Donald Tusk

Saturday, 15 December 2012

Nigel Farage vs Donald Tusk (6th July 2011)

Razem - parodia świątecznego spotu Donalda Tuska

Nigel Farage vs Donald Tusk - parę słów prawdy

Polish Studio (2012-05-19) - Donald Tusk's Visit to Canada

The PM of Poland Donald Tusk, addresses the EPP Congress in Bucharest

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Austria
Austria (ⁱ/ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/; German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç] ( listen)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres (32,377 sq mi) and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene.
The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria became one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary.

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Belgium
Belgium (ⁱ/ˈbɛldʒəm/ BEL-jəm), officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO. Belgium covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 sq mi), and it has a population of about 11 million people. Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups, the Dutch-speakers, mostly Flemish (about 60%), and the French-speakers, mostly Walloons (about 40%), plus a small group of German-speakers. Belgium's two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region, officially bilingual, is a mostly French-speaking enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in the political history and a complex system of government.

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Bulgaria
Coordinates: 42°45′N 25°30′E / 42.75°N 25.5°E / 42.75; 25.5
Bulgaria ⁱ/bʌlˈɡɛəriə/ (Bulgarian: България, IPA: [bɤ̞ɫˈɡarijɐ]), is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and the Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south and the Black Sea to the east. With a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), Bulgaria is Europe's 14th-largest country. Its location has made it a historical crossroad for various civilisations and as such it is the home of some of the earliest metalworking, religious and other cultural artifacts in the world.
Prehistoric cultures began developing on Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period. Its ancient history was marked by the presence of the Thracians, and later by the Greeks and Romans. The emergence of a unified Bulgarian ethnicity and state dates back to the First Bulgarian Empire, which dominated most of the Balkans and functioned as a cultural hub for Slavic peoples during the Middle Ages. With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396, its territories came under Ottoman rule for nearly five hundred years. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 resulted in the Third Bulgarian State, recognised in 1908. The following years saw several conflicts with its neighbours, which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in both World Wars. In 1946 it became a Communist republic with a single-party system until 1989, when the Communist Party allowed multi-party elections. After 1990 Bulgaria transitioned to democracy and a market-based economy.

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Croatia
Croatia (ⁱ/kroʊˈeɪʃə/ kroh-AY-shə; Croatian: Hrvatska pronounced [xř̩ʋaːtskaː]), officially the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Republika Hrvatska listen (help·info)), is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of Central Europe, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres (21,851 square miles) and has diverse, mostly continental and Mediterranean climates. Croatia's Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. The country's population is 4.29 million, most of whom are Croats, with the most common religious denomination being Roman Catholicism.
In the early 7th century the Croats arrived in area of present-day Croatia. They organised the state into two dukedoms by the 9th century. Tomislav became the first king by 925 AD, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for nearly two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Peter Krešimir IV and Dmitar Zvonimir. Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, after World War I, Croatia was included in the short-lived State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs that declared independence from Austria–Hungary and co-founded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. A Croatian state briefly existed during World War II as a fascist puppet state. After the war, Croatia became a founding member and a federal constituent of the Second Yugoslavia, a socialist state. In June 1991, Croatia declared independence, which came into effect on 8 October of the same year. The Croatian War of Independence was fought successfully during the four years following the declaration.

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Cyprus
Cyprus ⁱ/ˈsaɪprəs/ (Greek: Κύπρος, Kýpros, IPA: [ˈcipɾos]; Turkish: Kıbrıs, IPA: [ˈkɯbɾɯs]), officially the Republic of Cyprus (Greek: Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία, Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía, IPA: [cipɾiaˈci ðimokɾaˈtia]; Turkish: Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti, IPA: [ˈkɯbɾɯs dʒumhuɾijeˈti]), is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria, Lebanon, northwest of Israel and north of Egypt. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and the Republic of Cyprus is a member state of the European Union.
The earliest known human activity on the island dates back to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this period include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia, which has been declared a World Heritage Site with an "enhanced protection" status in the event of armed conflict by UNESCO, along with the archaeological sites of Paphos and the Painted Churches of the Troodos Region. Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in the world.

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Czech Republic
The Czech Republic (ⁱ/ˈtʃɛk/ CHEK;Czech: Česká republika, pronounced [ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka] ( listen), short form Česko Czech pronunciation: [ˈtʃɛskɔ]) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the north, Germany to the west, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. Its capital and largest city, with 1.3 million inhabitants, is Prague.
It is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy, a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group.
The Czech state, formerly known as Bohemia, was formed in the late 9th century as a small duchy around Prague, at that time under dominance of the powerful Great Moravian Empire (which reached its greatest territorial extent during the reign of Svatopluk I from the House of Mojmír). After the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power was transferred from Moravia to Bohemia, under the Přemyslids. During the rule of Přemyslid dukes/kings and their successors, the Luxembourgs, the country reached its greatest territorial extent (13th–14th century). Life in the country was significantly affected by the Hussite wars, during which it faced economic embargo and crusades from all over Europe. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg monarchy as one of its three principal parts alongside the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Bohemian Revolt (1618–20) led to the further centralization of the monarchy including forced recatholization and Germanization. During radical reforms in the 18th century the Bohemian Crown was even de facto abolished (1749). In the 19th century the Czech lands became the industrial powerhouse of the monarchy and the core of the Republic of Czechoslovakia which was formed in 1918, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire after World War I.

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Denmark
The Kingdom of Denmark (Danish: Kongeriget Danmark, pronounced [ˈkɔŋəʁiːəð ˈdanmɑɡ̊] ( listen)) is a constitutional monarchy and sovereign state consisting the country of Denmark in northern Europe and two autonomous constituent countries, the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic and Greenland in North America. The kingdom is a unitary state with some power being devolved from Denmark proper to Greenland and the Faroe Islands; this polity is referred to as the Danish Realm. Denmark proper is the hegemonial area, where judicial, executive, and legislative power resides. The Faroe Islands are defined to be a community of people within the kingdom, and the Greenlandic people are defined as a separate people with the right to self-determination.
Denmark is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, located southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. The country consists of a large peninsula, Jutland and many islands, most notably Zealand, Funen, Lolland, Falster and Bornholm, as well as hundreds of minor islands often referred to as the Danish Archipelago.

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Elżbieta Bieńkowska
Elżbieta Bieńkowska (born 4 February 1964 in Katowice) is a Polish politician. She has served as the Minister of Regional Development in the Cabinet of Donald Tusk since November 2007.
Bieńkowska received a master's degree in oriental philology from Jagiellonian University in 1989. She also holds a post-graduate diploma from the Polish National School of Public Administration and an MBA from the Warsaw School of Economics.
Bieńkowska began her administrative career working in the economic department of the Silesian Voivodeship, where she was involved in the local application of the EU's Phare programme.

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European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union.
The Commission operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "commissioners" ). There is one member per member state, though members are bound to represent the interests of the EU as a whole rather than their home state. One of the 27 is the Commission President (currently José Manuel Durão Barroso) proposed by the European Council and elected by the European Parliament. The Council then appoints the other 26 members of the Commission in agreement with the nominated President, and then the 27 members as a single body are subject to a vote of approval by the European Parliament. The first Barroso Commission took office in late 2004 and its successor, under the same President, took office in 2010.
The term "Commission" is used either in the narrow sense of the 27-member College of Commissioners (or College) or to also include the administrative body of about 23,000 European civil servants who are split into departments called Directorates-General and Services. The internal working languages of the Commission are English, French and German. The Members of the Commission and their "cabinets" (immediate teams) are based in the Berlaymont building of Brussels.

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Finland
Coordinates: 65°N 27°E / 65°N 027°E / 65; 027
Finland ⁱ/ˈfɪnlənd/ ( Finnish: Suomi; Swedish: Finland (help·info)), officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.
Around 5.4 million people reside in Finland, with the majority concentrated in the southern region. It is the eighth largest country in Europe in terms of area and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in Helsinki and local governments in 336 municipalities, and an autonomous region of the Åland Islands. About one million residents live in the Greater Helsinki area, which consists of Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa, and a third of the country's GDP is produced there. Other larger cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Lahti and Kuopio.

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France
France (English ⁱ/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km² (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km² / 4,383,000 sq mi).
Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.

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Free City of Danzig
The Free City of Danzig (German: Freie Stadt Danzig; Polish: Wolne Miasto Gdańsk) was a semi-autonomous city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (today Gdańsk) and surrounding areas.
The Free City was created on 15 November 1920 in accordance with the terms of Part III, Section XI of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 without a referendum. The Free City included the city of Danzig and over two hundred nearby towns, villages, and settlements. As the League of Nations decreed, the region was to remain separated from the nation of Germany, and from the newly resurrected nation of Poland. The Free City was not an independent state; it was under League of Nations protection and put into a binding customs union with Poland. Poland also had special utilization rights towards the city. The Free City was created in order to give Poland sufficient access to the sea, while at the same time recognizing that its population was mainly German.
In 1933, the City's government was taken over by the local Nazi Party and the democratic opposition was suppressed. After the German invasion of Poland in 1939, the Free City was abolished and incorporated into the newly formed Reichsgau of Danzig-West Prussia. Widespread anti-Semitic and anti-Polish discrimination and organized murder followed.

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Gdańsk
Gdańsk ( /ɡəˈdænsk/ or /ɡəˈdɑːnsk/; Polish: [ˈɡdaɲsk]; German: Danzig, pronounced [ˈdantsɪç]) is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the center of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.
The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay (of the Baltic Sea), in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the Tricity (Trójmiasto), with a population of over 800,000. Gdańsk itself has a population of 455,830 (June 2010), making it the largest city in the Pomerania region of Northern Poland.
Gdańsk is Poland's principal seaport as well as the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is also historically the largest city of the Kashubian region. The city is close to the former late medieval/modern boundary between West Slavic and Germanic lands and it has a complex political history with periods of Polish rule, periods of German rule, and extensive self-rule, with two spells as a free city. It has been part of modern Poland since 1945.

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Gdynia
Gdynia [ˈɡdɨɲa] ( listen) (Kashubian: Gdiniô, German: Gdingen) is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport of Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.
Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdańsk and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the Tricity (Trójmiasto), with a population of over a million people.
The area of the later city of Gdynia shared its history with Pomerelia (Eastern Pomerania); in prehistoric times it was the center of Oksywie culture; it was later populated by Slavs with some Baltic Prussian influences.
The decision to build a major seaport at the Gdynia village was made by the Polish government in the winter of 1920, in the midst of the Polish-Soviet War (1919–1920). The authorities and seaport workers of the Free City of Danzig felt Poland's economic rights in the city were being misappropriated to help fight the war.^{[citation needed]} German dock workers went on strike, refusing to unload shipments of military supplies send from the West to aid the Polish army, and Poland realized the need for a port city it was in complete control of, economically and politically.

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German Nazi
The Third Reich, also Nazi Germany, is the common name for Germany when it was a totalitarian state ruled by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). On 30 January 1933 Hitler became chancellor of Germany, quickly eliminating all opposition to rule as sole leader. The state idolized Hitler as its Führer ("leader"), centralizing all power in his hands. Historians have emphasized the hypnotic effect of his rhetoric on large audiences, and of his eyes in small groups. Kessel writes, "Overwhelmingly...Germans speak with mystification of Hitler's 'hypnotic' appeal..." Under the "leader principle", the Führer's word was above all other laws. Top officials reported to Hitler and followed his policies, but they had considerable autonomy. The government was not a coordinated, cooperating body, but rather a collection of factions struggling to amass power and curry favor with the Führer. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazi government restored prosperity and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending and a mixed economy of free-market and central-planning practices. Extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of the Autobahns. The return to prosperity gave the regime enormous popularity; the suppression of all opposition made Hitler's rule mostly unchallenged.

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Germany
Germany (ⁱ/ˈdʒɜrməni/), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ( listen)), is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km² and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state and the largest economy in the European Union. It is one of the major political powers of the European continent and a technological leader in many fields.
A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, was documented before AD 100. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward, and established successor kingdoms throughout much of Europe. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation while southern and western parts remained dominated by Roman Catholic denominations, with the two factions clashing in the Thirty Years' War, marking the beginning of the Catholic–Protestant divide that has characterized German society ever since. Occupied during the Napoleonic Wars, the rise of Pan-Germanism inside the German Confederation resulted in the unification of most of the German states into the German Empire in 1871 which was Prussian dominated. After the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the subsequent military surrender in World War I, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic in 1918, and partitioned in the Treaty of Versailles. Amidst the Great Depression, the Third Reich was proclaimed in 1933. The latter period was marked by Fascism and World War II. After 1945, Germany was divided by allied occupation, and evolved into two states, East Germany and West Germany. In 1990 Germany was reunified.

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Greece
Greece ⁱ/ˈɡriːs/ (Greek: Ελλάδα, Ellada, IPA: [eˈlaða] ( listen) historically in Katharevousa and Ancient Greek: Ἑλλάς, Hellas, IPA: [eˈlas] and [helːás] respectively), officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, Elliniki Dimokratia, IPA: [eliniˈci ðimokraˈtia]), is a country in Southern Europe, politically considered part of Western Europe.Athens is the capital and the largest city in the country (its urban area also including Piraeus). The population of the country is around 11 million.
Greece has land borders with Albania, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of mainland Greece, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km (8,498 mi) in length, featuring a vast number of islands (approximately 1,400, of which 227 are inhabited), including Crete, the Dodecanese, the Cyclades, and the Ionian Islands among others. Eighty percent of Greece consists of mountains, of which Mount Olympus is the highest at 2,917 m (9,570 ft).

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Hungary
Hungary ⁱ/ˈhʌŋɡəri/ (Hungarian: Magyarország [ˈmɒɟɒrorsaːɡ] ( listen)) is a country, which is located in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The country's capital, and largest city, is Budapest. Hungary is a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the Visegrád Group, and is a Schengen state. The official language is Hungarian, also known as Magyar, which is part of the Finno-Ugric group and is the most widely spoken non-Indo-European language in Europe.
Following a Celt (after c. 450 BC) and a Roman (AD 9 - c. 430) period, the foundation of Hungary was laid in the late 9th century by the Hungarian prince Árpád, whose great-grandson Saint Stephen I was crowned with a crown sent by the pope from Rome in 1000 AD. The Kingdom of Hungary lasted for 946 years, and at various points was regarded as one of the cultural centres of the Western world. After about 150 years of partial Ottoman occupation (1541–1699), Hungary was integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy, and later constituted half of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy (1867–1918).

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Iraq
Iraq (/ɪˈræk/ or ⁱ/ɪˈrɑːk/; Arabic: العراق‎ al-‘Irāq); officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.
Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the southwest and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital city, Baghdad is in the center-east of the country.
Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.
Historically, Iraq was the center of the Abbasid Arabic Islamic Empire. Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid empires. It was also part of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.

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Israel
Coordinates: 31°N 35°E / 31°N 35°E / 31; 35
Israel, officially the State of Israel ( /ˈɪzriːəl/ or /ˈɪzreɪəl/; Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל‎, Medīnat Yisrā'el, IPA: [me̞diˈnät jisʁäˈʔe̞l] ( listen); Arabic: دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل‎, Dawlat Isrāʼīl, IPA: [dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl]), is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, Egypt and the Gaza Strip on the southwest, and the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea to the south, and it contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel is defined as a Jewish and Democratic State in its Basic Laws and is the world's only Jewish-majority state.
Following the adoption of a resolution by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 29 November 1947 recommending the adoption and implementation of the United Nations plan to partition Palestine, on 14 May 1948 David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel, a state independent from the British Mandate for Palestine. Neighboring Arab states invaded the next day in support of the Palestinian Arabs. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Portions of these territories, including east Jerusalem, have been annexed by Israel, but the border with the neighboring West Bank has not yet been permanently defined.^{[neutrality is disputed]} Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, but efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have so far not resulted in peace.

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Italy
Italy ⁱ/ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km² (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world.
Rome, the capital of Italy, was for centuries a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.

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Japan
Japan ⁱ/dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon; formally 日本国 Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.

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Kielce
Kielce [ˈkʲɛlt͡sɛ] ( listen) is a city in central Poland with 204,891 inhabitants (June 2009). It is also the capital city of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (Holy Cross Voivodeship) since 1999, previously in Kielce Voivodeship (1919–1939, 1945–1998). The city is located in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains), at the banks of Silnica river, in northern part of the historical Polish province of Lesser Poland. Once an important centre of limestone mining, Kielce is now a centre of trade and commerce, with Kielce Trade Fairs (Targi Kieleckie) ranking third among Central and Eastern Europe trade fairs centres.
The area of Kielce has been inhabited since at least the 5th century BC. Until the 6th or 7th century the banks of the Silnica were inhabited by Kelts. They were driven out by a Slavic tribe of Vistulans who started hunting in the nearby huge forests and had settled most of the area now known as Małopolska and present-day Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. The lands of Wiślanie were at first subdued by Bohemia, however they soon came under the control of the Piast dynasty and became a part of Poland. According to a local legend, Mieszko, son of Boleslaus II of Poland dreamt he was attacked by a band of brigands in a forest. In the dream he saw a vision of Saint Adalbert who drew a winding line which turned into a stream. When Mieszko woke up, he found the Silnica River whose waters helped him regain strength. He also discovered huge white tusks of an unknown animal. Mieszko announced he would build a town and a church to St. Adalbert at that site. According to this legend, the town's name Kielce commemorates the mysterious tusks (kieł in Polish).

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Kraków
Kraków (Polish pronunciation: [ˈkrakuf] ( listen)) also Cracow, or Krakow (English /ˈkrækaʊ/), is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River (Polish: Wisła) in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life and is one of Poland's most important economic hubs. It was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1569; the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1596; the Grand Duchy of Kraków from 1846 to 1918; and Kraków Voivodeship from the 14th century to 1999. It is now the capital of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship.
The city has grown from a Stone Age settlement to Poland's second most important city. It began as a hamlet on Wawel Hill and was already being reported as a busy trading centre of Slavonic Europe in 965. With the establishment of new universities and cultural venues at the emergence of the Second Polish Republic and throughout the 20th century, Kraków reaffirmed its role as a major national academic and artistic centre. The city has a population of approximately 760,000 whereas about 8 million people live within a 100 km radius of its main square.

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Latvia
Latvia ⁱ/ˈlætviə/ (Latvian: Latvija), officially the Republic of Latvia (Latvian: Latvijas Republika), is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia (border length 343 km), to the south by Lithuania (588 km), to the east by the Russian Federation (276 km), to the southeast by Belarus (141 km), and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden. With 2,067,887 inhabitants and a territory of 64,589 km² (24,938 sq mi) it is one of the least populous and least densely populated countries of the European Union. The capital of Latvia is Riga. The official language is Latvian and the currency is called Lats (Ls). The country has a temperate seasonal climate.
The Latvians are a Baltic people, culturally related to the Lithuanians. Together with the Finno-Ugric Livs (or Livonians), the Latvians are the indigenous people of Latvia.Latvian is an Indo-European language and along with Lithuanian the only two surviving members of the Baltic branch. Indigenous minority languages are Latgalian and the nearly extinct Finno-Ugric Livonian language. In terms of geography, territory and population Latvia is the middle of three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Latvia and Estonia share a long common history: historical Livonia, times of German (Teutonic Order), Polish-Lithuanian, Swedish, Russian, Nazi German and Soviet rule, 13th century Christianization and 16th century Protestant Reformation. Both countries are home to a large number of ethnic Russians (26.9% in Latvia and 25.5% in Estonia) of whom some are non-citizens. Latvia is historically predominantly Protestant, except for the region of Latgalia in the southeast which is historically predominantly Roman Catholic.

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Lithuania
Lithuania (ⁱ/ˌlɪθuːˈeɪniə/ or /ˌlɪθjuːˈeɪniə/; Lithuanian: Lietuva), officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublika) is a country in Northern Europe, the largest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark. It borders Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and a Russian exclave (Kaliningrad Oblast) to the southwest. Lithuania has an estimated population of 3.2 million as of 2011, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. The Lithuanians are a Baltic people, and the official language, Lithuanian, is one of only two living languages (together with Latvian) in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family.
For centuries, the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea was inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, who was crowned as King of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the first Lithuanian state, on 6 July 1253. During the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest country in Europe: present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. With the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772 to 1795, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory.

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Luxembourg
Luxembourg (ⁱ/ˈlʌksəmbɜrɡ/ LUKS-əm-burg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg, French: Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, German: Großherzogtum Luxemburg, Dutch: Groothertogdom Luxemburg), is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland ("good country") in the south. Luxembourg has a population of over half a million people in an area of approximately 2,586 square kilometres (998 sq mi). A representative democracy with a constitutional monarch, it is ruled by a grand duke. It is now the world's only remaining sovereign grand duchy. The country has a highly developed economy, with the world's highest GDP (nominal) per capita according to the IMF. Its historic and strategic importance dates back to its founding as a Roman era fortress site and Frankish count's castle site in the Early Middle Ages. It was an important bastion along the Spanish Road when Spain was the principal European power influencing the whole western hemisphere and beyond in the 16th–17th centuries.

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Malta
Malta ⁱ/ˈmɒltə/, officially known as the Republic of Malta (Maltese: Repubblika ta' Malta), is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, 80 km (50 mi) south of Sicily, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya, with Gibraltar 1,755 km (1,091 mi) to the west and Alexandria 1,508 km (937 mi) to the east. Malta covers just over 316 km² (122 sq mi) in land area, making it one of the world's smallest states. It is also one of the most densely populated countries worldwide. The de facto capital city of Malta is Valletta; the largest town, Birkirkara. The main island comprises many towns, which together form one Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) with a population of 368,250 according to Eurostat. The country has two official languages, Maltese (constitutionally the national language) and English.
Throughout history, Malta's location has given it great strategic importance, and a succession of powers including the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Habsburg Spain, Knights of St John, French and the British ruled the islands. Malta gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964 and became a republic in 1974, whilst retaining membership in the Commonwealth of Nations. Malta was admitted to the United Nations in 1964 and to the European Union in 2004. Malta is also party to the Schengen Agreement and in 2008 it became part of the eurozone.

