrzej Duda's presidential campaign, at the Law and Justice party convention on 20 June 2015 Szydło was named as a candidate for the Prime Minister in the Polish parliamentary election. After the Law and Justice party won the election in October 2015, she became the Prime Minister of Poland taking office on 16 November 2015.

Prime Ministership since 2015

On 18 October 2015 she made her keynote address (pl), further receiving 236 votes in favour of her government. One of her first decisions was to remove the EU flag from press conferences at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister and to replace the clock in the meeting hall of the Council of Ministers with a Cross. She declared introducing the 500+ programme will be her priority as Prime Minister. The programme was introduced on 1 April 2016, supplying families with 500PLN for every child, starting from the second child. It is intended to serve as a demographic stimulus, and enhance population growth.

One of the biggest controversies during her administration, the Polish Constitutional Court crisis, 2015 was officially criticized by the European Parliament, which, on 13 April 2016, passed a resolution declaring that the Parliament "is seriously concerned that the effective paralysis of the Constitutional Tribunal in Poland endangers democracy, human rights and the rule of law".

Personal life

Szydło is married to Edward Szydło. The couple has two sons Tymoteusz and Błażej. She is a devout Catholic and declares her adherence to conservative Christian values.

Security incidents

On 21 November 2016, Szydlo's vehicle was involved in a 5 vehicle crash in Israel which included a police car and ambulance. She was in Israel for government to government talks and to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Just a few months later, on 10 February 2017 Szydło and 2 security officials were injured in a car crash in her hometown, Oświęcim, Poland, better known as Auschwitz. Her Audi limousine swerved and hit a tree to avoid a small Fiat whose driver was later charged with involuntary violation of traffic safety. She suffered bruises and was hospitalized in Warsaw.