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Nazi Germany
The Third Reich, also Nazi Germany, is the common name for Germany when it was a totalitarian state ruled by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). On 30 January 1933 Hitler became chancellor of Germany, quickly eliminating all opposition to rule as sole leader. The state idolized Hitler as its Führer ("leader"), centralizing all power in his hands. Historians have emphasized the hypnotic effect of his rhetoric on large audiences, and of his eyes in small groups. Kessel writes, "Overwhelmingly...Germans speak with mystification of Hitler's 'hypnotic' appeal..." Under the "leader principle", the Führer's word was above all other laws. Top officials reported to Hitler and followed his policies, but they had considerable autonomy. The government was not a coordinated, cooperating body, but rather a collection of factions struggling to amass power and curry favor with the Führer. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazi government restored prosperity and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending and a mixed economy of free-market and central-planning practices. Extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of the Autobahns. The return to prosperity gave the regime enormous popularity; the suppression of all opposition made Hitler's rule mostly unchallenged.

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Netherlands
The Netherlands (ⁱ/ˈnɛðərləndz/; Dutch: Nederland [ˈneːdə(r)lɑnt] or [ˈneɪ̯də(r)lɑnt] ( listen); West Frisian: Nederlân; Papiamento: Hulanda) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with some islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is a parliamentary democracy organised as a unitary state. The country capital is Amsterdam and the seat of government is The Hague. The Netherlands in its entirety is often referred to as Holland, although North and South Holland are actually only two of its twelve provinces (a case of pars pro toto; see terminology of "the Netherlands").

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Poland
Poland ⁱ/ˈpoʊlənd/ (Polish: Polska), officially the Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska; Kashubian: Pòlskô Repùblika; Silesian: Polsko Republika), is a country in Central Europe, bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north. The total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres (120,726 sq mi), making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. Poland has a population of over 38 million people, which makes it the 34th most populous country in the world and the sixth most populous member of the European Union, being its most populous post-communist member. Poland is a unitary state made up of 16 voivodeships. Poland is a member of the European Union, NATO, the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Economic Area, International Energy Agency, Council of Europe, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, International Atomic Energy Agency, G6, Council of the Baltic Sea States, Visegrád Group, Weimar Triangle and Schengen Agreement.

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Portugal
Portugal ⁱ/ˈpɔrtʃʉɡəl/ (Portuguese: Portugal, IPA: [puɾtuˈɣaɫ]), officially the Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: República Portuguesa) is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula . Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are part of Portugal. The country is named after its second largest city, Porto, whose Latin name was Portus Cale.
The land within the borders of the current Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times: occupied by Celts like the Gallaeci and the Lusitanians, integrated into the Roman Republic and later settled by Germanic peoples such as the Suebi, Swabians, Vandals and the Visigoths. In the 8th century most of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Moorish invaders professing Islam, which were later expelled by the Knights Templar under the Order of Christ. During the Christian Reconquista, Portugal established itself as an independent kingdom from León in 1139, claiming to be the oldest European nation state.

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Republic of Ireland
Ireland (/ˈaɪərlənd/ or /ˈɑrlənd/; Irish: Éire, pronounced [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen)) is a sovereign state in Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. Its capital is Dublin. The population of the state was 4.59 million in 2011. It is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy, with an elected president serving as head of state. In the 1937 constitution, the name of the state is given as simply "Ireland". The Constitution of Ireland (Article 4) and the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 provides that the "Republic of Ireland" (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann) is "the description of the state".
Ireland is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations. A developed country with the seventh highest Human Development Index, Ireland is also highly ranked for press freedom, economic freedom and democracy and political freedom.
The modern Irish state was established in 1922 as the Irish Free State, a dominion within the British Empire, following the Anglo-Irish Treaty which brought an end to the Irish War of Independence. The partition of Ireland had already been provided for in previous British legislation in 1921 in response to opposition to Irish Home Rule or independence by Unionists, who formed a majority in the north-eastern part of the country. Six of the nine counties in the northern province of Ulster were established under that legislation as Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, with which the Irish state shares its only land border. The state is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, St George's Channel to the south east, and the Irish Sea to the east.

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Romania
Romania (ⁱ/roʊˈmeɪniə/ roh-MAY-nee-ə; dated: Roumania; or Rumania;Romanian: România [romɨˈni.a] ( listen)) is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and east, and Bulgaria to the south.
At 238,400 square kilometers (92,000 sq mi), Romania is the ninth largest country of the European Union by area, and has the seventh largest population of the European Union with over 19 million people. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, the tenth largest city in the EU with about two million people.
The Kingdom of Romania emerged when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were united under Prince Alexander Ioan Cuza in 1859. Independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared on 9 May 1877, and was internationally recognized the following year. At the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania. Greater Romania emerged into an era of progression and prosperity that would continue until World War II. By the end of the War, many north-eastern areas of Romania's territories were occupied by the Soviet Union, and Romania forcibly became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact.

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Russia
Russia ⁱ/ˈrʌʃə/ or /ˈrʊʃə/ (Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), also officially known as the Russian Federation (Russian: Российская Федерация, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə] ( listen)), is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, and the US state of Alaska by the Bering Strait. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the eighth most populous nation with 143 million people. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning nine time zones and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources and is the largest producer of oil and natural gas globally. Russia has the world's largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's fresh water.

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Slovakia
The Slovak Republic (short form: Slovakia ⁱ/sloʊˈvɑːkiə/ or /sləˈvækiə/; Slovak: Slovensko (help·info), long form Slovenská republika (help·info)) is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi). Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is the capital, Bratislava, and the second largest is Košice. Slovakia is a member state of the European Union, NATO, United Nations, OECD and WTO among others. The official language is Slovak, a member of the Slavic language family.
The Slavs arrived in the territory of present day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries during the migration period. In the course of history, various parts of today's Slovakia belonged to Samo's Empire (the first known political unit of Slavs), Principality of Nitra (as independent polity, as part of Great Moravia and as part of Hungarian Kingdom), Great Moravia, Kingdom of Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Habsburg Empire, and Czechoslovakia. A separate Slovak state briefly existed during World War II, during which Slovakia was a dependency of Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1944. From 1945 Slovakia once again became a part of Czechoslovakia. The present-day Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia.

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Slovenia
Slovenia (ⁱ/sloʊˈviːniə/ sloh-VEE-nee-ə, Slovene: Slovenija), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija, [reˈpublika sloˈveːnija]) is a Slavic nation state, situated in South-Central Europe, at the crossroad of main European cultural and trade routes. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Croatia to the south and southeast, and Hungary to the northeast. It covers 20,273 square kilometres (7,827 sq mi) and has a population of 2.05 million. It is a parliamentary republic, member of the European Union and NATO. Relative to its geography, history, economy, culture, and language, it is a very diverse country distinguished by a transitional character. It is characterised by a high economic and social level. Its capital and largest city is Ljubljana.
The territory of Slovenia is mainly hilly or mountainous and has an exceptionally high landscape and biological diversity and a mosaic structure, which are a result of natural attributes and the long-lasting presence of humans. Four major European geographic units interweave here: the Alps, the Dinaric Alps, the Mediterranean, with a small portion of coastline along the Adriatic Sea, and the Pannonian Plain. The climate is temperate and significantly influenced by the variety of territory, with a strong interaction of the continental climate, the sub-Mediterranean climate and Alpine climate across most of the country. The country is one of the water-richest in Europe, with a dense river network, a rich aquifer system, and significant karstic underground watercourses. Over half of the territory is covered by forest.

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Sopot
Sopot [ˈsɔpɔt] ( listen) (German: Zoppot ( listen); Kashubian: Sopòt) is a seaside town in Eastern Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000.
Sopot is a city with powiat (county) status, in Pomeranian Voivodeship. Until 1999 it was in Gdańsk Voivodeship. It lies between the larger cities of Gdańsk (Danzig) (to the south-east) and Gdynia (to the north), the three towns together making up the metropolitan agglomeration called Trójmiasto (Tri-City).
Sopot is a major health-spa and tourist resort destination. It has the longest wooden pier in Europe, at 515.5 metres, stretching out into the Bay of Gdańsk. The city is also famous for its Sopot International Song Festival, the largest such event in Europe after the Eurovision Song Contest. Among its other attractions is a fountain of bromide spring water, known as the "inhalation mushroom".
The name is thought to derive from an old Slavic word sopot meaning "stream" or "spring". The same root occurs in a number of other Slavic toponyms; it is probably onomatopeic, imitating the sound of running water. (Today several streams run into the sea in the area of the town.)

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Spain
Spain (ⁱ/ˈspeɪn/ SPAYN; Spanish: España, pronounced: [esˈpaɲa] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a sovereign state and a member of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; to the north and north east by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal.
Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. Furthermore, the town of Llívia is a Spanish exclave situated inside French territory. With an area of 504,030 square kilometres (194,610 sq mi), it is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after France, and the fourth largest country in Europe after Russia, Ukraine and France.

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Sweden
Sweden (ⁱ/ˈswiːdən/ SWEE-dən; Swedish: Sverige [ˈsværjɛ] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige (help·info)), is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland, and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Øresund.
At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the third largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of about 9.4 million. Sweden has a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometre (54 /sq mi) with the population mostly concentrated to the southern half of the country. About 85% of the population live in urban areas. Sweden's capital city is Stockholm, which is also the largest city.
Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, the country expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire. The empire grew to be one of the great powers of Europe in the 17th and early 18th century. Most of the conquered territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were lost during the 18th and 19th centuries. The eastern half of Sweden, present-day Finland, was lost to Russia in 1809. The last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Sweden by military means forced Norway into a personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, practicing "non-participation in military alliances during peacetime and neutrality during wartime". However, Sweden has been a member of the European Union since 1 January 1995 and is a member of the OECD.

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Słupsk
Słupsk [swupsk] ( listen) (German: Stolp, Kashubian: Stôłpsk or Słëpsk, Latin: Stolpa) is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, in the northern part of Poland. Before 1 January 1999, it was the capital of the separate Słupsk Voivodeship. It is also a part of the historic region of Pomerania.
The city is located in the northwestern part of the country, on the Slovincian Coast, 18 kilometres (11 mi) from the Baltic Sea on the Słupia River. It is the administrative seat of Słupsk County, although it is not part of that county (the city has county status in its own right). It has a population of 98,757 and occupies 43.15 square kilometres (16.66 sq mi), being one of the most densely populated cities in the country according to the Central Statistical Office. The neighbouring administrative districts (gminas) are Gmina Kobylnica and Gmina Słupsk. There is ongoing discussion regarding extension of the city boundaries to include some territory belonging to those two gminas.
Słupsk had its origins as a Slavic Pomeranian settlement on the Słupia river in early Middle Ages, which later became part of Piast Poland. In 1265 it was given city rights. By the 14th century, the town had become a centre of local administration and trade and a Hanseatic League associate. Between 1368 and 1478, it was the residence of the Dukes of Pomerania. In 1648, according to the peace treaty of Osnabrück, Słupsk became part of Brandenburg-Prussia. In 1815 it was incorporated into the newly formed Province of Pomerania. The city became part of the People's Republic of Poland in 1945.

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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.

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University of Gdańsk
University of Gdańsk is a university in Gdańsk, Poland.
The University of Gdańsk was established in 1970 by the amalgamation of the Higher School of Economics in Sopot (in existence since 1945) and Gdańsk College of Education (formed in 1946).
Politicians:
Writers and scientists:
Others:
Coordinates: 54°23′58″N 18°34′7″E / 54.39944°N 18.56861°E / 54.39944; 18.56861

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Warsaw
Warsaw (Polish: Warszawa [varˈʂava] ( listen); see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly 260 kilometres (160 mi) from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most populous city proper in the European Union. The area of the city covers 516.9 square kilometres (199.6 sq mi), while the city's agglomeration covers 6,100.43 square kilometres (2,355.39 sq mi).
Warsaw is an Alpha- global city, a major international tourist destination and an important economic hub in Central Europe. It is also known as the "phoenix city" because it has survived many wars throughout its history. Most notably, the city had to be painstakingly rebuilt after the extensive damage it suffered from World War II, during which 80% of its buildings were destroyed. On 9 November 1940 the city was awarded Poland's highest military decoration for heroism, the Virtuti Militari, for the Siege of Warsaw (1939).

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Wrocław
Wrocław ( /ˈvrɒtswəf/; Polish pronunciation: [ˈvrɔt͡swaf] ( listen); German: Breslau [ˈbʁɛslaʊ̯] ( listen); Czech: Vratislav), situated on the River Oder (Polish: Odra), in Lower Silesia. It is the largest city in western Poland.
Wrocław was the historical capital of Silesia, and today is the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. Over the centuries, the city has been part of either Poland, Bohemia, Austria, Prussia, or Germany, and has been part of Poland since 1945 as a result of border changes after World War II. According to official figures for 2010, its population is 632,996, making it the fourth largest city in Poland.
Wrocław is one of the hosts of UEFA Euro 2012, and has been selected as a European Capital of Culture for 2016. In 2017, Wrocław will host the World Games, a competition in 37 non-olympic sport disciplines.
The city's name was first recorded, in Latin, in the form "Wrotizlava", in the chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg, which mentions it as a seat of a newly installed bishopric in the context of the Congress of Gniezno. The first municipal seal stated Sigillum civitatis Wratislavie. A simplified name is given, in 1175, as Wrezlaw, Prezla or Breslaw. The Czech spelling was used in Latin documents as Wratislavia or Vratislavia. At that time, Prezla was used in Middle High German, which became Preßlau. In the middle of the 14th century the Early New High German (and later New High German) form of the name Breslau began to replace its earlier versions.

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Alcide De Gasperi
Alcide De Gasperi (Italian pronunciation: [alˈtʃiːde de ˈɡasperi]; April 3, 1881 – August 19, 1954) was an Italian statesman and politician and founder of the Christian Democratic Party. From 1945 to 1953 he was the prime minister of eight successive coalition governments. His eight-year rule remains a landmark of political longevity for a leader in modern Italian politics. A conservative Catholic, he was one of the Founding fathers of the European Union, along with the Frenchman Robert Schuman and the German Konrad Adenauer.
De Gasperi was born in Pieve Tesino in Tyrol, which at that time belonged to Austria-Hungary, now part of the Trentino in Italy. His father was a local police officer of limited financial means. From 1896 De Gasperi was active in the Social Christian movement. In 1900 he joined the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy in Vienna, where he played an important role in the inception of the Christian student movement. He was very much inspired by the Rerum Novarum encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII in 1891. In 1904 he took an active part in the student demonstrations in favour of an Italian-language university. Imprisoned with other protesters during the inauguration of the Italian juridical faculty in Innsbruck, he was released after twenty days. In 1905, De Gasperi obtained a degree in philology.

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Aleksander Grad
Aleksander Grad [alɛˈksandɛr ˈɡrat] ( listen) (born 1 May 1962 in Łosiniec, Tomaszów Lubelski County) is a Polish politician. He graduated from the Industrial Geodesy Department at the AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow. He was elected to the Sejm on 25 September 2005, receiving 13680 votes in 15 Tarnów district as a candidate on the Platforma Obywatelska list. He has been the Minister of State Treasury since November 2007.
He was also a member of Sejm 2001-2005.

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Aleksander Prystor
Aleksander Błażej Prystor (Polish: [alɛˈksandɛr ˈprɨstɔr]; 1874–1941) was a Polish politician, soldier and activist who served as Prime Minister of Poland from 1931 to 1933.
He was a member of the Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party and in 1908 took part in the Bezdany raid.
Between 1912 and 1917 he spent in Russian prisons before being released in 1917. In march 1917 he joined Polish Military Organisation. After independce he became secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. He fought as a volunteer in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1920. He worked for few ministries (Labour, Industry and Commerce)
Between 1931 and 1933 he served as Prime Minister of Poland. After that he became the Marshal of the Polish Senate 1935-1938.
After the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, he fled to neutral Lithuania. After Lithuania was annexed by the USSR he was arrested in June 1940 by the NKVD; he died in 1941 (the date is not known) in the prison hospital of the Butyrka prison in Moscow.

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Aleksander Skrzyński
Aleksander Józef Skrzyński (Polish pronunciation: [alɛˈksandɛr ˈskʂɨɲskʲi]; 19 March 1882 - 25 September 1931) was a Polish politician, from Zagórzany, Gorlice, Galicia, who served as the country's prime minister from 1925 to 1926. Before that, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland for two terms, from 1922 to 1923, and from 1924 to 1926.
He was the Polish Ambassador to Romania (accredited in 1919), and played a significant part in the negotiations that led to the Polish-Romanian Alliance.
He died in Łąkociny near Ostrów Wielkopolski, Poland.

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Alfred Urbański
Alfred Urbański (1899–1983) was a Polish politician, a member of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS), primarily known for his political activities within the Polish Government in Exile.
Urbański, an economist, was from 1969 to 1972 member of the Council of Three (Rada Trzech) - a collective head of state in opposition to President in Exile August Zaleski.
After Zaleski's death the Council of Three recognized and supported his successor, President Stanisław Ostrowski. Ostrowski named Urbański to be his Prime Minister. He served as PM from 18 July 1972 to 15 July 1976.
Urbański had a noble heritage (szlachta).

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Andrea Riccardi
Andrea Riccardi (born 1950 in Rome) is the founder of the Community of Sant'Egidio and Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Rome III in Rome, Italy. Since November 16, 2011, he serves as Minister for International Cooperation without portfolio in the Monti Cabinet.
Andrea Riccardi is also a member of the Fondation Chirac's honour committee, ever since the foundation was launched in 2008 by former French president Jacques Chirac in order to promote world peace. He also participated as jury member in 2009 for the Prize for Conflict Prevention awarded every year by this foundation.

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Andrus Ansip
Andrus Ansip (born 1 October 1956) is the current Prime Minister of Estonia, and chairman of the market liberal Estonian Reform Party (Estonian: Reformierakond).
Born in Tartu, Ansip graduated from the University of Tartu with a degree in Chemistry in 1979. He worked as an engineer at Tartu State University from 1979–1983 (with a two-year break for mandatory military service). He was an Instructor in the Industry Department and Head of the Organisational Department of the Tartu District Committee of the Estonian Communist Party from 1986–1988. Ansip has been involved in several banking and investment ventures. He has served as a Member of the Board of Directors of the People’s Bank of Tartu (Estonian: Rahvapank), Chairman of the Board of Livonia Privatisation IF, and CEO of Investment Fund Broker Ltd (Estonian: Fondiinvesteeringu Maakler AS). He also has served as Chairman of the board for Radio Tartu.
In 1998, Ansip was elected as Mayor of Tartu as a candidate of the centrist-right Reformierakond (Reform Party), a position which he held until 2004, to great popular acclaim and very high ratings in the opinion polls. He had run in previous elections for the Riigikogu, the Estonian Parliament, but had always given up his seat in order to remain Mayor. He was succeeded by fellow Reform Party member Laine Jänes.

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Andrzej Czuma
Andrzej Czuma [ˈandʐɛj ˈt͡ʂuma] ( listen) (born 7 December 1938 in Lublin) is a Polish politician, lawyer and historian, an activist of the Polish anti-Communist opposition in the Polish People's Republic. Oppressed and imprisoned by the Communist authorities. In the 1980s he left for the USA where he became an activist in the community of Polish expats. Since 2006 Czuma has been a Member of the Polish Parliament. Elected twice, a representative of Civic Platform political party.
Studied law at Warsaw University. He was one of the founders of Ruch - an anti-Communist organisation aiming at making Poland a democratic country. Imprisoned by the Communist authorities. In June 1970 sentenced to 7 years' imprisonment for "an attempt to overthrow the Communist government by force". A spokesperson for and one of the leaders of the Movement for Defense of Human and Civic Rights (Ruch Obrony Praw Człowieka i Obywatela, ROPCiO) as well as an editor of Opinia magazine. Sentenced to 3 months' imprisonment in March 1980 for organising a celebration of Independence Day in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw on 11 November 1979. After the nationwide anti-Communist protests in August 1980 he became an advisor to the Solidarity movement in Silesia region as well as the publisher and editor of Wiadomości Katowickie magazine. Imprisoned from 12 December 1981 to 23 December 1982 in internment camps in Białołęka, Jaworze and Darłówko.

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Andrzej Lepper
Andrzej Zbigniew Lepper [ˈandʐɛj ˈzbʲiɡɲɛf ˈlɛppɛr] ( listen) (13 June 1954 – 5 August 2011) was a Polish politician who was the leader of Samoobrona RP (Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland) political party.
He was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development between 5 May 2006 and 22 September 2006, and again from 16 October 2006 to 9 July 2007, in the cabinet of Jarosław Kaczyński. Lepper's civil profession prior to entering politics was farming in the village of Zielnowo, Pomerania.
He was a candidate in the Polish presidential election in 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010.
Lepper was born in Stowięcino, a tiny hamlet of roughly 200 people, which has suffered greatly since Poland's transformation to a market-based economy because of its previous reliance on the socialist agricultural system.
A farmer by trade, he did not complete his secondary education at the State Agricultural Technical School in Sypniewo and has no formal higher education. During the period of economic transformation his farm fell into debt and he was on the verge of bankruptcy. He received several "doctor honoris causa" titles from the University of Kiev (Ukraine).

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Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel, German: [aŋˈɡeːla doʁoˈteːa ˈmɛʁkl̩] ( listen); née Kasner (born 17 July 1954) is the Chancellor of Germany and Chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Merkel is the first female Chancellor of Germany.
A physical chemist by professional background, Merkel entered politics in the wake of the Revolutions of 1989 and briefly served as the deputy spokesperson for Lothar de Maizière's democratically elected East German government prior to the German reunification. Following reunification in 1990, she was elected to the Bundestag, where she has represented the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern since. She served as Federal Minister for Women and Youth 1991–1994 and as Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety 1994–1998 in Helmut Kohl's fourth and fifth cabinets. She was Secretary General of the CDU 1998–2000, and was elected chairperson in 2000. From 2002 to 2005, she was also chair of the CDU/CSU parliamentary coalition.
After her election as Chancellor following the 2005 federal election, she led a grand coalition consisting of her own CDU party, its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), until 2009. In the 2009 federal election, the CDU obtained the largest share of the votes, and formed a coalition government with the CSU and the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP).

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Antoni Pająk
Antoni Pająk (Polish pronunciation: [anˈtɔɲi ˈpajɔŋk]; July 31, 1893, Bestwina - November 25, 1965, London) was a Polish socialist (member of the Polish Socialist Party) politician, who served as Prime Minister of Poland in exile for nearly ten years (1955-1965).
From 1914 until 1917 he was a member of Polish Legions, led by Józef Piłsudski. In next years (1918-1919 he served in new Polish Armed Forces, created after independence.
He has joined PPS in 1919. From 1920 until 1937 he was a member of party leadership. He also served as Sejm Member from 1928 to 1930.
In 1940 he was arrested by Soviets and imprisonment in labor camp in Siberia. But, after reestablishment of Polish-Soviet relations because of Germany attack on USSR, he was freed and became diplomatic representative of the exile government in Sakha Republic, and later (1943-1945) a representative to Polish Armed Forces in USSR. He was expelled in 1945 and fled to London.
He became an active politician in exile. From September 10, 1955 to June 14, 1965 he was a Prime Minister in exile. He died shortly after leaving office.

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Antoni Ponikowski
Antoni Ponikowski (Polish: [anˈtɔɲi pɔɲiˈkɔfskʲi]; 1878–1949) was a Polish academician and politician who served as prime minister in 1918 and from 1921 to 1922.

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Antonio Segni
Antonio Segni (Italian pronunciation: [anˈtɔːnjo ˈseɲɲi]; 2 February 1891 – 1 December 1972) was an Italian politician who was the 35th Prime Minister of Italy (1955–1957, 1959–1960), and the fourth President of the Italian Republic from 1962 to 1964. Adhering to the centrist Christian Democratic party (Italian: Democrazia Cristiana – DC), he was the first Sardinian ever to become Prime Minister of Italy.
The son of a Sardinian landowning family, born in Sassari, Sardinia, he studied to become a lawyer with a degree in agricultural and commercial law. Segni joined the Italian People's Party (Italian: Partito Popolare Italiano) – the predecessor of the Christian Democratic Party – in 1919. In 1924 he was a member of the party’s national council, until all political organizations were dissolved by Benito Mussolini two years later in 1926. For the next 17 years Segni taught Agrarian Law for at the Universities of Pavia, Perugia, and Cagliari; he was also rector of Sassari University.
In 1943 Segni was one of the organizers of the new Christian Democratic Party in Sardinia. He held ministerial positions in many Christian Democrat governments from 1944 onward, despite his frail physique. Time Magazine once quoted a friend: "He is like the Colosseum; he looks like a ruin but he'll be around for a long time." In 1946, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly after World War II and then to parliament in 1948.

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Artur Śliwiński
Artur Śliwiński (Polish: [ˈartur ɕliˈviɲskʲi]; 1877–1953) was the Prime Minister of Poland from 28 June – 7 July 1922. In 1915 he had presided over the National Central Committee, which sought Polish independence from Russia.

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Austria
Austria (ⁱ/ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/; German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç] ( listen)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres (32,377 sq mi) and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene.
The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria became one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary.

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Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II (ⁱ/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. In January 2005, Obama was sworn in as a U.S. Senator in the state of Illinois. He would hold this office until November 2008, when he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.
Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for the United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Illinois Democratic primary for the Senate election and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In April 2011, he announced that he would be running for re-election in 2012.

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Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III; August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation. Clinton has been described as a New Democrat. Many of his policies have been attributed to a centrist Third Way philosophy of governance.
Born and raised in Arkansas, Clinton became both a student leader and a skilled musician. He is an alumnus of Georgetown University where he was Phi Beta Kappa and earned a Rhodes Scholarship to attend the University of Oxford. He is married to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has served as the United States Secretary of State since 2009 and was a Senator from New York from 2001 to 2009. Both Clintons received law degrees from Yale Law School, where they met and began dating. As Governor of Arkansas, Clinton overhauled the state's education system, and served as Chair of the National Governors Association.

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Bogdan Borusewicz
Bogdan Michał Borusewicz, (Polish pronunciation: [ˈbɔɡdan ˈmʲixaw bɔruˈsɛvʲitʂ], born 11 January 1949 in Lidzbark Warmiński, Poland) is the Speaker in the Polish Senate since 20 October 2005. Borusewicz was a democratic opposition activist under the Communist regime, a member of the Polish parliament (Sejm) for three terms and first Senate Speaker to serve two terms in this office.
Borusewicz briefly served as the Acting President of Poland on 8 July 2010 between Bronisław Komorowski's resignation from the Sejm (and thus Speakership) due to being elected President and the election of the new Speaker (and Acting President) Grzegorz Schetyna.
When still a secondary school student of School of Fine Arts in Gdynia, he was arrested in May 1968 during the Polish 1968 political crisis on charges of printing and distributing opposition fliers.
In 1975, he graduated from the Catholic University of Lublin in the field of history. During the 1970s he took part in a campaign of support for striking workers in Radom, and became a part of the Workers' Defence Committee. In the years 1977–1978 he was a co-organiser of the Free Trade Unions of the Coast.

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Bogdan Zdrojewski
Bogdan Zdrojewski [ˈbɔɡdan zdrɔˈjɛfskʲi] ( listen) (born 18 May 1957) is a Polish politician who was the first president of Wrocław after the fall of communism in Poland, and held the seat from 1990 to 2001. Afterwards he was a senator and member of the Polish Sejm. Since November 2007, he has been the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.

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Bolesław Bierut
Bolesław Bierut ([bɔˈlɛswaf ˈbjɛrut] ( listen); 1892–1956; also known under assumed names Jerzy Bolesław Bielak and Bolesław Birkowski) was a Polish Communist leader, NKVD agent, and a hard-line Stalinist who became President of Poland after the Soviet takeover of the country in the aftermath of World War II.
Bierut was born in Rury Jezuickie, now a part of Lublin, as the son of Henryk Rutkowski, a village teacher, and his wife Barbara Biernacka (Wojciech and Maria, according to IPN source). He later adopted the surname "Bierut" combining the first syllables of his parents' surnames. In 1918 he took courses at the Warsaw School of Economics, and in 1924–1930 went to Moscow, to be trained at the school of the Communist International.
In 1930–1931 Bierut was sent by the Comintern to Austria, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria. In 1933 he became an agent of Soviet military intelligence, the GRU, and subsequently, was sentenced in Poland to 10 years in prison for his anti-state activities (incarcerated between 1933–1938). The pro-Soviet Communist Party of Poland was dissolved by Joseph Stalin in 1938. Bierut was fortunate to avoid being caught in the Great Purge, which led to the execution of most of the leaders of the Communist Party of Poland in the USSR. After an amnesty from the Polish government in 1938 Bierut settled down in Warsaw and worked as a bookkeeper in a cooperative.

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Boyko Borisov
Boyko Metodiev Borisov (Bulgarian: Бойко Методиев Борисов, IPA: [ˈbɔjko mɛˈtɔdiɛf boˈrisof]; born 13 June 1959) is a Bulgarian politician who has been Prime Minister of Bulgaria since July 2009. Previously he was Mayor of Sofia from 8 November 2005 until his election as Prime Minister.
After his party, GERB, won the July 2009 parliamentary election, Borisov became Bulgaria's 50th Prime Minister on 27 July 2009.
Borisov was born in 1959 in Bankya (then a village, today a town part of greater Sofia) to Ministry of Internal Affairs official Metodi Borisov and elementary school teacher Veneta Borisova. Between 1982 and 1990, he assumed different positions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a firefighter and later as a professor at the Police Academy in Sofia. As a National Security Office member, Borisov took part in the protection of crops and haylofts during the name-changing campaign towards ethnic Turks in the 1980s. He quit the Ministry in 1990. In 1991 he founded a private security company, Ipon-1, and later guarded personalities like Todor Zhivkov and Simeon II. Borisov has been actively participating in karate championships since 1978, serving as the coach of the Bulgarian national team and a referee of international matches. He currently has a 7^th dan black belt in karate and is the chairman of the Bulgarian Karate Federation. Borisov has also been a coach for the Bulgarian national karate team for many years.

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Bronisław Geremek
Professor Bronisław Geremek [brɔˈɲiswaf ɡɛˈrɛmɛk] ( listen) (born Benjamin Lewertow on March 6, 1932 in Warsaw, died July 13, 2008 in Lubień, Poland), was a Polish social historian and politician.
Geremek was born in Warsaw on March 6, 1932. His father, a fur merchant, was murdered in Auschwitz. His mother and he were smuggled out of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943 and were sheltered by Stefan Geremek. Geremek later married Bronisław's mother and Bronisław was further raised in a Roman Catholic tradition. In his adult life he considered himself neither a Jew nor a Catholic. His grandfather was a maggid, his brother Jerry, living in New York is a Jew and his sons living in Poland are Roman Catholics.
In 1954 Bronisław Geremek graduated from the Faculty of History at the Warsaw University, and in 1956–1958 he completed postgraduate studies at the École pratique des hautes études in Paris. He completed his PhD in 1960 and in 1972 he was granted a postdoctoral degree at the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). In 1989 he was appointed associate professor.

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Bronisław Komorowski
Bronisław Maria Komorowski [brɔˈɲiswaf kɔmɔˈrɔfskʲi] ( listen) (born 4 June 1952) is Polish politician and historian. He current serving as President of Poland. As Marshal of the Sejm (Speaker of Parliament), Komorowski exercised powers and duties of head of state following the death of President Lech Kaczyński in a plane crash on 10 April 2010. Komorowski was the governing Civic Platform party's candidate in the resulting 2010 presidential election, which he won in the second round of voting on 4 July 2010. He was sworn in as fulltime President on 6 August 2010. Komorowski is thus the second person to serve on two occasions as the Polish head of state since 1918 after Maciej Rataj. Rataj, however, was twice Acting President, while Komorowski first acted as President, and then became elected President.
Komorowski was the Minister of Defence from 2000 to 2001.
Bronisław Maria Komorowski was born in Oborniki Śląskie. Komorowski is the son of Count Zygmunt Leon Komorowski (1925–1992) and Jadwiga Komorowska (née Szalkowska) (1921–).

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Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkarlo adˈdzɛʎʎo ˈtʃampi] ( listen); born 9 December 1920) is an Italian politician and banker. He was the 49th Prime Minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994 and was the tenth President of the Italian Republic from 1999 to 2006. He is currently a Senator for life in the Italian Senate.
Ciampi was born in Livorno (Province of Livorno).
After receiving a doctorate in literature in 1941 from the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, one of the country's most prestigious universities, he was called to military duty in Albania as a lieutenant. On 8 September 1943, on the date of the armistice with the Allies, he refused to remain in the Fascist Italian Social Republic, and took refuge in Abruzzo, in Scanno. He subsequently managed to pass the lines and reach Bari, where he joined the Partito d'Azione (and thus the Italian resistance movement).
In 1946 he married Franca Pila. That same year, he obtained a doctorate in law from the University of Pisa and began working at the Banca d'Italia. He also joined the CGIL (Trade Union), which he left in 1980.

wn.com/Carlo_Azeglio_Ciampi
Cezary Grabarczyk
Cezary Stanisław Grabarczyk [t͡sɛˈzarɨ ɡraˈbart͡ʂɨk] ( listen) (born April 26, 1960) is a Polish politician.
He was elected to the Sejm on September 25, 2005, getting 13,775 votes in the 11th Sieradz district. He stood for election as a candidate on the Platforma Obywatelska list. Again elected to the Sejm in the 2007 Polish parliamentary election, in which he received 44,610 votes in the Łódź district.
Following the 2007 parliamentary election, Grabarczyk has been Minister of Infrastructure since November 2007, under Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

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Czesław Kiszczak
Czesław Kiszczak [ˈt͡ʂɛswaf ˈkiʂt͡ʂak] ( listen) (born 19 October 1925), was a Polish communist-era soldier and Communist politician. A member of the PPR and later the PZPR, during the years of the Polish People's Republic he served as a high ranking officer of the Polish Army, a chief of secret services and Minister of Internal Affairs (MSW) between 1981 and 1990, during the years of the Martial Law in Poland. Associate of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, he was also the last but one Prime Minister of People's Poland, who served briefly in 1989.
Born in Roczyny (a part of Gmina Andrychów) near Bielsko-Biała in southern Poland in 1925. From November 1945 soldier in Main Directorate of Information of the Polish Army, then Military Counter-intelligence agency. Also from 1945 member of Polish Workers' Party (PPR) and later Polish United Workers' Party or PZPR. In 1951 he was Chief of Department of Information in 18 infantry division in the city of Ełk, and in 1952 was transfer to Warsaw where he took over position of chief of Department of Information in Directorate of Information of Military District number 1. Later Kiszczak was moved to headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense (Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej), and become chief of General Section in Department of Finances, and year later (1954) was a student in Academy of General Staff of the Polish Army. In 1957 he was moved to newly formed Counter-intelligence agency the Military Internal Service (WSW – Wojskowa Służba Wewnętrzna). From 1957 to 1965, he was the head of Counter-intelligence for the Navy, and in 1967 become deputy head of WSW.

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Dalia Grybauskaitė
Dalia Grybauskaitė (pronounced [ˈdaːlʲæ ɡʲrʲiːbɒʊsˈkaɪtʲeː], born 1 March 1956) is the current President of Lithuania, inaugurated on 12 July 2009. She had previously been Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Finance Minister, and European Commissioner for Financial Programming and the Budget. Often referred to as the "Iron Lady" or the "Steel Magnolia", Grybauskaitė is Lithuania's first female head of state.
Grybauskaitė was born on 1 March 1956 in a working-class family in Vilnius. Her mother, Vitalija Korsakaitė (1922–1989), was born in the Biržai region and worked as a saleswoman; her father, Polikarpas Grybauskas (1928–2008), worked as an electrician and driver. Grybauskaitė attended Salomėja Nėris High School. She has described herself as not among the best of students, receiving mostly fours in a system where five was the highest grade. Her favourite subjects were history, geography and physics.
Grybauskaitė began participating in sport at the age of eleven, and became a passionate basketball player. At the age of nineteen, she worked for a year at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society as a staff inspector. She then enrolled in Saint Petersburg State University, then known as Zhdanov University, as a student of political economy. At the same time, she began working in a local factory. In 1983, Grybauskaitė graduated with a citation and returned to Vilnius, taking a secretarial position at the Academy of Sciences. Work in the Academy was scarce, however, and she moved to the Vilnius Party High School, where she lectured in political economy and global finance. Between 1983 and 1990 she was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In 1988, she defended her PhD thesis at Moscow's Academy of Social Sciences of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (now the Russian Academy of State Service).

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Daniel Podrzycki
Daniel Tomasz Podrzycki (Polish pronunciation: [ˈdaɲɛl ˈtɔmaʂ pɔˈdʐɨtskʲi]; 14 June 1963 – 24 September 2005) was a Polish socialist politician.

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David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron (pronunciation: /ˈkæmərən/; born 9 October 1966) is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. He represents Witney as its Member of Parliament (MP).
Cameron studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Oxford, gaining a first class honours degree. He then joined the Conservative Research Department and became Special Adviser to Norman Lamont, and then to Michael Howard. He was Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications for seven years.
He was defeated in his first candidacy for Parliament at Stafford in 1997, but was elected in 2001 as the Member of Parliament for the Oxfordshire constituency of Witney. He was promoted to the Opposition front bench two years later, and rose rapidly to become head of policy co-ordination during the 2005 general election campaign. With a public image of a youthful, moderate candidate who would appeal to young voters, he won the Conservative leadership election in 2005.

wn.com/David_Cameron
Dimitris Christofias
Demetris Christofias (also spelled Dimitris Christofias) , Greek: Δημήτρης Χριστόφιας, Φασίστας, (born 29 August 1946) is a left-wing Greek Cypriot politician who has been the sixth President of Cyprus since 2008. Christofias was the General Secretary of AKEL and is Cyprus's first, and the European Union's first and so far only, communist head of state. He won the 2008 Cypriot presidential elections in the second round of voting. Throughout the election campaign, he pledged to restart talks with Turkish Cypriots in order to find a solution to the Cyprus dispute and reunify the island. He has also supported the closure of the British military bases on Cyprus.
Christofias was born on 29 August 1946 in the village of Dhikomo, Kyrenia. Christofias became involved in leftist politics early in his youth and held several positions with the youth movement of AKEL (the Progressive Party of the Working People of Cyprus). His father, who died in 1987, was a builder, member of the Pancyprian Federation of Labour (PEO).

wn.com/Dimitris_Christofias
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (Russian: Дми́трий Анато́льевич Медве́дев, tr. Dmitriy Anatolyevich Medvedev; IPA: [ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪˈdvʲedʲɪf] ( listen); born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician who has been Prime Minister of Russia since 2012. He previously served as President of Russia from 2008 to 2012.
Born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. He defended his dissertation in 1990 and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed to Saint Petersburg State University, where he taught civil and Roman law until 1999. Medvedev's political career began as the election campaign manager and later an adviser of St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. During this time, Medvedev befriended Vladimir Putin. In November 1999, Medvedev was hired in the Russian presidential administration, where he worked as deputy chief of staff. In the 2000 Presidential elections, Medvedev was Putin's campaign manager. On 14 November 2005, Medvedev was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister and was tasked with overseeing National Priority Projects. He also worked as the Chairman of Gazprom's board of directors, a post which he held until 2008.

wn.com/Dmitry_Medvedev
Edward Babiuch
Edward Babiuch (['edvart ˈbabjux] ( listen); born December 28, 1927) was a Polish Communist political figure. He was one of four deputy chairmen of the Polish Council of State 1976–1980. Babiuch briefly served as the Prime Minister of Poland in 1980, from February 18 to August 24 of that year.

wn.com/Edward_Babiuch
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1970–74) and as Leader of the Conservative Party (1965–75).
Born in Broadstairs, Kent, Heath studied at Oxford and served in the Second World War. He was first elected in the 1950 general election, for Bexley and was government Chief Whip during the 1950s. Entering the Cabinet as Minister of Labour in 1959, he was then Lord Privy Seal responsible for Macmillan's unsuccessful EEC entry negotiations, then President of the Board of Trade. In 1965 Heath won the leadership of the Conservative Party against Reginald Maudling and Enoch Powell. The general election of 1966 saw the Labour government of Harold Wilson achieve a large increase in seats, however Heath remained Conservative leader.
Heath became Prime Minister after winning the 1970 general election. In 1971, Heath oversaw the decimalisation of British coinage and in 1972, he implemented major reform to the UK's system of local government. In foreign policy, Heath took the UK into the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973. Heath's premiership oversaw the height of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, with the suspension of the Stormont parliament and the imposition of direct British rule. Unofficial talks with IRA delegates were unsuccessful, as was the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973, which caused Ulster Unionists to withdraw from the Conservative whip.

wn.com/Edward_Heath
Edward Szczepanik
Edward Franciszek Szczepanik, (August 22, 1915 in Suwałki – 11 October 2005, in Worcestershire) was a Polish economist and the last Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile.
Edward Franciszek Szczepanik was born on August 22, 1915 in Suwałki, a small town in northern Poland, while the country was part of Imperial Russia under German occupation.
Edward lived in Kościuszko street, he went to the local grammar school and then studied at the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH). He studied for his M.Sc. in political economy under Professor Edward Lipiński in 1936. During his compulsory military service he was stationed at the Artillery Officers' School with the 29th Light Artillery Regiment. He won a scholarship to study at the London School of Economics, studying under Professors Lionel Robbins, Friedrich Hayek and Paul Narcyz Rosenstein-Rodan. On his return he became an assistant in Lipiński's department in SGH. After the interruption of the War, he completed his education with an M.Sc. in Economics from the LSE in 1953 and also a PhD in Economics in 1956.

wn.com/Edward_Szczepanik
Elio Di Rupo
Elio Di Rupo (French pronunciation: [eljo di ʁypo]; b. 18 July 1951) is a Belgian socialist politician of Italian heritage. He is the Prime Minister of Belgium, and leader of the Socialist Party (PS). He became Prime Minister on 6 December 2011 and heads the Di Rupo I Government. Elio Di Rupo is the first francophone to hold the office since Paul Vanden Boeynants in 1979, as well as the country's first socialist Prime Minister since Edmond Leburton left office in 1974. He is also the first Belgian Prime Minister of non-Walloon or Flemish descent as well as the only openly gay leader of a European Union country.
Di Rupo is the son of two Italian immigrants. His father was born in San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore in the region of Abruzzo. Elio is the only child who was born in Belgium; his brothers and sisters were all born in Italy. When he was one year old, his father died in a car crash and his illiterate Roman Catholic mother was unable to raise all seven children. Because of financial reasons, three children were raised in the orphanage nearby.

wn.com/Elio_Di_Rupo
Elżbieta Bieńkowska
Elżbieta Bieńkowska (born 4 February 1964 in Katowice) is a Polish politician. She has served as the Minister of Regional Development in the Cabinet of Donald Tusk since November 2007.
Bieńkowska received a master's degree in oriental philology from Jagiellonian University in 1989. She also holds a post-graduate diploma from the Polish National School of Public Administration and an MBA from the Warsaw School of Economics.
Bieńkowska began her administrative career working in the economic department of the Silesian Voivodeship, where she was involved in the local application of the EU's Phare programme.

wn.com/Elżbieta_Bieńkowska
Emilio Colombo
Emilio Colombo (born 11 April 1920) is an Italian politician who was Prime Minister of Italy from 1970 to 1972. In addition to having held top positions in Italian governments, he was also active in European politics and is currently an Italian senator-for-life.
Born in Potenza, Basilicata, Colombo entered politics as a member of the Christian Democratic Party. Having held several cabinet posts, he was Prime Minister of Italy from 1970 until his resignation in 1972. Later he became President of the European Parliament (occupying that office from 1977 until 1979) and Foreign Minister of Italy (from 1980 until 1983, and again from 1992 until 1993). A decade after he last held that position, President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi bestowed Italy's highest political honour on him, by nominating him Senator for life.
Shortly after this, in November 2003, he admitted to have used cocaine (for "therapeutic purposes") over a 12- to 18-month period, and to be a homosexual.

wn.com/Emilio_Colombo
Enda Kenny
Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish Fine Gael politician, and has been the Taoiseach since 2011. He has led Fine Gael since 2002. He served as Minister for Tourism and Trade from 1994 to 1997. He is also a two-term Vice President of the European People's Party.
Kenny has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for Mayo since 1975, having succeeded his father Henry Kenny. He is the longest-serving TD currently in Dáil Éireann, which makes him the incumbent Father of the Dáil.
Kenny led Fine Gael in the 2011 general election. He subsequently brokered an agreement with the Labour Party and formed a coalition government on 9 March 2011. He is Fine Gael's first Taoiseach since John Bruton from 1994 to 1997, and the first Fine Gael leader to win government in an election since Garret FitzGerald in 1982.
Enda Kenny was born in the village of Islandeady near Castlebar, County Mayo in 1951, the third child of five. He was educated locally at St. Patrick's National School in Cornanool and St. Gerald's College (De La Salle) in Castlebar. Kenny subsequently attended St Patrick's College of Education in Dublin and University College Galway. He briefly worked as a primary school teacher, and is a Gaeilgeoir.

wn.com/Enda_Kenny
Erika Steinbach
Erika Steinbach (help·info) (born 25 July 1943) is a German conservative politician and president of the Federation of Expellees. She has been representing the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the state of Hesse as a member of the Parliament of Germany, the Bundestag, since 1990. She is one of two MPs representing the constituency of Frankfurt, and she is the spokeswoman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group on human rights and humanitarian aid.
Erika Steinbach studied music and was a member of concert orchestras before becoming a politician.
Steinbach's father, Wilhelm Karl Hermann, was born in Hanau (Hesse, western-central Germany) but his family had come from Lower Silesia. In 1941 he was stationed within Nazi occupied Poland in the town of Rumia (German: Rahmel),. Wilhelm Karl Hermann served there as an airfield technician with the rank of a Luftwaffe Feldwebel. Steinbach's mother, Erika Hermann (née Grote), was ordered to work in the town after the annexation. Steinbach was born there as Erika Hermann.

wn.com/Erika_Steinbach
Eugeniusz Grzeszczak
Eugeniusz Grzeszczak (born December 29, 1954 in Kowalewo Opactwo) is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 5181 votes in 37 Konin district, candidating from Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe list.
He was also a member of Senate 1991-1993 and Senate 1993-1997.

wn.com/Eugeniusz_Grzeszczak
Ewa Kopacz
Ewa Kopacz [ˈɛva ˈkɔpat͡ʂ] ( listen) (born December 3, 1956 in Skaryszew) is a Polish politician and a deputy in the Sejm. She is the incumbent Marshal of the Sejm, the only woman to have held the post. In addition, she has been Minister of Health since November 2007. Kopacz has been a member of the Civic Platform since 2001. Prior to entering politics, she was pediatrician and general practitioner.^{[citation needed]}
Kopacz was first elected as a deputy of the Sejm in 2001. She was subsequently re-elected in 2005, 2007 and 2011. In November 2011, she was elected the Marshal of the Sejm.
In 2009 Kopacz became an international presence on the Internet by requesting pharmaceutical companies to present the advantages of swine flu vaccines, and demanding they take full responsibility for the side effects. She advised the Polish government to wait until proper testing had been done on the vaccine before investing in it, citing the fact that seasonal flu exceeds the current WHO criteria for pandemic every year but there has been no declaration of a pandemic of this much more dangerous seasonal flu.^{[citation needed]}

wn.com/Ewa_Kopacz
Felipe González
Felipe González Márquez (born 5 March 1942) is a Spanish socialist politician. He was the General Secretary of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) from 1974 to 1997. To date, he remains the longest-serving Prime Minister of Spain, after having served four successive mandates from 1982 to 1996.
Felipe was born in Seville, son of a farmer who had a small dairy. He has a sister named Lola González y Márquez, married to Francisco Germán Palomino y Romera, by whom she has two sons, Felipe and Germán Palomino y González. He studied Law at Seville University and started his career as attorney specialising in labour. While at the University he met members of the socialist trade union Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) that was clandestine at the time. He also contacted members of the PSOE and started taking part in the party's clandestine activity. During that time he adopted the nom de guerre Isidoro and moved to Madrid. He was elected Secretary General of the Party at the Suresnes Congress, in France.

wn.com/Felipe_González
Franciszek Stefaniuk
Franciszek Stefaniuk (born June 4, 1944 in Drelów) is Polish politician from Agrarian Polish People's Party (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe), who serve as a Sejm Member since Contract Sejm (1989). He was re-elected for his seventh term in October, 2007, winning 13271 votes.
He is representing Chełm (7th district).
Known as one of his party leaders, he served as a Sejm Vice-Marshal from 1997 until 2001 (alongside Marek Borowski of Democratic Left Alliance, Jan Król of Freedom Union and Stanisław Zając of Solidrity Electoral Action.
He was one of the member of commission which issued a project of current constitution. From 2001 to 2005 he was chairman of the Sejm Constitutional Commission.
Stefaniuk is an economist.

wn.com/Franciszek_Stefaniuk
Franz Vranitzky
Franz Vranitzky (born 4 October 1937) is an Austrian politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), he was Chancellor of Austria from 1986 to 1997.
As the son of a foundryman, Vranitzky was born into humble circumstances in Vienna's 17th disttrict. He attended the Realgymnasium Geblergasse and studied economics, graduating in 1960. He financed his studies teaching Latin and English and as a construction worker.
As a young man, Vranitzky played basket ball and was a member of Austria's national team, which in 1960 unsuccessfully tried to qualify for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.
In 1962 he joined the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ).
In 1962, Vranitzky married Christine Christen, with whom he fathered two children.
Vranitzky began his career in 1961 at Siemens-Schuckert, but within the year switched to the National Bank of Austria. In 1969, he received a doctorate in International business studies. The following year, Hannes Androsch, minister of finance under Chancellor Bruno Kreisky had appointed him economic and financial advisor. Vranitzky served as deputy director of the Creditanstalt-Bankverein (1976–1981), briefly as its director general and as director general of the Österreichische Länderbank (1981–1984).

wn.com/Franz_Vranitzky
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (French: [fʁɑ̃swa mɔʁis mitɛˈʁɑ̃] ( listen); 26 October 1916 – 8 January 1996) was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the first figure from the left elected President under the Fifth Republic.
Reflecting family influences, Mitterrand started political life on the Catholic nationalist right. He served under the Vichy Regime in its earlier years. Subsequently, however, he joined the Resistance, moved to the left, and held ministerial office repeatedly under the Fourth Republic. He opposed de Gaulle's establishment of the Fifth Republic. Although at times a politically isolated figure, Mitterrand outmanoeuvred rivals to become the left's standard bearer in every presidential election from 1965 to 1988, except 1969. Elected President in the May 1981 presidential election, he was re-elected in 1988 and held office until 1995.

wn.com/François_Mitterrand
Fredrik Reinfeldt
John Fredrik Reinfeldt (pronounced [ˈfreːdrɪk ˈrajnˌfɛlt] ( listen); born 4 August 1965) is the Prime Minister of Sweden, leader of the liberal conservative Moderate Party and former President of the European Council.
A native of Stockholm County, Reinfeldt joined the Moderate Youth League in 1983, and by 1992 had risen to the rank of chairman, a position he held until 1995. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1991, representing his home constituency. Following the 1994 defeat of the Moderate-led coalition government, Reinfeldt adopted a critical stance against the party leadership under Carl Bildt, which resulted in isolation within the party. However, following a change of leadership in 1999 and a bad result in the 2002 election, Reinfeldt gradually gained influence within the Moderate Party.
Reinfeldt was elected party leader on 25 October 2003, succeeding Bo Lundgren. Under his leadership, the Moderate Party has transformed its policies and oriented towards the centre, branding itself "the New Moderates" (Swedish: Nya moderaterna). Following the general elections held on 17 September 2006, Reinfeldt was elected Prime Minister by the new parliament on 5 October and presented his cabinet the following day. Together with the three other political parties in the centre-right Alliance for Sweden, Reinfeldt presides over a coalition government with the support of a narrow majority in the parliament. At the age of 41, he was the third youngest person to become Prime Minister of Sweden. After the 2010 election Reinfeldt's government was reduced to a minority government but also becoming the first centre-right government since before World War II to be re-elected, making Reinfeldt the first Moderate politician elected to two consecutive terms as Prime Minister. He is also the longest-serving Moderate Prime Minister in Swedish history.

wn.com/Fredrik_Reinfeldt
Frère Roger
Frère Roger (Brother Roger) (Provence, Switzerland, May 12, 1915 - Taizé, August 16, 2005), baptised Roger Louis Schütz-Marsauche, also known as Brother Roger, was the founder and prior of the Taizé Community, an ecumenical monastic community.
Roger was born the ninth and youngest child of Karl Ulrich Schütz, a Protestant pastor from Bachs in the Zürcher Unterland (Zürich Lowlands) in Switzerland, and his wife, Amélie Henriette Schütz-Marsauche, a French Protestant woman from Burgundy.
From 1937 to 1940, Roger studied Reformed theology in Strasbourg and Lausanne, where he was a leader in the Swiss Student Christian Movement, part of the World Student Christian Federation.
In 1940, he rode a bicycle from Geneva to Taizé, a small town near Mâcon, about 390 kilometres (240 mi) southeast of Paris. Taizé was then in unoccupied France, just beyond the line of demarcation to the zone occupied by German troops. For two years Brother Roger hid Jewish refugees before being forced to leave Taizé. In 1944, he returned to Taizé to found the Community, initially a small quasi-monastic community of men living together in poverty and obedience.

wn.com/Frère_Roger
Genowefa Wiśniowska
Genowefa Wiśniowska (b. March 4, 1949, Ożary, Poland) is a Polish politician.
She was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 10670 votes in 24 Białystok district, candidating from Samoobrona Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej list. She was Vice Marshal of the Sejm from 2005 to 2007.
She was also a member of Sejm 2001-2005.

wn.com/Genowefa_Wiśniowska
George Marshall
George Catlett Marshall (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American military leader, Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense. Once noted as the "organizer of victory" by Winston Churchill for his leadership of the Allied victory in World War II, Marshall served as the United States Army Chief of Staff during the war and as the chief military adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As Secretary of State, his name was given to the Marshall Plan, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953.
George Catlett Marshall was born into a middle-class family in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, the son of George Catlett Marshall, Sr. and Laura Emily (Bradford) Marshall. Marshall was a scion of an old Virginia family, as well as a distant relative of former Chief Justice John Marshall. Marshall graduated from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), where he was initiated into the Kappa Alpha Order, in 1901.
Following graduation from VMI, Marshall was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Until World War I, he was posted to various positions in the US and the Philippines. He served as an infantry platoon leader and company commander in the Phillipines during the Phillipine-American War and several other guerilla uprisings. He was schooled and trained in modern warfare. His pre-war service included a tour at Fort Leavenworth, KS from 1906 to 1910 as both a student and an instructor.

wn.com/George_Marshall
Grzegorz Kurczuk
Grzegorz Kurczuk (pronounced [ˈɡʐɛɡɔʂ ˈkurt͡ʂuk]; born September 20, 1949 in Warsaw) is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 9683 votes in 6 Lublin district, candidating from Democratic Left Alliance list.
He was also a member of Senate 1993-1997, Sejm 1997-2001, and Sejm 2001-2005.

wn.com/Grzegorz_Kurczuk
Grzegorz Schetyna
Grzegorz Juliusz Schetyna (Polish pronunciation: [ˈɡʐɛɡɔʂ sxɛˈtɨna], born February 18, 1963 in Opole) is a Polish politician. He was elected to the Sejm as a candidate of the Civic Platform on September 25, 2005 after receiving 14,978 votes in 1 Legnica district. Following the 2007 parliamentary election, he served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration under Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
He was also a member of Sejm 1997–2001, Sejm 2001–2005, Sejm 2005–2007, Sejm 2007–2011.
After his dimission, he moved to the post of head of the Civic Platform Sejm caucus. Following Bronisław Komorowski's victory in the 2010 presidential election, he was recommended as the Civic Platform's candidate to succeed the President-elect as the Marshal of the Sejm [1]
On July 8 he was formally elected Marshal of the Sejm and thus assumed the post of the Acting President of Poland. Schetyna served as the interim head of state until Komorowski's formal inauguration on August 6, 2010.

wn.com/Grzegorz_Schetyna
Gyula Horn
Gyula Horn (born on July 5, 1932, Budapest) is a Hungarian politician and the third Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary, from 1994–1998.
He is remembered because as the last Communist Foreign Minister of Hungary, he played a major role in the demolishing of the "Iron Curtain" for East Germans in 1989, contributing to the later unification of Germany, and for the Bokros package, the biggest fiscal austerity programme in post-communist Hungary, launched under his premiership, in 1995.
He was born in Budapest. Gyula Horn first studied in a lower technicians' school in Hungary. He graduated from the Rostov-on-Don College of Economics and Finance in 1954. He is married, he has a daughter and a son.
In 1954 Horn joined the Hungarian communist party, then called the Hungarian Working People's Party. In November 1956 he joined the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSzMP) established by János Kádár to lead the crushing of the 1956 Hungarian revolution against Soviet occupation and communist rule.

wn.com/Gyula_Horn
György Konrád
György (George) Konrád (born April 2, 1933) is a Hungarian novelist and essayist, known as an advocate of individual freedom.
Konrad was born in Berettyóújfalu, near Debrecen into an affluent Jewish family. He graduated in 1951 from the Madách Secondary School in Budapest, entered the Lenin Institute and eventually studied literature, sociology and psychology at the Eötvös Loránd University. In 1956 he participated in the Hungarian Uprising against the Soviet occupation, but did not kill anybody, although he had a gun. In fact, in light of his later attitude towards 56-veterans his honesty about his alleged democratic values been questioned.
Due to oppositional activities he was warned by the public prosecutor and was later fired from his work. In 1977 he received a DAAD- scholarship which enabled him to stay in West Berlin along with Iván Szelényi. After writing The Intellectual on the Road to Class Power with Szelényi, he hid the manuscript at his brother in law Ernő Sándor. Konrád was arrested in 10/22 1974. After this incident communist leading party ideologist György Aczél personally asked Konrád not to emigrate. In a letter to Aczél, Konrád made a few terms for his staying. This letter was also published in the Hungarian daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet and was also used as evidence in the Konrád vs Lovas slander trial, where Konrád sought retribution on the publicist István Lovas who have presented Konráds doubtful past in 2003. During this trial the Supreme Court of Budapest stated:

wn.com/György_Konrád
Hanna Suchocka
Hanna Suchocka [ˈxanna suˈxɔt͡ska] ( listen) (born 3 April 1946) is a Polish political figure. She served as the prime minister of Poland between 11 July 1992 and 26 October 1993 under the presidency of Lech Wałęsa. She is the first (and, so far, the only) woman to hold this post in Poland and 19th in the world.
Suchocka was born in Pleszew, Poland. She is a specialist in Constitutional Law. She was a member of the Sejm of People's Republic of Poland in the 1980s, and became Prime Minister in 1992. She served as an anomaly in the representation of women, however, as she obtained her position partly due to her leaning to both sides of the political spectrum.
After the downfall of the Jan Olszewski cabinet on June 1992, following the exposure of a list of secret communist collaborators of Służba Bezpieczeństwa by Minister of Internal Affairs Antoni Macierewicz, her cabinet was allegedly linked to illegal persecution and disintegration of Polish conservative and independent rightist parties (so called Instruction UOP nr 0015/92).

wn.com/Hanna_Suchocka
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (German pronunciation: [ˈhɛlmuːt ˈkoːl]; born 3 April 1930) is a German conservative politician and statesman. He was Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 (of West Germany between 1982 and 1990 and of the reunited Germany between 1990 and 1998) and the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. His 16-year tenure was the longest of any German chancellor since Otto von Bismarck and oversaw the end of the Cold War and the German reunification. Kohl is widely regarded as one of the main architects of the German reunification and, together with French President François Mitterrand, the Maastricht Treaty, which contributed to the creation of the European Union.
Kohl and Mitterrand were the joint recipients of the Karlspreis in 1988. In 1998, Kohl was named Honorary Citizen of Europe by the European heads of state or government for his extraordinary work for European integration and cooperation, an honour previously only bestowed on Jean Monnet. In 1996, he won the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award in International Cooperation.

wn.com/Helmut_Kohl
Hendrik Brugmans
Hendrik Brugmans (Amsterdam 13 December 1906 - Bruges 12 March 1997) was the son of historian Hajo Brugmans and Maria Keizer. He studied history of French literature at the Universiteit van Amsterdam and the Sorbonne University in Paris.
Brugmans, who was one of the intellectual leaders of the European Movement and co-founder and first president of the Union of European Federalists, was rector of the College of Europe in Bruges between 1950 and 1972.
Brugmans was awarded the Karlspreis in 1951. In 1972 he retired from work, but he remained living in Bruges. Brugmans died on the age of 90 years in 1997. The year after his death the College of Europe honoured Brugmans by naming that academic year the Brugmans promotion and by creating an annual lecture named after him. One of the buildings of the new Verversdijk site of the College in Bruges is also named after him.
Since 2010, the students of the College of Europe have honoured him further by holding an annual football tournament named the Hendrik Brugmans Memorial Cup. The tournament includes both current and former students of the College of Europe. The winner of the 2012 edition is the F.C. Natolinsky team.

wn.com/Hendrik_Brugmans
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger ( /ˈkɪsɪndʒər/; born May 27, 1923) is a German-born American writer, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. A recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, he served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. After his term, his opinion was still sought by many subsequent presidents and many world leaders.
A proponent of Realpolitik, Kissinger played a dominant role in United States foreign policy between 1969 and 1977. During this period, he pioneered the policy of détente with the Soviet Union, orchestrated the opening of relations with the People's Republic of China, and negotiated the Paris Peace Accords, ending American involvement in the Vietnam War. Various American policies of that era, including the bombing of Cambodia, remain controversial to many.
Kissinger is still a controversial figure today. He is the founder and chairman of Kissinger Associates, an international consulting firm.

wn.com/Henry_Kissinger
Herman Van Rompuy
Herman Achille Van Rompuy (pronounced [ˈɦɛɾmɑn vɑn ˈɾɔmpœy] ( listen); born 31 October 1947) is the first long-term and full-time President of the European Council (until the Treaty of Lisbon, the position had rotated among the prime ministers of the member states for six months each, since then they choose a President of their meetings for a 2½ year period, renewable once). This is an unelected position. A Belgian politician of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party, Van Rompuy served as the 49th prime minister of Belgium from 30 December 2008 until his predecessor (Yves Leterme) succeeded him on 25 November 2009. He has the Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold.
On 19 November 2009 Van Rompuy was elected by the members of the European Council as the first full time President of the European Council under the Treaty of Lisbon. He was appointed to chair the institution for the period starting from 1 December 2009 until 31 May 2012, though he only took up his position officially on 1 January 2010. On 1 March 2012 Herman Van Rompuy was re-elected by the heads of state or government of the 27 EU member states. His second term will last two and a half years, from 1 June 2012 to 30 November 2014.

wn.com/Herman_Van_Rompuy
Hugon Hanke
Hugon Hanke (1904 – December 19, 1964) was a Polish politician, best known for being a Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland in Exile (in 1955) and his unexcepted return to the communist-ruled country while serving as PM.
He was involved in politics during time of Second Polish Republic before World War II. He was an active member of the Christian Workers Union (Chrześcijańskie Związki Zawodowe) and of the Labour Party (Stronnictwo Pracy) in Silesia.
During the war he served as soldier in the Polish army in west.
After Prime Minister in Exile Stanisław Mackiewicz fled to country, Hanke was named as his successor by President August Zaleski and served from August 8 to September 10, 1955.
Like his predecessor, he left London and fled to Poland.
According to many documents, he was, before return to country, a secret agent of communist intelligence for over three years.

wn.com/Hugon_Hanke
Ignacy Daszyński
Ignacy Ewaryst Daszyński [iɡˈnat͡sɨ daˈʂɨɲskʲi] ( listen) (26 October 1866, Zbarazh – 31 October 1936) was a Polish politician, journalist and Prime Minister of the Polish government created in Lublin in 1918.
He co-founded the Polish Social Democratic Party (Polish abbreviation: PPSD), a precursor to the Polish Socialist Party (PPS). He was also a founder in 1929 of the Centrolew (“Center-Left”). Although he supported Józef Piłsudski during the May 1926 Coup, he later joined the opposition to Piłsudski. From 1928 to 1930, he was Marshal of the Sejm.
As a journalist and underground activist, he used the pseudonyms Daszek, Żegota and Ignis.
Ignacy Daszyński was born on 26 October 1866 in Zbarazh in the Podolia region (now in Ternopil Oblast), which, following the Partitions of Poland, was then a part of the Austrian Empire. He came from a not very wealthy family of the gentry, one that cherished patriotic traditions. He was the son of Ferdynand Daszyński (1816–1875), an Austrian clerk, and Kamila, née Mierzewska (1834–1895). He had three brothers, one sister, and older half siblings from his father's first marriage.

wn.com/Ignacy_Daszyński
Jan Król
Jan Król (born June 24, 1950 in Mielec) is a Polish economist and politician, former member of Sejm.
A graduate of Cracow University of Economics, he was elected to Contract Sejm in 1989 from Solidarity. He served following three terms from Democratic Union and Freedom Union. He was a Sejm Member from 1989 to 2001.
Król served as a Sejm Vice-Marshal from 1997 to 2001.
In 2001 parliamentary election he lost his seat.

wn.com/Jan_Król
Jan Kucharzewski
Jan Kucharzewski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjan kuxaˈʐɛfskʲi]; 27 May 1876, Wysokie Mazowieckie – 4 July 1952) was a Polish historian, lawyer, and politician, prime minister of Poland (1917–1918).
In 1898 he graduated from Warsaw University, he was a member of Zet political organizaction, National Democrats (Narodowa Demokracja) movement, and National League (Liga Narodowa) until 1911. In the first years of the World War I he was in Switzerland, where he wrote some articles for the Polish cause. In June 1917 he came back to Warsaw receiving a job in the administration under the Regency Council. Since 26 November 1917 till 27 February 1918 he was the prime minister of the Polish government. After 1920 he dedicated his life to scientific work. Since 1940 (World War II) he was in exile in the USA, where he published many works for the Polish cause, mainly from an anti-communist and anti-Soviet point of view.

wn.com/Jan_Kucharzewski
Jan Olszewski
Jan Ferdynand Olszewski ['jan ɔlˈʂɛfskʲi] ( listen) (born August 20, 1930 in Warsaw) is a Polish lawyer and political figure. He is best known for serving as Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland from 1991 to 1992.
Olszewski, a native of Warsaw, came from a worker's family with strong socialist traditions (even he, despite a later right-wing career, considered himself a socialist during his early political life). Many members of his family belonged to the first tier of Polish Socialist Party.
Since 1943 he was active in Szare Szeregi, underground Polish Scouting Association during World War II. After War he was active supporter and campaigned for Stanisław Mikołajczyk's Polish People's Party (1946–1947).
He graduated from secondary school in 1949 and went to study law in University of Warsaw (graduation in 1953). After this he was an employee of Ministry of Justice and later Polish Academy of Sciences.
In 1956 he became member of the staff of the weekly Po prostu magazine. In one of his article (March 11) he called for rehabilitation of former Armia Krajowa members, prosecuted by communist authorities. Soon he became one of the best known public critics of regime, resulting prohibiting him from being journalist in 1957 (to 1959).

wn.com/Jan_Olszewski
Jan Rokita
Jan Rokita (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjan rɔˈkʲita], born 18 June 1959 in Kraków) is a Polish conservative politician, a member of the Sejm, the lower chamber of the Polish parliament. He was chairman of the parliamentary club of Platforma Obywatelska (Civic Platform) from 2003 to 2005.
Rokita graduated from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków with a degree in law. He joined the dissident organisation Wolność i Pokój (WiP, "Freedom and Peace"). He also took part in the student group NZS and was active as a member of the academic branch of Solidarity. For his activity in the opposition, he was banned from becoming an apprentice attorney, despite his excellent examination record.
In 1989 he was elected an MP as a Solidarity candidate. He was appointed the president of a special parliamentary commission for the investigation of the Security Service (Służba Bezpieczeństwa). In 1991 he joined Democratic Union (Unia Demokratyczna) party. He was a member of the party's right wing.
In Hanna Suchocka's government he was the chief of the Council of Ministers office. In 1995 he was the co-founder of the "3/4 initiative" – a movement created in order to prevent Aleksander Kwaśniewski from winning the presidential elections and refused to support his party's candidate Jacek Kuroń.

wn.com/Jan_Rokita
Janez Janša
Ivan Janša (born 17 September 1958), baptized and best known as Janez Janša, is a Slovenian politician who has been Prime Minister of Slovenia since February 2012. He served as Prime Minister from 2004 to 2008, and has led the Slovenian Democratic Party since 1993. Janša was Minister of Defense from 1990 to 1994, holding that post during the Slovenian War of Independence (June–July 1991).
Born to a Roman Catholic working-class family of Grosuplje, he was called Janez (a version of the same name, known as John in English) since childhood. His father was a member of the Slovenian Home Guard from Dobrova near Ljubljana who had escaped Communist retaliation due to his young age. Janez graduated from the University of Ljubljana with a degree in Defence Studies in 1982, and became a trainee in the Defence Secretariate of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia. In his younger years, he was a member of the League of Communists and one of the leaders of its youth wing. He became president of the Committee for Basic People's Defence and Social Self-Protection of the Alliance of Socialist Youth of Slovenia (ZSMS).

wn.com/Janez_Janša
Janusz Dobrosz
Janusz Dobrosz ([ˈjanuʂ ˈdɔbrɔʂ], born March 7, 1954 in Wieruszów) is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 14655 votes in 3 Wrocław district, candidating from Liga Polskich Rodzin list.
He was also a member of PRL Sejm 1989-1991, Sejm 1993-1997, Sejm 1997-2001, and Sejm 2001-2005.

wn.com/Janusz_Dobrosz
Janusz Jędrzejewicz
Janusz Jędrzejewicz (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjanuʂ jɛndʐɛˈjevit͡ʂ]; 21 June 1885 – 16 March 1951) was a Polish politician and educator, a leader of the Sanacja political group, and Prime Minister of Poland from 1933 to 1934.
He joined Józef Piłsudski's Polish Socialist Party in 1904. After World War I broke out, he joined the Polish Legions and the Polish Military Organization. In 1918 he joined the Polish Army and served as aide to Piłsudski. In 1919 he was transferred to Section II (Intelligence) at the Lithuanian-Belarusian Front Headquarters, and later to the General Staff.
After the Polish-Bolshevik War, in 1923 Jędrzejewicz became a politician. He was elected a deputy to the Polish Sejm (1928–35) and later a senator. In 1930–1935 he was vice-president of the Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government (BBWR). From 12 August 1931, to 22 February 1934, he served as minister of education. He introduced a reform of Poland's educational system that came to be named, after him, "Jędrzejewicz's Reform." From 10 May 1933, to 13 May 1934, he was Prime Minister of Poland.

wn.com/Janusz_Jędrzejewicz
Janusz Korwin-Mikke
Janusz Ryszard Korwin-Mikke (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjanuʂ ˈkɔrvʲin ˈmʲikkɛ]) often referred to by his initials JKM, born 27 October 1942 in Warsaw, Poland) is a Polish politician and political commentator. He is the leader of the Congress of the New Right, which was formed in 2011 from Freedom and Lawfulness, which he led from its formation in 2009, and the Real Politics Union (UPR), which he led from 1990–1997 and 1999–2003.
Janusz Ryszard Korwin-Mikke studied at the Faculty of Mathematics and Faculty of Philosophy of the Warsaw University. In 1965 he was detained by the communist authorities, while studying psychology, law, and sociology. In 1968 he was again arrested and relegated from the university for his participation in student protests. He passed the master's examination without attending a course of Philosophy.
In years 1969–1974 he was a researcher in the Institute of Motor Transport (Instytut Transportu Samochodowego), and then at Warsaw University. In 1978 he established "Liberal Publishing House" (Oficyna Liberałów), an underground publishing house.

wn.com/Janusz_Korwin-Mikke
Jarosław Kalinowski
Jarosław Kalinowski (Polish pronunciation: [jaˈrɔswaf kalʲiˈnɔfskʲi], born April 12, 1962), is a Polish politician, from the agrarian Polish People's Party (PSL).
Kalinowski was born in Wyszków. He was first elected to the Sejm in 1993, and was reelected in the subsequent elections of 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2007. At the 2005 legislative elections of September 25, he gained 15,855 votes in the 18th electoral (Siedlce) district. He was reelected to the Sejm once again at the legislative elections of October 21, 2007.
Kalinowski was deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture from April to October, 1997, in the cabinet of Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz. He was returned to both these positions again from October 2001 to March, 2003, in the cabinet of Leszek Miller. Kalinowski succeeded Waldemar Pawlak as the leader of the PSL party in November, 1997 and he held this position to March 2004. He contested the Polish presidential election as the PSL candidate in 2000 (5.95% of votes), and again in the following presidential elections of 2005 (1.8% of votes). Following the 2005 Polish legislative elections, he was elected to the position of Vice-Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (deputy Speaker of the lower house) in November. He was reelected to this position following the legislative elections of 2007.

wn.com/Jarosław_Kalinowski
Javier Solana
Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga, KOGF (Spanish pronunciation: [fɾanˈθisko xaˈβjer soˈlana ðe maðaˈɾjaɣa], born 14 July 1942) is a Spanish physicist and Socialist politician. After serving in the Spanish government under Felipe González (1982–1995) and Secretary General of NATO (1995–1999), he was appointed the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary General of the Council of the European Union and Secretary-General of the Western European Union and held these posts from October 1999 until December 2009.
Solana was born in Madrid, Spain. He comes from a well-known Spanish family, being the grand nephew of Spanish League of Nations disarmament chief, diplomat, writer and European integrationist Salvador de Madariaga (Javier's grandfather, Rogelio de Madariaga y Castro and Salvador de Madariaga were cousins). His father was a chemistry professor, Luis Solana San Martín, who died when Javier was nineteen. His mother, Obdulia Madariaga Pérez, died in 2005. Javier is the third of five children. His older brother Luis was once imprisoned for his political activities opposing the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, subsequently became a distinguished leader in the Spanish telecommunications industry and was one of the first socialist members of the Trilateral Commission.

wn.com/Javier_Solana
Jean Monnet
Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ mɔnɛ]; 9 November 1888 – 16 March 1979) was a French political economist and diplomat. He is regarded by many as a chief architect of European Unity and is regarded as one of its founding fathers. Never elected to public office, Monnet worked behind the scenes of American and European governments as a well-connected pragmatic internationalist.
Monnet was born in Cognac, Charente, into a family of cognac merchants. At the age of sixteen, he abandoned his university-entrance examinations part way through and moved to London where he spent some years in the City of London with Mr. Chaplin, the agent of his father's company. Subsequently, he traveled widely – to Scandinavia, Russia, Egypt, Canada, and the United States – for the family business.
Monnet believed that the only path that would lead to an Allied victory lay in the merging of France and Britain's war efforts and he reflected on a concept that would co-ordinate war resources. In 1914, young Monnet was allowed to meet French Premier René Viviani on this issue. The French government agreed in principle upon his plans. During the first years of the war Monnet had not much success, promoting and pressing internationally for a better organization of the allied economic cooperation. However, finally, stronger combines like the Wheat Executive (end of 1916) and the Allied Maritime Transport Council (end of 1917) were set into work and had a big share^{[citation needed]} in winning the war.

wn.com/Jean_Monnet
Jean-Claude Juncker
Jean-Claude Juncker (Luxembourgish: [ʒ̊ɑːŋ kloːd ˈjʊŋkɐ]; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourg politician, 23rd and current Prime Minister of Luxembourg since 20 January 1995. He is the longest-serving head of government of any European Union state, and the longest-serving democratically elected current head of any government in the world. He has been President of the Euro Group, the political control over the euro currency, since the creation of a semi-permanent position in 2005.
Elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the Christian Social People's Party in 1984, Juncker was immediately promoted to Jacques Santer's cabinet as Minister for Work. He was Luxembourg's Minister for Finances from 1989 to 2009, and became Prime Minister when Santer became President of the European Commission in 1995. In his capacity of Prime Minister, he also served two six-month terms as President of the European Council, in 1997 and 2005.
Juncker was born in Redange and spent most of his childhood in Belvaux. His father had fought in World War II after being forcibly recruited into the Wehrmacht, and was a steelworker and a member of the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions. Juncker studied at Clairefontaine in Belgium before returning to Luxembourg to attain his baccalaureate in the Lycée Michel Rodange. Around that time, in 1974, he joined the Christian Social People's Party. Juncker went on to study law at the University of Strasbourg, attaining a Master of Law degree in 1979. Although he was sworn in to the Luxembourg Bar Council in 1980, he never practised as a lawyer.

wn.com/Jean-Claude_Juncker
Jean-Claude Trichet
Jean-Claude Trichet (pronounced: [ʒɑ̃ klod tʁiʃɛ]; born 20 December 1942) is a French civil servant who was the president of the European Central Bank, a position he held from 2003 to 2011. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements. In 2008, Trichet ranked fifth on Newsweek’s list of the world's most powerful along with economic triumvirs Ben Bernanke (fourth) and Masaaki Shirakawa (sixth).
Born in Lyon, France, Trichet was educated at the École des Mines de Nancy, from which he graduated in 1964. He later trained at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (best known as Sciences Po), finishing in 1966, and the École nationale d'administration (ENA) from 1969–1971, two French higher education institutions in the field of political science and state administration.
In 1987 Trichet became a member of an influential Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty. Later, in 1993 he was appointed governor of Banque de France. On 1 November 2003 he took Wim Duisenberg's place as president of the European Central Bank. (Most European Union leaders present at a 1998 special summit believed that Wim Duisenberg had agreed to a compromise with the French representatives and would step down from his office halfway through his eight-year term.^{[citation needed]})

wn.com/Jean-Claude_Trichet
Jens Otto Krag
Jens Otto Krag (Danish pronunciation: [jɛns ʌto ˈkʁɑːʊ̯ˀ]) (September 15, 1914 – June 22, 1978) was a Danish politician. He was Prime Minister from 1962 to 1968 and again from 1971 to 1972.
Krag was born in Randers, Denmark. He joined the Danish Social Democratic Party youth organization in 1930 and rose through the ranks of the party. In the 1930s he moved to Copenhagen and studied economics at the University of Copenhagen while remaining very active in the party.
During World War II, he was Danish supply director and advisor to the labor unions on economic matters. He was elected to Parliament (Folketinget) in 1947 and became Commerce Minister. He supported the strengthening of the Danish military and Danish membership of NATO in 1949.
In 1950 Krag resigned from Parliament partially due to a conflict with Vilhelm Buhl and H. C. Hansen and, in order to become more fluent in the English language and see more of the world, requested a position at the Danish embassy in the United States. He received the position, and was in America until 1953 when he was re-elected to parliament and became a minister without portfolio. He was minister of the new department of foreign economic affairs from 1953 until 1958 and Foreign Minister from 1958 until 1962.

wn.com/Jens_Otto_Krag
Jerzy Buzek
Jerzy Karol Buzek [ˈjɛʐɨ ˈbuzɛk] ( listen) (born 3 July 1940) is a Polish engineer, academic lecturer and politician who was the ninth post-Cold War Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001. He has been a member of the European Parliament since 13 June 2004, and he was elected as President of the European Parliament on 14 July 2009, succeeding Hans-Gert Pöttering. He is married to Ludgarda Buzek and is the father of Polish actress Agata Buzek.
Jerzy Karol Buzek was born to a Lutheran family on 3 July 1940 in what is now Smilovice in the Czech Republic. He was born into the prominent Buzek family, which participated in Polish politics in the Second Polish Republic during the interbellum. The family was part of the Polish community in Zaolzie. Buzek's father was an engineer. After the Second World War, his family moved to Chorzów. He is a Protestant.
In 1963 Jerzy Buzek graduated from the Mechanics-and-Energy Division of the Silesian University of Technology, specialising in chemical engineering. He became a scientist in the Chemical Engineering Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Since 1997 he has been a professor of technical science. He is also an honorary doctor of the universities in Seoul and Dortmund.

wn.com/Jerzy_Buzek
Jerzy Hryniewski
Jerzy Hryniewski [ˈjɛʐɨ xrɨˈɲɛfski] (29 December 1895 – 15 March 1978) was a Polish politician, who is best known for serving as Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile from 18 January to 13 May 1954. He was also active in Polish politics during Second Republic.
His real name was Mikołaj Dolanowski, but he used pseudonym Jerzy Hryniewski as member of the secret Polska Organizacja Wojskowa before reinstating of Independence. Later it became his legal name.
From 1928 to 1932 he was a secretary of ruling party during Sanacja period – BBWR. He also served as Member of Sejm (1930–1935) and deputy Minister of Interior (1932–1934).
After World War II he became an active politician in exile. Finally he was a Prime Minister in Exile under President August Zaleski.

wn.com/Jerzy_Hryniewski
Jerzy Szmajdziński
Jerzy Andrzej Szmajdziński (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjɛʐɨ ʂmajˈdʑiɲskʲi], April 9, 1952 – April 10, 2010) was a Polish politician who was a Vice-Marshal of Polish Sejm and previously served as Minister of Defence. He was a candidate for President of Poland in the 2010 election.
Szmajdziński graduated from the Wrocław University of Economics. In the 1970s and 1980s he was an activist for the Federation of Socialist Unions of Polish Youth and the Socialist Union of Polish Youth, serving as its chairman from 1986–1989. He remained a member of PZPR from 1973 until its end in 1990. Later, he entered the leadership position of the SdRP leftist party. In December 1999, he became the deputy chairman of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD).
He became a member of the Sejm in 1990, and in his second term Szmajdziński was chairman of the National Defense Committee and in the third term a deputy chairman of that commission. He was Minister of National Defence from October 19, 2001 to 2005. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 gaining 20,741 votes in 1 Legnica district, candidating from SLD list.

wn.com/Jerzy_Szmajdziński
Jerzy Wenderlich
Jerzy Wenderlich (pronounced [ˈjɛʐɨ ˈvɛndɛrlix]; born April 22, 1954 in Toruń) is a Polish politician. He was initially elected to Sejm in 1993, representing the Democratic Left Alliance, and was reelected in 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2007.
In the 2004 European Parliament elections he was a candidate of Democratic Left Alliance-Labor Union from Kuyavian-Pomeranian constituency. He polled 17,885 votes and was not elected.
He recontested the elections to the Sejm, on September 25, 2005 getting 10761 votes in 5 Toruń district, candidating from Democratic Left Alliance list. He was reelected again at the 2007 parliamentary elections.

wn.com/Jerzy_Wenderlich
Jolanta Danielak
Jolanta Danielak (born 3 June 1955) is a Polish political figure who served in the national Senate from 1997 to 2005 and rose to the post of Senate Vice-Marshal, which she filled from 2001 to 2005.
A native of the northwestern town of Szczecinek, the seat of Szczecinek County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Jolanta Ryszarda Szwajkowska graduated from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań with a degree in psychology and, after earning a degree from Akademia Spraw Wewnętrznych [Academy of Internal Affairs] in Warsaw, spent a number of years working as a court, police and hospital psychologist.
A member of the Democratic Left Alliance and, previously SdRP, she was elected, in 1994, to the Zielona Góra City Council, where she rose to the position of Chairwoman in 1997, serving until 2001. Concurrently, from 1997 to 2005, she served in the Senate and, notably, in 2001, immediately upon ending her term as Chairwoman of the Zielona Góra City Council, was elected by the Senate to serve as a Vice-Marshal, a position she held until losing her Senate seat, along with all other members of the Democratic Left Alliance in the Polish parliamentary election, 2005.

wn.com/Jolanta_Danielak
Joseph Bech
Joseph Bech (17 February 1887 – 8 March 1975) was a Luxembourgian politician. He was the 15th Prime Minister of Luxembourg, serving for eleven years, from July 16, 1926 until November 5, 1937. He returned to the position after World War II, becoming the 17th Prime Minister, serving for another four years, from 29 December 1953 until 29 March 1958.
Bech studied Law at Freiburg and Paris, before qualifying as a lawyer in 1914. The same year, on 30 June, he was elected to the Luxembourgian Chamber of Deputies for the newly-founded Party of the Right, representing the Canton of Grevenmacher.
On 15 April 1921, Bech was appointed to Émile Reuter's cabinet, holding the positions of Director-General for the Interior and Director-General for Education. In 1925, Bech lost these positions, as the Party of the Right's was edged out of government by a coalition of all other parties, who formed the government under Pierre Prüm.
When Prüm's coalition collapsed, in 1926, Bech became Prime Minister, which he remained until 1937.

wn.com/Joseph_Bech
Joseph Luns
Joseph Marie Antoine Hubert Luns (August 28, 1911 – July 17, 2002) was a Dutch politician and diplomat of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He was the longest-serving Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs from September 2, 1952 until July 6, 1971 and later became the 5th (and also longest-serving) Secretary General of NATO for 13 years from October 1, 1971 until June 25, 1984.
Joseph Luns was born in a Roman Catholic, francophile and artistic family. His mother’s family originated from Alsace-Lorraine and had moved to Belgium after the annexation of the region by the German Reich in 1871. His father Huib Luns was a versatile artist and a gifted educationalist, who ended his career as professor of architectural drawing at the Technical University of Delft. Luns got his secondary education in Amsterdam and Brussels. He opted to become a commissioned officer of the Dutch Royal Navy, but registered too late to be selected. Therefore, Luns decided to study law at Amsterdam University during the period 1932-1937. Like his father, Luns demonstrated a preference for conservative and authoritarian political parties and an interest in international politics. As a young student he positioned himself on the political right, favoring a strong authority for the state and being of the opinion that socialism, due to its idealistic ideology, had fostered the rising of fascism and nazism. Luns himself had been a silent member of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (NSB), but left in 1936 before this party chose a strongly anti-semitic course.

wn.com/Joseph_Luns
José Manuel Barroso
José Manuel Durão Barroso (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒuˈzɛ mɐnuˈɛɫ duˈɾɐ̃w bɐˈʁozu]; born 23 March 1956) is the 11th and current President of the European Commission and a Portuguese politician. He served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 6 April 2002 to 17 July 2004.
Durão Barroso (as he is known in Portugal) graduated in Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon and has an MSc in Economic and Social Sciences from the University of Geneva (Institut Européen de l'Université de Genève) in Switzerland. His academic career continued as an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon. He did research for a PhD at Georgetown University and Georgetown's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C. but his CV does not list any doctoral degree (except honorary). He is a 1998 graduate of the Georgetown Leadership Seminar. Back in Lisbon, Barroso became Director of the Department for International Relations at Lusíada University (Universidade Lusíada). He received honorary degrees from many Universities listed under honorary degrees.

wn.com/José_Manuel_Barroso
Julian Nowak
Julian Ignacy Nowak (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjuljan ˈnɔvak]; 10 March 1865 – 7 November 1946) was a Polish microbiologist and politician who served as prime minister in 1922.
Nowak studied medicine at the Jagiellonian University in 1886–1893, and was a professor there since 1899. In 1921–1922 he was a rector of the university. Being a conservative politician, he served as the Prime Minister briefly in 1922. In the same year he also served briefly as the Minister of Religious Affairs. In 1922–1927 he was a Senator in the Polish Senate.
He was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
Julian Ignacy Nowak was buried in Rakowicki Cemetery.

wn.com/Julian_Nowak
Jyrki Katainen
Jyrki Tapani Katainen (born October 14, 1971) is the current Prime Minister of Finland and the chairman of the National Coalition Party.
Katainen grew up in Siilinjärvi and was a part-time teacher until he became a member of the Siilinjärvi municipal council in 1993. He was elected member of the Finnish Parliament (Eduskunta) from the district of Northern Savonia in 1999, served as the vice-chairman of his party since 2001, becoming its leader in 2004.
In March 2003, he was elected Vice President of the European People's Party (EPP) for a three-year term.
In the 2007 parliamentary election, the National Coalition led by Katainen won the second place from the Social Democrats. Katainen became the Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in the new cabinet with Center, National Coalition, Greens, and Swedish People's party.
In November 2008, the Financial Times named Katainen as the best finance minister in Europe. Katainen warned in 2009 that Europe's leaders must do more to prepare voters for “exit strategies” that bring spiralling public sector debts back under control, noting that "It is always politically difficult but we simply have no choice. We will have to do very painful things in forthcoming years when the economy has started to recover."

wn.com/Jyrki_Katainen
Józef Cyrankiewicz
Józef Cyrankiewicz [ˈjuzɛf t͡sɨranˈkʲɛvit͡ʂ] ( listen) (April 23, 1911 – January 20, 1989) was a Polish Socialist, after 1948 Communist political figure. He served as premier of the People's Republic of Poland between 1947 and 1952, and again between 1954 and 1970. He served as head of state of Poland from 1970 to 1972.
Born in Tarnów, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Cyrankiewicz attended Kraków's Jagiellonian University. He became the secretary of the local branch of the Polish Socialist Party in 1935.
Active in Armia Krajowa, the Polish resistance organization, from the beginning of Poland's 1939 defeat at the start of World War II, Cyrankiewicz was captured by the Wehrmacht in the autumn of 1942 and after imprisonment at Montelupich sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. He arrived on September 4, 1942, and received registration number 62,933.
While there, he contacted other socialists and tried to organize resistance. He worked on bringing international prisoners' groups together. The organization that was formed struggled to pass the message about what was happening in the camp to the outside. Cyrankiewicz, along with other Auschwitz prisoners, was transferred to Mauthausen as the front approached Auschwitz. He was eventually liberated by the US Army.

wn.com/Józef_Cyrankiewicz
Józef Piłsudski
Józef Klemens Piłsudski (Polish: [ˈjuzɛf piwˈsutski] ( listen), 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman—Chief of State (1918–22), "First Marshal" (from 1920), and leader (1926–35) of the Second Polish Republic. From mid-World War I he had a major influence in Poland's politics, and was an important figure on the European political scene. He is considered largely responsible for Poland's regaining its independence in 1918, after 123 years of partitions. Piłsudski successfully annexed Vilnius from Lithuania following Żeligowski's Mutiny but was unable to incorporate most of his Lithuanian homeland into the newly resurrected Polish State.
Early in his political career, Piłsudski became a leader of the Polish Socialist Party. Concluding, however, that Poland's independence would have to be won by force of arms, he created the Polish Legions. In 1914 he anticipated the outbreak of a European war, the Russian Empire's defeat by the Central Powers, and the Central Powers' defeat by the western powers. When World War I broke out, he and his Legions fought alongside the Austro-Hungarian and German Empires to ensure Russia's defeat. In 1917, with Russia faring badly in the war, he withdrew his support from the Central Powers.

wn.com/Józef_Piłsudski
Józef Pińkowski
Józef Pińkowski [ˈjuzɛf piɲˈkɔfskʲi] ( listen) (17 April 1929, Siedlce – 8 November 2000, Warsaw) was a Polish Communist politician who served as Prime Minister from 1980 to 1981.

wn.com/Józef_Pińkowski
Józef Zych
Józef Zych ([ˈjuzɛf ˈzɨx], born March 23, 1938) is a Polish politician of the Polish People's Party. He was Sejm Marshal from 1995 to 1997 (and several times as Senior Marshall).
As a Sejm Marshal Zych administered the oath of office for the first term of President Aleksander Kwaśniewski in December 1995.

wn.com/Józef_Zych
Józef Świeżyński
Józef Świeżyński (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjuzɛf ɕfjɛˈʐɨɲskʲi]; 1868 – 12 February 1948) was the prime minister of the Kingdom of Poland for a short time — from October 23, 1918 to November 5, 1918.

wn.com/Józef_Świeżyński
Jędrzej Moraczewski
Jędrzej Moraczewski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjɛndʐɛj mɔraˈt͡ʂɛfkʲi]; 13 January 1870 – 5 August 1944) was a Polish socialist politician who served as first Prime Minister of Poland (of the Second Polish Republic), from November 1918 to January 1919.
In 1918–1919 he served as the Minister of Communications, and in 1925–1929 as the Minister of Public Labour.
Moraczewski died on 5 August 1944, when a shrapnel fired by a Soviet soldier fired into his house, causing his instant death.

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Kashubians
Kashubians/Kaszubians (Kashubian: Kaszëbi, Polish: Kaszubi/ Kaszuby, German: Kaschuben), also called Kashubs, Kashubes, Kaszubians, Kassubians or Cassubians, are a West Slavic ethnic group in Pomerelia, north-central Poland. Their settlement area is referred to as Kashubia (Kashubian: Kaszëbë, Polish: Kaszuby, German: Kaschubei, Kaschubien).
They speak Kashubian, classified either as a language or a Polish dialect. In analogy to the linguistic classification, Kashubians are considered either an ethnic or a linguistic group.
Slovincians are grouped with the Kashubians as Pomeranians. Similarly the Slovincian and Kashubian languages are grouped as the Pomeranian language, with Slovincian being either a closely related language or a Kashubian dialect.
Among larger cities, Gdynia (Gdiniô) contains the largest proportion of people declaring Kashubian origin. However, the biggest city of the Kashubia region is Gdańsk (Gduńsk), the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship and the traditional capital of Kashubia. Between 80.3% and 93.9% people of the people in Linia, Sierakowice, Szemud, Kartuzy, Chmielno, Żukowo, etc. are of Kashubian descent.

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Katarzyna Hall
Katarzyna Hall (Polish pronunciation: [kataˈʐɨna ˈxal]), (born 15 March 1957 in Gdańsk) is a Polish teacher, educational and social activist, and local government clerk. She has been the Minister of National Education of the Republic of Poland since November 2007.

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Kazimierz Kutz
Kazimierz Julian Kutz (born 1929) is a Polish film director, author, journalist and politician, one of the representatives of the Polish Film School and a deputy speaker of the Senate of Poland.
Kazimierz Kutz was born February 16, 1929, in Szopienice, since 1960 district of Katowice, to a railway worker and a former partisan of the Silesian Uprisings. After the World War II Kutz graduated from gymnasium in Mysłowice and in 1949 was admitted to the Łódź Film School. After finishing his studies in 1954 he started working as an assistant to Andrzej Wajda.
His film debut was Krzyż Walecznych (1959). Since then he finished more than 20 pictures, including 6 about his home region - Silesia. He is also famous for directing theatre plays on some of the most prominent scenes of Poland, including the Teatr Stary in Kraków and National Theatre in Warsaw, as well as several plays for the Polish television. In 1972, he founded the Silesia Film Company in Katowice and, until 1978, was its Artistic Director.

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Kazimierz Sabbat
Kazimierz Aleksander Sabbat (27 February 1913 – 19 July 1989), was President of Poland in Exile from 8 April 1986 until his death, 19 July 1989, after serving (from 1976) as Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile.
Sabbat was born on 27 February 1913 in Bieliny Kapitulne, at the foot of the Lysa Gora mountain. Sabbat completed secondary school in Mielec, and studied Law at the Warsaw University shortly before the World War II. He was a Scout, and remained dedicated to the concept of Scouting, even in his later life while in exile.
After a short service in the Navy, Sabbat was directed to the Motorized Brigade of Stanisław Maczek. Wounded during the Polish retreat, he managed to reach Great Britain where he was directed to the British General Staff as officer responsible for youth.
After being discharged from the army in 1948, he started up his own successful business in England. He later worked for the Scouting Organization and the Association of Polish Veterans on a gratuitous basis.

wn.com/Kazimierz_Sabbat
Kazimierz Świtalski
Col. Kazimierz Stanisław Świtalski (Polish pronunciation: [kaˈʑimjɛʂ ɕfiˈtalskʲi]; March 4, 1886, Sanok – December 28, 1962, Warsaw, Poland) was a Polish officer, politician, and a Prime Minister of Poland.
Before the World War I he joined the Związek Walki Czynnej, an underground organisation formed by Józef Piłsudski. In 1914 Świtalski joined the Polish Legions and in 1918 the Polish Army, where he became one of the aides to Piłsudski. After the war he remained in the army.
During the 1926 coup d'etat in Poland Świtalski supported Piłsudski. Since 1926 he was given various political posts. In 1926 he was the Head of the Civilian Chancellery of the President, between 1926 and 1928 he commanded the Political Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs. In June 1928 Świtalski became a minister of education and in 1929 he was chosen the Prime Minister of Poland. In 1930 he was elected to the Sejm and between 1933 and 1935 he was its Marshall. After 1935 he retired from active political life and became the Voivode of Kraków (December 3, 1935 - April 20, 1936).

wn.com/Kazimierz_Świtalski
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (German pronunciation: [ˈkɔnʁaːt ˈhɛɐman ˈjoːzɛf ˈaːdənaʊɐ]; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman. As Chancellor of Germany (West Germany) from 1949 to 1963, he led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that forged close relations with old enemies France and the United States. In his years in power Germany achieved prosperity, democracy, stability and respect. He was the first chancellor (head of government) of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, called West Germany), 1949–63. He was the first leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a coalition of Catholics and Protestants that under his leadership became and has since remained the most dominant in Germany.
Adenauer, dubbed "Der Alte" ("the old one"), belied his age as the oldest elected leader in world history by his intense work habits and his uncanny political instinct. He displayed a strong dedication to a broad vision of democracy, capitalism, and anti-Communism. A shrewd politician, Adenauer was deeply committed to a Western-oriented foreign policy and restoring the position of West Germany on the world stage. He worked to restore the West German economy from the destruction in World War II to a central position in Europe, rebuilt its army and came to terms with France, helped make possible Western European unification, opposed rival East Germany, and made his nation a member of NATO and a firm ally of the United States.

wn.com/Konrad_Adenauer
Krystyna Bochenek
Krystyna Maria Bochenek (née Neuman) (30 June 1953 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish politician, Vice-Marshal of the Senate of the Republic of Poland representing Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska). She was born in Katowice.
She was listed on the flight manifest of the Tupolev Tu-154 of the 36th Special Aviation Regiment carrying the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński which crashed near Smolensk-North airport near Pechersk near Smolensk, Russia, on 10 April 2010, killing all aboard.

wn.com/Krystyna_Bochenek
Krzysztof Putra
Krzysztof Jakub Putra (Polish pronunciation: [ˈkʂɨʂtɔf ˈputra], July 4, 1957 – April 10, 2010) was a Polish politician, a member of the Law and Justice (PiS). He served as a Deputy of the Senate Marshal from October 27, 2005 until November 4, 2007. He later became a Sejm member (from November 5) and PiS candidate for Sejm Marshal.
Putra was born in Józefowo, Suwałki County. He was a grandson of Aleksander Putra, who served as Sejm Member before World War II from Polish People's Party.
A member of Solidarity during Communist rule, he was a worker in Białystok from 1975 to 1994. He was also a Sejm Member (Contract Sejm) from Solidarity (1989–1991). Later he was elected from Centre Agreement and was one of the founder of Law and Justice in 2001. He is known as one of the Party leader, in addition to serve as party leader in his home Podlaskie Voivodeship.
As one of the Deputies of the Senate Marshal he was regarded as a de facto leader of the upper house.
He was picked by the Law and Justice and their candidate for Sejm Marshal. However, he lost soundly to Civic Platform's majority nominee Bronisław Komorowski. His candidature was viewed as a political demonstration.

wn.com/Krzysztof_Putra
Leo Tindemans
Leonard Clemence “Leo” Tindemans (Dutch: [ˈleˑ(ɪ̯)oˑ ˈtɪndəmɑns] ( listen)) (born 16 April 1922) is a Belgian politician and the 43rd Prime Minister. He was born in Zwijndrecht.
Tindemans was affiliated with the CVP. This party is strong in the northern region of Flanders. Tindemans was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 1961 and re-elected in 1965, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1977 and 1978. From 1965 to 1973 Tindemans also served as the mayor of Edegem.
In 1968 Tindemans became minister tasked with the relations between the communities (1968–1972) during which he prepared the first constitutional reform which saw Belgium start transforming into a federal state. In 1972 he became minister for agriculture (1972–1973). In 1973 he became deputy Prime Minister and minister for the budget (1973–1974). Tindemans served as Prime Minister of two Belgian governments, from 25 April 1974 to 20 October 1978. His first cabinet was a minority government formed by the Christian-democrats and liberals. When his first government fell in 1977, Tindemans won the snap general election which followed and formed his second cabinet with the Christian-democrats, socialists and Flemish nationalists. His second government (1977–1978) fell due to the controversy surrounding the Egmont pact.

wn.com/Leo_Tindemans
Leon Kozłowski
Leon Tadeusz Kozłowski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈlɛɔn kɔˈzwɔfskʲi] ( listen); 6 June 1892 – 11 May 1944) was a Polish archaeologist and politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland from 1934 to 1935.
Leon Kozłowski was born in 1892 in the village of Rembieszyce near Małogoszcz. Prior to 1914 he moved with his family to Lwów in Galicia, where he joined the local university. He also joined the Riflemen Union and Association of Progressive Youth. After the outbreak of the Great War he joined Józef Piłsudski's Polish Legions, where he served in the 1st Uhlans Regiment. After the Oath Crisis of 1917 he joined the Polish Military Organization and organized the cadres of the future Polish Army.
When Poland regained her independence in 1918, Kozłowski volunteered for the Polish Army and served with distinction during the Polish-Bolshevik War. Afterwards he was demobilized and returned to Lwów, where he completed his studies at the University of Jan Kazimierz. In 1921 he became a professor there and the head of the Faculty of Pre-history. He held that post between 1921 and 1931 and then again between 1935 and 1939. He was also active in various social and political organizations, including the Society for the Repair of the Republic. As such, in 1928 he got involved in the BBWR movement and the same year he was elected to the Sejm. He held the post of a Member of Parliament until 1935, when he was chosen to the Senate of Poland.

wn.com/Leon_Kozłowski
Leopold Skulski
Leopold Skulski (Polish pronunciation: [lɛˈɔpɔlt ˈskulskʲi]; 15 November 1878, Zamość – after 1939, likely in 1940) was prime minister of Poland from 1919 to 1920.
He was involved in politics from at least the mid 1910s, and served as mayor of Łódź between 1917 an 1919. He became a deputy in the Polish parliament (Sejm) after the 1919 elections, and on 13 December 1919 he became the Prime Minister of Poland. His government resigned on 9 June, in the aftermath of the failure of the Kiev Offensive and the success of the Bolshevik counteroffensive. He was also the Minister of Internal Affairs under the government of Wincenty Witos (from 24 July 1920 to 28 June 1921). He was a member of the State Tribunal of Poland from 1925. President of the Polish Radio in the 1930s, he did not take an active role in political life in the last decade of his life.
During the Invasion of Poland he was arrested in Pińsk by the Soviet NKVD; shortly thereafter he died in the NKVD prison in Brest.

wn.com/Leopold_Skulski
Leszek Miller
Leszek Cezary Miller [ˈlɛʂɛk ˈmillɛr] ( listen) (born 3 July 1946 in Żyrardów) is a Polish central-left-wing politician, and current leader of the Democratic Left Alliance. He also served as the Prime Minister of the government of the Republic of Poland in 2001-2004.
Leszek Cezary Miller comes from a poor, working-class family: His father was a tailor and his mother a needlewoman. His parents broke up when Leszek was six months old; his father, Florian, left the family and Leszek has never maintained any contact with him. His mother brought him up in a religious spirit – following her wish, he was even, for some time, an altar-boy. Due to hard life conditions, after graduation from vocational school, 17-year-old Leszek got a job in the Textile Linen Plant in Żyrardów, while continuing his education in the evenings at the Vocational Secondary School of Electric Power Engineering. He soon completed his military service on the ORP Bielik submarine.
In 1969, Miller married Aleksandra, three years his junior, in church. The Millers have a son, Leszek, and a granddaughter, Monika.

wn.com/Leszek_Miller
Maciej Giertych
Maciej Marian Giertych (['mat͡ɕej ˈmarjan ˈɡʲɛrtɨx], born March 24, 1936 in Warsaw) is a Polish dendrologist and social conservative politician of the League of Polish Families (LPR). He favours state intervention in the economy. He was a member of the Sejm (between 2001 and 2004) and a Polish member of the European Parliament (from 2004 to 2009). He was a candidate in the 2005 Polish presidential elections, but withdrew from the race because of low vote results (circa 3%).
Maciej Giertych was born March 24, 1936 in Warsaw, the son of notable politician of the nationalist National Democracy movement Jędrzej Giertych. In late 1945 his family left Poland for post-war Germany's British zone and finally settled in the United Kingdom. In 1954 Giertych passed his final school exams and entered Oxford University, where he founded the Polish Students Club during his studies. He received the BA and MA in forestry. Between 1958 and 1962 he studied at the University of Toronto, where he received his PhD for studies on tree physiology.^{[Need quotation to verify]}

wn.com/Maciej_Giertych
Maciej Nowicki
Maciej Nowicki (born 28 September 1941 in Warsaw) - Polish politician, manager, scientist. Minister of the Environment of the Republic of Poland in the cabinet of Donald Tusk (from 16 November 2007 to 1 February 2010).
Graduated of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering at the Warsaw University of Technology (1964). He commenced employment as researcher at the Polish Academy of Sciences (1964–1970) and then at the Warsaw University of Technology (1970–1986). In 1972 obtained doctor degree and in was 1976 qualified as the assistant professor in the field of atmospheric protection. In 1992 President of the Republic of Poland awarded Professorship to Dr. Maciej Nowicki.
In the period of 1989-1991 performed function of deputy minister at the Ministry of the Environmental Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry and from 1991 the Minister of the Environmental Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Jan Krzysztof Bielecki.
In 1992, Professor Maciej Nowicki established the Eco-Fund Foundation and held the Presidency there until October 2007.

wn.com/Maciej_Nowicki
Maciej Płażyński
Maciej Płażyński (Polish pronunciation: [ˈmatɕɛj pwaˈʐɨɲskʲi]; 10 February 1958 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish liberal-conservative politician.
Płażyński was born in Młynary. He began his political career in 1980 / 1981 as one of the leaders of the Students' Solidarity; he was governor of the Gdańsk Voivodship from August 1990 to July 1996, and was elected to the Sejm (the lower house of the Polish parliament) in September 1997. To date he is longest serving Marshal of the Sejm of the Third Republic of Poland
In January 2001, he founded the political party Platforma Obywatelska together with Donald Tusk and Andrzej Olechowski. He left Platforma Obywatelska due to personal reasons and at the time of his death was an independent MP. He was member of Kashubian-Pomeranian Association. He was later chosen as a chairman of the Association "Polish Community".
Maciej Płażyński was married to Elżbieta Płażyńska and together they had three children: Jakub, Katarzyna, and Kacper.
He was listed on the flight manifest of the Tupolev Tu-154 of the 36th Special Aviation Regiment carrying the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński which crashed while landing at Smolensk-North airport near Pechersk near Smolensk, Russia, on 10 April 2010, killing all aboard.

wn.com/Maciej_Płażyński
Marek Kotlinowski
Marek Kotlinowski (['marɛk kɔtliˈnɔfski], born May 13, 1956 in Gorlice) is a Polish politician and barrister, Vice-Marshal of the Sejm. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 9421 votes in 13 Kraków district, candidating from Liga Polskich Rodzin list. Since 6. November 2006 he is a judge of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal.
He was also a member of Sejm 2001-2005.

wn.com/Marek_Kotlinowski
Marek Kuchciński
Marek Kuchciński [ˈmarɛk kuxˈt͡ɕiɲski] (born August 9, 1955 in Przemyśl) is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 16,061 votes in the 22nd Krosno district, running on the Prawo i Sprawiedliwość list.
He was also a member of Sejm 2001-2005.

wn.com/Marek_Kuchciński
Marek Sawicki
Marek Wacław Sawicki (Polish pronunciation: [ˈmarɛk saˈvʲitskʲi]; born April 8th, 1958 in Sawice-Dwór, Poland) is a Polish politician. He was elected to the Sejm on September 25, 2005, receiving 6527 votes in 18 Siedlce district as a candidate on the Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe list. He has been Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development since November 16, 2007.
He was also a member of Sejm 1993-1997, Sejm 1997-2001, and Sejm 2001-2005.
On 15-16 December 2011 the European Council of Agriculture and Fisheries under the presidency of Marek Sawicki adopted a decision authorizing the signing of an anti-counterfeiting trade agreement(ACTA).

wn.com/Marek_Sawicki
Mariano Rajoy
Mariano Rajoy Brey (Spanish pronunciation: [maˈɾjano raˈxoi]; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish People's Party politician and the current Prime Minister of Spain, having served since 21 December 2011.
Under Prime Minister José María Aznar, Rajoy was Minister of Public Administration from 1996 to 1999 and Minister of Education from 1999 to 2000; he then served as Deputy Prime Minister from 2000 to 2003. Rajoy led the People's Party into the March 2004 general election, but that election was won by the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in the aftermath of the 2004 Madrid train bombings. Subsequently Rajoy was Leader of the Opposition from 2004 to 2011.
Born 27 March 1955 in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia. Rajoy is the grandson of Enrique Rajoy Leloup, one of the drafters of the Statute of Autonomy of Galicia in 1932, who was removed from university teaching by the dictatorship to the early 1950s. He is the son of Mariano Rajoy Sobredo jurist, president of the Provincial Court Pontevedra, the city where he grew up.

wn.com/Mariano_Rajoy
Mark Rutte
Mark Rutte (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈmɑrk ˈrʏtə]; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). He has been the Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of General Affairs since 14 October, 2010 as head of the cabinet.
He previously served as State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment from 22 July 2002 to 17 June 2004 in the Cabinets Balkenende I and II. Subsequently he was State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science from 17 June 2004 until his resignation on 27 June 2006, when he was elected to succeed Jozias van Aartsen as the new VVD party leader.
At the 2006 general election the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy under Rutte lost six seats and he became opposition leader, serving during the Cabinet Balkenende IV. After the fall of the Cabinet Balkenende IV, a snap election was called, and Rutte was once again the VVD's lijsttrekker (top party list candidate) for the 2010 general election. The VVD won the highest number of votes cast, resulting in their occupying 31 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives. After a long formation period, Rutte became prime minister and formed a cabinet. When he was sworn in on 14 October 2010, he became the first liberal Prime Minister in the Netherlands in 92 years. He resigned on 23 April 2012 after his government fell due to an impasse in talks on an austerity budget.

wn.com/Mark_Rutte
Mieczysław Rakowski
Mieczysław Rakowski [mʲɛˈt͡ʂɨswaf raˈkɔfskʲi] ( listen) (December 1, 1926, Kowalewko, Poland—November 8, 2008) was a Polish communist politician, historian and journalist. He served as an officer in the Polish People's Army from 1945 to 1949. He began his political career in 1946 as a member of the Polish Workers' Party, and from 1948 to 1990 he was a member of the communist Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), serving on its Central Committee from 1975 to 1990.
He received a doctorate in history from Warsaw's Institute for Social Sciences in 1956. Rakowski served as the second-to-last communist Prime Minister of Poland from September 1988 to August 1989 (Czesław Kiszczak then served less than a month as the last communist, before the accession of Tadeusz Mazowiecki). He was the last First Secretary of the PZPR from July 1989 to January 1990. However, he was not, unlike his predecessors, the de facto leader of the country; the PZPR had given up its monopoly of power in early 1989.
Rakowski was also known as one of the founders and, from 1958 to 1982, first deputy and then chief editor of the weekly newspaper Polityka, one of the most influential newspapers at the time (Polityka continues to exist and is regarded by many as the most prestigious weekly in Poland). Today some people still remember him as a journalist and editor rather than a politician.

wn.com/Mieczysław_Rakowski
Mirosław Drzewiecki
Mirosław Drzewiecki (Polish pronunciation: [miˈrɔswav dʐɛˈvʲɛtskʲi]) (born July 8, 1956 in Łódź) is a Polish politician, representing Platforma Obywatelska. He graduated from Emilia Sczaniecka High School in Łódź, followed by his 5-year stint at the University of Łódź Department of Law, where he obtained his M.A. title. In 1989 he established his own business, which dealt with upholstery and embroidery. Then he became the owner of several restaurants. Currently, he is one of the richest people in Poland, ranked by a weekly Wprost among the Top 100 richest Poles. He is the former Minister of Sport and Tourism. He took over the Ministry following the 2007 parliamentary election, and held the office from November 2007 to October 2009.
In 1996 his figure evoked many controversies because his embroidery firm has falsified trade marks of Adidas and Nike. But the most important controversy linked to Drzewiecki is the so-called Gambling Scandal. In result of this scandal he left the office of Minister of Sport and Tourism and several other prominenet members of the Civic Platform were indicted or persecuted. Because of this scandal he was temporarily suspended from the Civic Platform membership and testified in front of the Parliamentary Investigative Commission.

wn.com/Mirosław_Drzewiecki
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus (German: Nikolaus Kopernikus; Italian: Nicolò Copernico; Polish: Mikołaj Kopernik (help·info); in his youth, Niclas Koppernigk; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe.
Copernicus' epochal book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), published just before his death in 1543, is often regarded as the starting point of modern astronomy and the defining epiphany that began the scientific revolution. His heliocentric model, with the Sun at the center of the universe, demonstrated that the observed motions of celestial objects can be explained without putting Earth at rest in the center of the universe. His work stimulated further scientific investigations, becoming a landmark in the history of science that is often referred to as the Copernican Revolution.
Among the great polymaths of the Renaissance, Copernicus was a mathematician, astronomer, jurist with a doctorate in law, physician, quadrilingual polyglot, classics scholar, translator, artist,Catholic cleric, governor, diplomat and economist.

wn.com/Nicolaus_Copernicus
Pat Cox
Pat Cox (born 28 November 1952) is an Irish politician and former television current affairs presenter. He was President of the European Parliament from 2002 to 2004 and served as a member of the European Parliament from 1989–2004.
Before this Cox was a journalist and presenter with RTÉ's Today Tonight and then a Teachta Dála (TD) for Cork South–Central. He is now the President of the European Movement International.
Born in Dublin but raised in Limerick, Cox was educated at Ardscoil Rís in Limerick, the University of Limerick and Trinity College, Dublin. Cox is married to Cathy, and lived at Ashboro, Shanakiel in the Cork northside suburb of Sunday's Well for 16 years.
Cox first came to prominence as a journalist, then a presenter, with RTÉ's Today Tonight, a four nights a week current affairs programme which dominated the Irish television schedules in the 1980s. He stood as a Fianna Fáil candidate at the 1979 local elections. Cox left the programme to become a political candidate. He was elected an MEP in 1989 for the constituency of Munster, representing the Progressive Democrats (PDs). At the 1992 general election he was also elected to Dáil Éireann as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Cork South–Central.

wn.com/Pat_Cox
Pedro Passos Coelho
Pedro Manuel Mamede Passos Coelho (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpeðɾu mɐnuˈɛɫ mɐˈmɛðɨ ˈpasuʃ kuˈeʎu]; born in Coimbra, July 24, 1964) is Portuguese politician, leader of the Social Democratic Party and Prime Minister of Portugal. Passos Coelho started very early in politics, becoming the national leader of the youth branch of the PSD. A business manager by trade, he was elected President of the Social Democratic Party and has led the XIX Governo Constitucional (19th Constitutional Government of Portugal) as head of government since 21 June 2011.
Pedro Passos Coelho was born in the parish of Sé Nova in Coimbra, Portugal, in 24 July 1964. He is the youngest son of a medical doctor, António Passos Coelho (born Vale de Nogueiras, Vila Real, Douro, 31 May 1926) and the woman he married in 1955, a nurse, Maria Rodrigues Santos Mamede (born Santana da Serra, Ourique, Baixo Alentejo, c. 1930). He has an older sister, Maria Teresa Mamede Passos Coelho, a medical doctor, and an older brother, Miguel Mamede Passos Coelho, who was born with cerebral palsy.

wn.com/Pedro_Passos_Coelho
Petr Nečas
Petr Nečas (born 19 November 1964; Czech pronunciation: [ˈpɛtr̩ ˈnɛtʃas]) is the current Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and Leader of the Civic Democratic Party. He was sworn into office on 28 June 2010.
Previously, from 4 September 2006 to 8 May 2009, Nečas was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. In 1991, Nečas became a member of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS). In March 2010, he replaced Mirek Topolánek as the leader of the party. The Civic Democratic Party won second place in the May 2010 Czech legislative election and shortly after that Nečas announced his intention to stand for the post of the chairman of the party.

wn.com/Petr_Nečas
Piotr Jaroszewicz
Gen. Piotr Jaroszewicz (['pjɔtr jarɔˈʂɛvit͡ʂ] ( listen); born 9 October 1909, in Nieśwież, Russian Empire, died 1 September 1992, in Warsaw, Poland) was a Polish Communist political figure. He served as the Prime Minister of Poland between 1970 and 1980.
Piotr Jaroszewicz was born on 8 October 1909 in Nieśwież. After finishing the secondary school in Jasło he started working as a teacher and headmaster in Garwolin. After the outbreak of World War II and the Nazi-Soviet alliance he moved to Soviet-occupied zone of Poland. It has been claimed that he was a headmaster in Pinsk gymnasia. However, on 10 July 1940 he was deported to Slobodka, Krasnoborski raion, Arkhangelsk, from Stolin together with his first wife Oksana Gregorevna (born in Salov/Calow 1914) and daughter Olila (born 1940). In 1943 he joined the 1st Polish Army of Gen. Zygmunt Berling. The following year he joined the Polish Workers Party and was promoted to deputy political commander of the 1st Army.
After the war he became the deputy minister of defense (1945–1950). Since 1956 he was the Polish ambassador to COMECON. At the same time between 1952 and 1970 he served as a deputy Prime Minister of Poland and briefly (1954–1956) as the minister of mining industry. Jaroszewicz was a member of the Central Committee of the PZPR since its creation in 1948 and since 1964 he was also a member of the Political Bureau. From December 1970 until February 1980 he was the Prime Minister of Poland. The economical policies of Jaroszewicz and Edward Gierek led to a wave of protests in 1976 and 1980. After his failure in suppressing the Solidarity movement in 1980 he gave up all his posts and was expelled from the party the following year.

wn.com/Piotr_Jaroszewicz
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus PP. II, Italian: Giovanni Paolo II, Polish: Jan Paweł II), born Karol Józef Wojtyła (Polish: [ˈkarɔl ˈjuzɛf vɔjˈtɨwa]; 18 May 1920, Wadowice, Republic of Poland – 2 April 2005, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City), reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the second-longest serving Pope in history and the first non-Italian since 1523.
John Paul II was acclaimed as one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century. He was instrumental in ending communism in his native Poland and eventually all of Europe. John Paul II significantly improved the Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, Islam, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. Though criticised by progressives for upholding the Church's teachings against artificial contraception and the ordination of women, and by traditionalists for his support of the Church's Second Vatican Council and its reform, he was also widely praised for his firm, orthodox Catholic stances.

wn.com/Pope_John_Paul_II
Radek Sikorski
Radosław (Radek) Tomasz Sikorski [raˈdɔswaf ɕiˈkɔrskʲi] ( listen) (born 23 February 1963 in Bydgoszcz), is a Polish politician and journalist. He served as Deputy Minister of National Defense (1992) in Jan Olszewski's Cabinet and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (1998–2001) in Jerzy Buzek's Cabinet. He was also Minister of National Defense (2005–2007) in Jarosław Kaczyński's Cabinet. He is presently Minister of Foreign Affairs in Donald Tusk's Cabinet since 2007.
Sikorski chaired the student strike committee in Bydgoszcz in March 1981 while studying at the I Liceum Ogólnokształcące. In June, he traveled to the United Kingdom to study English. After martial law was declared in December 1981, he was granted political asylum in Britain in 1982. He studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Pembroke College, University of Oxford, where Zbigniew Pelczynski was one of his tutors. During his time at Oxford, Sikorski was head of the Standing Committee of the debating society, The Oxford Union (where he organised debates on martial law), president of the Oxford University Polish Society, member of the Canning Club, and was elected to the Bullingdon Club, a dining society that counted among its members current British Prime Minister David Cameron and current Mayor of London Boris Johnson. In 1987, Sikorski was awarded British citizenship, which he renounced in 2006 as Minister of Defence of Poland.

wn.com/Radek_Sikorski
Radosław Sikorski
Radosław (Radek) Tomasz Sikorski [raˈdɔswaf ɕiˈkɔrskʲi] ( listen) (born 23 February 1963 in Bydgoszcz), is a Polish politician and journalist. He served as Deputy Minister of National Defense (1992) in Jan Olszewski's Cabinet and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (1998–2001) in Jerzy Buzek's Cabinet. He was also Minister of National Defense (2005–2007) in Jarosław Kaczyński's Cabinet. He is presently Minister of Foreign Affairs in Donald Tusk's Cabinet since 2007.
Sikorski chaired the student strike committee in Bydgoszcz in March 1981 while studying at the I Liceum Ogólnokształcące. In June, he traveled to the United Kingdom to study English. After martial law was declared in December 1981, he was granted political asylum in Britain in 1982. He studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Pembroke College, University of Oxford, where Zbigniew Pelczynski was one of his tutors. During his time at Oxford, Sikorski was head of the Standing Committee of the debating society, The Oxford Union (where he organised debates on martial law), president of the Oxford University Polish Society, member of the Canning Club, and was elected to the Bullingdon Club, a dining society that counted among its members current British Prime Minister David Cameron and current Mayor of London Boris Johnson. In 1987, Sikorski was awarded British citizenship, which he renounced in 2006 as Minister of Defence of Poland.

wn.com/Radosław_Sikorski
Rafał Grupiński
Rafał Grupiński (born September 26, 1952 in Wronki) is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 8168 votes in 36 Kalisz district, candidating from Platforma Obywatelska list.

wn.com/Rafał_Grupiński
Robert Fico
Robert Fico (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈrɔbɛrt ˈfit͡sɔ]), (born 15 September 1964) is a Slovak politician who has been Prime Minister of Slovakia since April 2012. Previously he was Prime Minister from 4 July 2006 until 8 July 2010.
Fico was born in 1964, in the town of Topoľčany. His father was a forklift operator and his mother worked in a shoe store. He has two siblings, and is married to Svetlana Ficová; they have one son.
Fico graduated from the Law Faculty of the Comenius University at Bratislava, in what was then Czechoslovakia, and later worked for the Institute of State and Law of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. He joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1987. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, and the collapse of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, Fico joined the Party of the Democratic Left (SDL), a successor of the Communist Party of Slovakia. From 1994 to 2000 Fico represented Slovakia as its legal counsel at the European Court of Human Rights but lost all 14 cases which he handled.

wn.com/Robert_Fico
Robert Schuman
Robert Schuman (French pronunciation: [ʁɔbɛʁ ʃuman]; 29 June 1886 – 4 September 1963) was a noted Luxembourgish-born French statesman. Schuman was a Christian Democrat (M.R.P.) and an independent political thinker and activist. Twice Prime Minister of France, a reformist Minister of Finance and a Foreign Minister, he was instrumental in building post-war European and trans-Atlantic institutions and is regarded as one of the founders of the European Union, the Council of Europe and NATO.
Schuman was a man of several cultures. His father, Jean-Pierre Schuman (1837–1900), was born in Évrange, Lorraine, just across the border with Luxembourg. Jean-Pierre Schuman was a French citizen, but after Alsace-Lorraine was annexed by the German Empire in 1871, he became a German citizen. Robert's mother, Eugénie Duren (1864–1911), a Luxembourger born in Bettembourg, became a German citizen by marriage in 1884.
Schuman was born in 1886 in Clausen, a suburb of Luxembourg as a German by virtue of the principle of jus sanguinis. His mother tongue was Luxembourgish but he was taught French and Standard German at school. Since he learned French only in school (which is mandatory in Luxembourg), he spoke it with a distinct accent.

wn.com/Robert_Schuman
Roman Herzog
Roman Herzog (born 5 April 1934) is a German politician as a member of the Christian Democratic Union, (CDU) and served as President of Germany from 1994 to 1999. He was the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany to be elected to office after the reunification of Germany that took place in 1990. Prior to office he served as a judge of the constitutional court.
Roman Herzog was born in Landshut, Bavaria in 1934 to a Protestant family.
He studied law in Munich and took his first juristic state exam in 1957. In 1958, he gained the title Doctor juris and worked as an assistant at the University of Munich until 1964, where he also passed his second juristic state exam. For his paper Die Wesensmerkmale der Staatsorganisation in rechtlicher und entwicklungsgeschichtlicher Sicht ("Characteristics of State Organization from a Juristic and Developmental-Historical Viewpoint"), in 1964 he was awarded the title of professor, a title of academic distinction in Germany, and taught at the University of Munich until 1966. From 1966 he taught state law and political science as a full professor at the Free University of Berlin (FUB). In 1969, he accepted a chair of public law at the German University of Administrative Sciences and was university president from 1971 to 1972.

wn.com/Roman_Herzog
Roman Odzierzyński
Roman Odzierzyński (1892, Lviv - 1975, London) was prime minister in the Polish Government in Exile.

wn.com/Roman_Odzierzyński
Roman Wapiński
Prof. dr hab. Roman Wapiński (8 March 1931 - 14 May 2008) was a Polish historian, lecturer at the University of Gdańsk. He specialized in the history of the Second Polish Republic and right-wing National Democracy political camp, being the foremost historian of National Democracy. Wapiński was considered one of the foremost Polish historians.
Wapiński graduated in 1955 from the Department of History of the University of Warsaw. All his later life he was however related to the city of Gdańsk. Also thanks to his efforts, the University of Gdańsk was opened in 1970. Wapiński was an active member of the Polish United Workers' Party, which helped him to accomplish many of his organizational efforts. He gained a professor degree in 1971. He received Doctor honoris causa from the University of Wrocław on 28 February 2001. Wapiński was since 2003 a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1999-2002 he presided over its Committee of Historical Sciences.
He wrote about 400 scientific works and led about 270 graduation theses and 35 doctorates. He led graduation theses e.g. of Donald Tusk, Arkadiusz Rybicki or Wiesław Walendziak. Donald Tusk wrote his thesis about formation of the legend of Józef Piłsudski in the interwar press.

wn.com/Roman_Wapiński
Roy Jenkins
Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead OM, PC (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician.
The son of a Welsh coal miner who later became a union official and Labour MP, Roy Jenkins served with distinction in World War II. Elected to Parliament as a Labour member in 1948, he served in several major posts in Harold Wilson's First Government. As Home Secretary from 1965–1967, he sought to build what he described as "a civilized society", with measures such as the effective abolition in Britain of capital punishment and theatre censorship, the decriminalisation of homosexuality, relaxing of divorce law, suspension of birching and the legalisation of abortion. As Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1967–1970, he pursued a tight fiscal policy later praised by Margaret Thatcher. In 1970, he was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, but resigned in 1972 because he supported entry to the Common Market, while the party opposed it.
When Wilson re-entered government in 1974 Jenkins returned to the Home Office, but, increasingly disenchanted by the swing to the left of the Labour Party,^{[citation needed]} he chose to leave British politics in 1976 and was appointed President of the European Commission in 1977, serving until 1981: he was the first and to date only British holder of this office. In 1981, dismayed with the Labour Party's continuing leftward drift, he was one of the "Gang of Four" - Labour moderates who formed the Social Democratic Party (SDP). In 1982 he won a famous by-election in a Conservative seat and returned to parliament; but after disappointment with the performance of the SDP in the 1983 election he resigned as SDP leader.

wn.com/Roy_Jenkins
Ryszard Legutko

Ryszard Antoni Legutko (Polish pronunciation: [ˈrɨʂart anˈtɔɲi lɛˈɡutkɔ]), born 24 December 1949. Polish philosopher and politician. Professor of philosophy at the Jagellonian University in Kraków, specializing in ancient philosophy and political theory. Known for publications described by extreme left-wing as extreme right-wing, such as "Nie lubię tolerancji" ("I don't like tolerance").
Under communism he was one of the editors of the samizdat quarterly “Arka”. After the collapse of the communist regime he co-founded the Centre for Political Thought, which combines research, teaching, seminars and conferences and is also a publishing house. He has translated and written commentaries to Plato’s Phaedo (1995), Euthyphro (1998) and Apology (2003). He is the author of several books: Plato’s Critique of Democracy (1990), Toleration (1997), A Treatise on Liberty (2007) and An Essay on the Polish Soul (2008). His latest book, Socrates, is forthcoming.
In 2005 he was elected to a seat in the Polish Senate (representing the Law and Justice Party), where he became Deputy Speaker. In 2007 he was Poland’s Education Minister, and in 2007-2009 Secretary of State in the Chancellery of President Lech Kaczyński. He is currently a member of the European Parliament, where he sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Deputy Chairman of the Conservatives and Reformists parliamentary group.

wn.com/Ryszard_Legutko
Stanisław Mackiewicz
Stanisław "Cat" Mackiewicz (Saint Petersburg, Russia, 18 December 1896 – 18 February 1966, Warsaw, Poland) was a conservative Polish writer, journalist and monarchist.
He was called, by the interwar journalist Adolf Maria Bocheński, the foremost political journalist of the interbellum Second Polish Republic.
Mackiewicz was born into a Polish family that had historically used the Bożawola coat-of-arms.
Mackiewicz joined the Polish Military Organisation in 1917 and served as a volunteer in the Polish Army during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–21. He published and the editor-in-chief of the independent Wilno (Vilnius) periodical titled "Słowo," wholly financially supported by the noble families of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He actively promoted the idea of the so called Jagellonian Poland. i.e., return to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth style of governance in Eastern Europe.
He supported Józef Piłsudski and in 1928–35 served as a deputy to the Sejm (Poland's parliament), representing the Piłsudskiite Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government (Bezpartyjny Blok Współpracy z Rządem).

wn.com/Stanisław_Mackiewicz
Stanisław Tymiński
Stanisław "Stan" Tymiński (Polish pronunciation: [staˈɲiswaf tɨˈmʲiɲskʲi]; born January 27, 1948 in Pruszków) is a Canadian businessman of Polish origin, dealing in electronics and computers, and a sometime-politician in both Poland and Canada. Although Tymiński was completely unknown in his native Poland until shortly before the 1990 presidential election, he emerged from the first ballot as the second strongest candidate, defeating liberal prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki and forcing Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa to stand a second ballot. After Wałęsa defeated him by a wide margin, Tymiński was a leader of Party X in Poland (1990–1995) and then returned to Canada to resume his business activities. In 2005, he announced he would stand in that year's presidential election.
In 1990/1991, Tymiński led the Libertarian Party of Canada, a minor party which never received more than 0.25% of the vote.
At the same time, he started a political career in his native Poland, where democracy had just been reestablished.

wn.com/Stanisław_Tymiński
Stanisław Zając
Stanisław Zając (Polish pronunciation: [staˈɲiswav ˈzajɔnts], 1 May 1949 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish lawyer and politician. He was a member of Sejm 1991–1993 and Sejm 1997–2001. On 25 September 2005 he was elected a member of the Sejm again, getting 25225 votes in 22 Krosno district, candidating from Law and Justice list.
Zając was born in Święcany. On 22 June 2008, he won the by-election for the Polish Senate, held in Krosno-constituency following the death of Senator Andrzej Mazurkiewicz.
He was listed on the flight manifest of the Tupolev Tu-154 of the 36th Special Aviation Regiment carrying the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński which crashed near Smolensk-North airport near Pechersk near Smolensk, Russia, on 10 April 2010, killing all aboard.
Zając was posthumously awarded the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of the Polonia Restituta (2010). He had been awarded the Gold and Silver Medals for his contribution to national defence (2010 and 2009, respectively) and he was made a Freeman of the Municipality of Dydnia Jasło in 2010.

wn.com/Stanisław_Zając
Stefan Niesiołowski
Stefan Konstanty Myszkiewicz-Niesiołowski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈstɛfan ɲeɕɔˈwɔfskʲi], born February 4, 1944 in Kałęczew) is a Polish politician and member of Civic Platform.

wn.com/Stefan_Niesiołowski
Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Tadeusz Mazowiecki [taˈdɛuʂ mazɔˈvʲɛt͡skʲi] ( listen) (born April 18, 1927 in Płock) is a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and Christian-democratic politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist prime minister in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II.
Mazowiecki comes from a Polish noble family, which uses the Dołęga coat of arms. He has a secondary education - he was a pupil at the Marshal Stanisław Małachowski Lyceum (class 1946), and then went on to read law at Warsaw University. However, he never graduated. From 1945 to 1955, Mazowiecki was a member of the Communist-controlled Catholic PAX Association from which he was later expelled for being the leader of the so-called internal opposition. Between 1953 and 1955, he was the editor-in-chief of the Catholic Wrocław Weekly (WTK - Wrocławski Tygodnik Katolicki). Under Stalinism in Poland he was involved in the defamation of the Bishop of Kielce Czesław Kaczmarek, groundlessly accused by the Communists of being an American and Vatican spy.

wn.com/Tadeusz_Mazowiecki
Tomasz Arciszewski
Tomasz Arciszewski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈtɔmaʂ art͡ɕiˈʂɛfskʲi]; 4 November 1877 – 20 November 1955) was a Polish socialist politician, a member of the Polish Socialist Party and the Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile in London from 1944 to 1947, presiding over the period when the government lost the recognition of the Western powers.
Tomasz Arciszewski was born in Sierzchowy, a tiny town halfway between Warsaw and Łódź to Mikołaj Arciszewski, a veteran of the January Uprising and Helena Młynarska.
After graduating from trade schools in Lubań and Radom, Tomasz Arciszewski moved to Sosnowiec, an ever-growing centre of heavy industry of the region of Zagłębie. There in 1894 he started working as a factory worker in a steel foundry. In 1896 he joined the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) and soon afterwards took part in a strike, for which he was dismissed.
Initially active in Zagłębie, he had to flee the country and between 1898 and 1900 he lived in London and Bremen, where he was one of the leaders of the Association of Polish Socialists in Exile. Despite being endangered with arrest by the tsarist police, Arciszewski returned to Poland in August 1900 and was arrested soon afterwards.

wn.com/Tomasz_Arciszewski
Tomasz Nałęcz
Tomasz Nałęcz [ˈtɔmaʂ ˈnawɛnt͡ʂ] ( listen) (born October 10, 1949, in Gołymin) is a Polish historian, leftist politician, former vice-Speaker of the Sejm and a former member of the Socjaldemokracja Polska party (Polish Social-Democracy).
In the past he used to be member of the communist Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) (1970–1990) and later its social-democratic successor, Socjaldemokracja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland). In the years 1993-2004 he was a prominent member of Unia Pracy (Labour Union). He left the Labour Union after Socjaldemokracja Polska (SdPl; Social Democracy of Poland) was founded by Marek Borowski.
In 2003–2004 Nałęcz was also the chairman of the Sejm's special parliamentary inquiring committee which tried to unravel the Lew Rywin affair.
In December 2009 Nałęcz was selected as the SdPl's candidate for the election due to take place in autumn 2010. However, following the Smolensk plane crash which killed incumbent president Lech Kaczyński and brought forward the election to June, Nałęcz withdrew from the contest in the interests of national unity.

wn.com/Tomasz_Nałęcz
Tomasz Tomczykiewicz
Tomasz Kazimierz Tomczykiewicz (born March 2, 1961 in Pszczyna) is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 22221 votes in 27 Bielsko-Biała district, candidating from Platforma Obywatelska list.
He was also a member of Sejm 2001-2005, Sejm 2005-2007, Sejm 2007-2011.

wn.com/Tomasz_Tomczykiewicz
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He resigned from all of these positions in June 2007.
Blair was elected Leader of the Labour Party in the leadership election of July 1994, following the sudden death of his predecessor, John Smith. Under his leadership, the party used the phrases "New Labour" and "New Socialism" to define its policy, and moved away from its support of state socialism since the 1960s and created a new version of the ethical socialism that was last pursued by Clement Attlee. Critics of Blair claim that "New Labour" did not adhere to socialism as claimed, and that it effectively advocated capitalism. Blair subsequently led Labour to a landslide victory in the 1997 general election. At 43 years old, he became the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812. In the first years of the New Labour government, Blair's government implemented a number of 1997 manifesto pledges, introducing the minimum wage, Human Rights Act and Freedom of Information Act, and carrying out devolution, establishing the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly.

wn.com/Tony_Blair
Traian Băsescu
Traian Băsescu (born November 4th, 1951 in Basarabi, Romania) is the current president of Romania, serving since 2004. Mayor of Bucharest from 2000 to 2004, he was elected president in 2004, suspended from office in 2007 but reconfirmed a month later in a plebiscite. He was re-elected president for a second 5-year term in 2009, amidst allegations of electoral fraud that were ultimately dismissed by the Constitutional Court of Romania.
Băsescu was born in Basarabi (renamed Murfatlar in 2007), near the port city of Constanţa, the largest Romanian port on the Black Sea. Băsescu's father, Dumitru (d. 2002), was an army officer; his mother's first name is Elena (d. 2010). He has a brother, Mircea (b. 1953). Traian Băsescu and his wife Maria have two daughters.
Băsescu graduated from the Naval Institute of Constanţa in 1976 and became a merchant marine deck officer at Navrom, the Romanian state-owned shipping company. Between 1981 and 1987 he served as Captain on Romanian commercial ships. Throughout his career, questions have been raised about Basescu's links to the Securitate, the security services of the communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. But Basescu has said his links with the former Securitate were minimal, though some contact was obligatory at the time for somebody working abroad in a senior position. In 1984 he was promoted to Captain of the oil tanker Biruinţa, the largest ship of the then Romanian commercial fleet. In 1989, Băsescu moved to Belgium to head the Navrom Agency in Antwerp.

wn.com/Traian_Băsescu
Valdis Dombrovskis
Valdis Dombrovskis (born 5 August 1971) is the Prime Minister of Latvia. He previously served as Minister for Finance of Latvia and as a Member of the European Parliament for the New Era Party.
Born in Riga to a family with Polish roots, Dombrovskis graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at the University of Latvia. He earned a Bachelor's degree in economics for engineers from Riga Technical University in 1995 and a Master's degree in physics from the University of Latvia in 1996. He has worked as a laboratory assistant at the Institute of Physics of Mainz University, Germany from 1995 to 1996, as an assistant at the Institute of Solid-State Physics of the University of Latvia in 1997, and as a research assistant at the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park in 1998.
Dombrovskis has been a Member of the Board of the New Era Party since 2002. He was Minister of Finance of Latvia from 2002 to 2004 and a Member of the Latvian Parliament during its 8th parliamentary term (2002–2004). Then he was Observer at the Council of the European Union (2003–2004).

wn.com/Valdis_Dombrovskis
Viktor Orbán
Viktor Orbán (Orbán Viktor, Hungarian pronunciation: [orbaːn viktor]; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian conservative politician who is Prime Minister of Hungary having also served from 1998 to 2002. He leads Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union, which with the Christian Democratic People's Party in the 2010 elections won 52.73% of the votes and a two thirds majority (supermajority) of seats in the parliament of Hungary.
He was born on 31 May 1963 in Székesfehérvár and spent his childhood in two nearby villages, Alcsútdoboz and Felcsút. In 1977 his family moved to Székesfehérvár.
Orbán graduated from secondary school, where he studied English, in 1981. In the following two years he completed his military service, then studied law at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. After graduating from that institution in 1987 he lived in Szolnok for the two years, commuting to Budapest where he had a job as a sociologist at the Management Training Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
In 1989 Orbán received a scholarship from the Soros Foundation and spent four months in Oxford, where he studied at Pembroke College. His personal tutor in politics was Zbigniew Pelczynski. Orban quit Oxford in January 1990 and returned to Hungary to win a seat in Hungary's first post-communist parliament.

wn.com/Viktor_Orbán
Václav Havel
Václav Havel (Czech pronunciation: [ˈvaːt͡slaf ˈɦavɛl] ( listen); 5 October 1936 – 18 December 2011) was a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician.
Havel was the ninth and last president of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992) and the first president of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). He wrote more than 20 plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally.
Havel was voted 4th in Prospect magazine's 2005 global poll of the world's top 100 intellectuals. At the time of his death he was Chairman of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation. He was the founder of the VIZE 97 Foundation and the principal organizer of the Forum 2000 annual global conference.
Havel was one of the signatories of the Charter 77 manifesto, a founding signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism, and a council member of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Havel received many recognitions, including the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Gandhi Peace Prize, the Philadelphia Liberty Medal, the Order of Canada, the freedom medal of the Four Freedoms Award, and the Ambassador of Conscience Award.

wn.com/Václav_Havel
Waldemar Pawlak
Waldemar Pawlak [valˈdɛmar ˈpavlak] ( listen) (born 5 September 1959) is a Polish politician. He twice served as Prime Minister of Poland, briefly in 1992 and again from 1993 to 1995. Since November 2007, he has been Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy. Pawlak is the only person who held the office of Prime Minister twice during the Third Republic (i.e. since 1989), and he remains Poland's youngest Prime Minister to date.
He is also a long-time commander of the Polish Volunteer fire department, holding the rank of Brigadier General.
Pawlak was born in the village of Model, Masovian Voivodeship. He is a graduate of the Warsaw University of Technology. While he was a student and during martial law in 1981 he actively participated in strikes.
After graduation (1984) he became a computer teacher in Kamionka (near Pacyna).
His political career began in 1985, when he joined the United People's Party. After 1990, like many UPP members, he joined the UPP's successor, the Polish People's Party.

wn.com/Waldemar_Pawlak
Walery Sławek
Walery Jan Sławek (Polish pronunciation: [vaˈlɛrɨ ˈswavɛk] ( listen); 2 November 1879 Strutynka, Russian Empire, today Ukraine – 3 April 1939 Warsaw) was a Polish politician, military officer and activist, who in the early 1930s served three times as Prime Minister of Poland. He was one of the closest aides of Polish leader, Józef Piłsudski.
He was a member of the Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party and in 1908 Sławek had taken part in the Bezdany raid organized and led by Józef Piłsudski — a train robbery that had financed Piłsudski's organization.
He was active in the Komisja Tymczasowa Skonfederowanych Stronnictw Niepodległościowych from 1912-1914. After the oath crisis in 1917 he was detained by the Germans. He was released on 12 November 1918.
During the Polish-Soviet War he was the chief of military intelligence. In 1928 he created the Non-partisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government. On 30 March 1930 he became the Prime Minister of Poland. He resigned on 23 August the same year, but he returned to office on 4 December. He resigned once again on 26 May 1931. He commenced his third term as prime minister on the 28 March 1935 and served until 12 October of that year.

wn.com/Walery_Sławek
Walter Hallstein
Walter Hallstein (17 November 1901 – 29 March 1982) was a German politician and professor.
He was one of the key figures of European integration after World War II, becoming the first President of the Commission of the European Economic Community, serving from 1958 to 1967. He famously defined his position as "a kind of Prime Minister of Europe". His name is associated with the Hallstein Doctrine, a key doctrine in West German foreign policy during the Cold War.
Hallstein was born in Mainz, Germany, the son of a government building officer. He studied law in Bonn, Munich and Berlin and graduated in 1925 with a doctoral dissertation on the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles with regard to insurance policies. From 1926 he worked at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Foreign Private and International Private Law in Berlin. In 1930, at the age of 28, he was appointed professor for private law and company law at the University of Rostock (Rostock), where he remained until 1941. During Nazism Hallstein was a member of National Socialist People's Welfare and national socialist professional associations for lawyers and judges. In 1941 he was appointed professor of civil law at the University of Frankfurt (Frankfurt am Main). He was also, at the same time, director of the university's Institute for Comparative Law and Commercial Law.

wn.com/Walter_Hallstein
Walter Scheel
Walter Scheel (German pronunciation: [ˈvaltɐ ˈʃeːl]; born 8 July 1919) is a German politician (FDP). He served as Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development from 1961 to 1966, Foreign Minister of Germany and Vice Chancellor from 1969 to 1974, acting Chancellor of Germany from 7 May to 16 May 1974 (following the resignation of Willy Brandt after the Guillaume Affair), and finally as President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1974 to 1979.
He is currently the oldest former German president alive and the longest-lived German head of state.
Scheel was born in Solingen (now in North Rhine-Westphalia). During World War II, he served in the Luftwaffe, the last years of the war as a radar operator on a Bf 110 night fighter.
When his Free Democratic Party reentered government in a coalition with Konrad Adenauer's Christian Democratic Union in 1961, Scheel was appointed federal minister of economic cooperation and development. He continued in that office under Chancellor Ludwig Erhard but brought about the downfall of the latter in late 1966 of which he had become the leader, out of the coalition government. A Christian Democratic / Social Democratic Grand Coalition followed. During this time, in 1968, Scheel took over the party presidency from right wing liberal Erich Mende.

wn.com/Walter_Scheel
Werner Faymann
Werner Faymann (German pronunciation: [ˈvɛɐ̯nɐ ˈfaɪman]; born 4 May 1960) is Chancellor of Austria and chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Austria SPÖ (see Faymann cabinet).
Born in Vienna, Austria,^{[citation needed]} he studied law at the University of Vienna for two years but did not graduate.
From 1985 to 1988 Faymann was a consultant at the Zentralsparkasse Bank (now Bank Austria), which he left to become director and provincial chairman of the Viennese Tenants' counselling. He was also provincial chairman of Socialist Youth Vienna (Sozialistische Jugend Wien) from 1985 until 1994, when he became a member of the Viennese state parliament and municipal council; where he held various positions concerning housing construction and urban renewal.

wn.com/Werner_Faymann
Wincenty Witos
Wincenty Witos (Polish pronunciation: [vinˈt͡sɛntɨ ˈvitɔs]; 22 January 1874 - 31 October 1945) was a prominent member of the Polish People's Party (PSL) from 1895, and leader of its "Piast" faction from 1913. He was a member of parliament in the Galician Sejm from 1908–1914, and an envoy to Reichsrat in Vienna from 1911 to 1918. Witos was also a leader of Polish Liquidation Committee (Polish: Polska Komisja Likwidacyjna) in 1918, head of the Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe Piast party, and member of parliament in the Polish Sejm from 1919-1920.
He served thrice as the premier of Poland, in 1920-1921, 1923 (Chjeno-Piast), and 1926.
In 1926 the third Witos government was overthrown by the May coup d'état led by Józef Piłsudski. Witos had been one of the leaders of the opposition to the Sanacja-government as head of Centrolew (1929–1930) and co-founded the Stronnictwo Ludowe. Having been imprisoned shortly thereafter and for a time living in exile in Czechoslovakia from 1933, he returned to Poland in 1939 only to be imprisoned again by the invading Germans.

wn.com/Wincenty_Witos
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, PC, DL, FRS, Hon. RA (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British Conservative politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century, he served as Prime Minister twice (1940–45 and 1951–55). A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian, a writer, and an artist. He is the only British prime minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was the first person to be made an Honorary Citizen of the United States.
Churchill was born into the aristocratic family of the Dukes of Marlborough. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a charismatic politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer; his mother, Jenny Jerome, was an American socialite. As a young army officer, he saw action in British India, the Sudan, and the Second Boer War. He gained fame as a war correspondent and wrote books about his campaigns.

wn.com/Winston_Churchill
Wojciech Jaruzelski
Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski (pronounced [ˈvɔi̯t͡ɕɛx jaruˈzɛlskʲi] ( listen); born 6 July 1923) is a retired Polish military officer and Communist politician. He was the last Communist leader of Poland from 1981 to 1989, Prime Minister from 1981 to 1985 and the country's head of state from 1985 to 1990. He was also the last commander-in-chief of the Polish People's Army (LWP). He resigned from power after the Polish Round Table Agreement in 1989 led to democratic elections in Poland.
Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski was born on 6 July 1923 in Kurów, into a family of gentry. He was raised on the family estate near Wysokie (in the vicinity of Białystok). He was educated in a Catholic school during the 1930s.
On 1 September 1939, the September Campaign started when Poland was invaded by Germany, with the latter country aided by another invasion begun sixteen days later by the Soviet Union. The invasions resulted in the defeat of Poland by the following month, and its partition between Soviet and German control. Jaruzelski and his family fled to Lithuania and stayed with some friends there. However, a few months later, after Lithuania and the other Baltic states were forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union, Jaruzelski and his family were captured by the army of the Soviet Union, and deported to Siberia. In 1940 at the age of sixteen, Jaruzelski was sent to the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, where he performed forced labour in the Karaganda coal mines. During his labour work, having experienced snow blindness, developed permanent damage to his eyes and back. The damage to his eyes forced him to wear dark sunglasses most of the time, which became his trademark.

wn.com/Wojciech_Jaruzelski
Wojciech Olejniczak
Wojciech Michał Olejniczak [ˈvɔjt͡ɕɛx ɔlɛjˈɲit͡ʂak] ( listen) (born 10 April 1974 in Łowicz, Poland) is a Polish leftist politician and member of the European Parliament.
He was the chairman of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) from 29 May 2005, to 31 May 2008 (the first chairman of that party that was not a member of Polish United Workers' Party) and the vice-speaker of Sejm since 26 October 2005. From 2 July 2003, to 31 May 2005, Olejniczak was the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
He was elected to Sejm on 25 September 2005 getting 31,471 votes in the 11th Sieradz district, running on the SLD list. He was also a member of Sejm 2001–2005. He was reelected on 21 October 2007 getting 51,865 votes in the 9th Łódź district.
On 7 June 2009 he was elected Member of European Parliament from Warsaw constituency, gaining 72,854 votes.
He achieved notoriety in Poland for a speech made during the ECOSY Congress in Warsaw, Poland, which displayed his poor command of the English language. This inspired an internet meme on the basis of his speech.

wn.com/Wojciech_Olejniczak
Wolfgang Schäuble
Wolfgang Schäuble [ˈvɔlfɡaŋ ˈʃɔʏblə] (born 18 September 1942) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), currently serving as the Federal Minister of Finance in the Second Cabinet Merkel.
From 1984 to 1991 he was a member of Helmut Kohl's cabinet, first as Federal Minister for Special Affairs of Germany and Chief of the Chancellery and then as Federal Minister of the Interior. Between 1991 and 2000, he was chairman of the CDU/CSU group in the parliament, and from 1998 to 2000 also CDU party chairman. He served again as Federal Minister of the Interior in the First Cabinet Merkel from 2005 to 2009.
Schäuble was born in Freiburg im Breisgau as the son of a tax finance advisor. After completing his Abitur in 1961, Schäuble studied law and economics in Freiburg im Breisgau and Hamburg, which he completed in 1966 and 1970 by passing the First and Second State Examinations respectively, becoming a fully qualified lawyer.
In 1971 Schäuble obtained his doctorate in law, with a dissertation called "The public accountant's professional legal situation within accountancy firms".

wn.com/Wolfgang_Schäuble
Władysław Grabski
Władysław Dominik Grabski ([vwaˈdɨswaf ˈɡrapskʲi]; 7 July 1874 – 1 March 1938) was a Polish National Democratic politician, economist and historian. He was the main author of the currency reform in the Second Polish Republic and served as Prime Minister of Poland in 1920 and from 1923–1925. He was the brother of Stanisław Grabski and Zofia Kirkor-Kiedroniowa.
Władysław Grabski was born in 1874, in a family manor in Borów (a part of Gmina Bielawy) near Łowicz, Congress Poland, Russian Empire. He was an educated man, who studied politics at the School of Political Science in Paris and history at the University of Sorbonne. While in Paris, Grabski’s political views changed. He abandoned the socialist ideas and turned more right-wing. He became an outward looking visionary, a man who would be responsible for creating the Bank of Poland and implementing the Polish currency. Grabski’s cabinet became the longest standing cabinet in the interwar Poland, precisely because his contributions in the agricultural and financial sectors in inter-war Poland remain unmatched. At the same time, however, Grabski’s cabinet was severely criticized. Stanisław Głąbiński, for example, criticized Grabski’s inefficiencies in the sphere of international relations, and Wincenty Witos disapproved of Grabski’s deficient agricultural reform, as well as his inability to inform the public of the state’s real financial situation.

wn.com/Władysław_Grabski
Władysław Sikorski
Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (Polish pronunciation: [vwaˈdɨswaf ɕiˈkɔrskʲi] ( listen); May 20, 1881 – July 4, 1943) was a Polish military and political leader.
Prior to World War I, he established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause of Polish independence. He fought with distinction in the Polish Legions during World War I, and later in the newly created Polish Army during the Polish-Soviet War (1919 to 1921). In that war he played a prominent role in the decisive Battle of Warsaw.
In the early years of the Second Polish Republic, Sikorski held government posts including prime minister (1922 to 1923) and minister of military affairs (1923 to 1924). Following Józef Piłsudski's May Coup (1926) and the installation of the Sanacja government, he fell out of favor with the new regime.
During World War II he became Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile, Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces, and a vigorous advocate of the Polish cause in the diplomatic sphere. He supported the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Poland and the Soviet Union, which had been severed after the Soviet pact with Germany and the 1939 invasion of Poland — however, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin broke off Soviet-Polish diplomatic relations in April 1943 following Sikorski's request that the International Red Cross investigate the Katyń Forest massacre.

wn.com/Władysław_Sikorski
Władysław Wróblewski
Władysław Wróblewski (Polish pronunciation: [vwaˈdɨswaf vruˈblɛfskʲi]; 1875 Kraków – 1951 Łódź) was a Polish politician, scientist, diplomat and lawyer. He is notable as the last provisional prime minister of the German-controlled puppet state of Regency Kingdom before Poland regained her independence in 1918.
Wróblewski was a notable lawyer and docent of administration and administrative law at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. On November 4, 1918, after the withdrawal of Józef Świeżyński's provisional government, Wróblewski was chosen by the Regency Council to act as the head of a new temporary provisional government. As the situation in Poland was changing rapidly, Wróblewski chose not to appoint his own ministers and instead continued the job of his predecessor, with the same set of ministers. The last meeting of his government took place on November 11 of that year, when all powers were ceded to Józef Piłsudski, who got back from prison in Magdeburg Fortress earlier that day.
On November 18 all ministries were taken by the new government of Jędrzej Moraczewski and the Regency Kingdom ceased to exist, giving way to the reborn Republic of Poland. Afterwards he remained an active member of the Polish administration, initially as an undersecretary of state at the Council of Ministers and later as a diplomat. Among other posts, he was the Polish ambassador in London and later in Washington. Between 1929 and 1936 he headed the Bank Polski, the state bank of Poland.

wn.com/Władysław_Wróblewski
Zbigniew Chlebowski
Zbigniew Chlebowski (born 8 March 1964 in Żarów) is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on 25 September 2005 getting 18281 votes in 2 Wałbrzych district, candidating from Platforma Obywatelska list.
He was also a member of Sejm 2001-2005.

wn.com/Zbigniew_Chlebowski
Zbigniew Messner
Zbigniew Messner ['zbiɡɲɛf ˈmɛssnɛr] ( listen) (b. 13 March 1929 in Stryj, Poland) is a Communist economist and politician in Poland. In 1972, he became Professor of Karol Adamiecki University of Economics in Katowice. He was a member of Central Committee of Polish United Workers' Party from 1981 until 1988, deputy prime minister in 1983–1985 and Prime Minister 1985–1988.
In 1988, his cabinet received a motion of no confidence in the Sejm (Parliament), still dominated by Communists, and had to transfer power to Mieczysław Rakowski. This was an unprecedented event in the Communist world, one of the strongest signs of democratic change brought by Mikhail Gorbachev. Alternatively, this change in cabinet could easily be viewed as one of many like steps of internal reorganization conducted periodically by Communist regimes in all Communist-dominated countries.

wn.com/Zbigniew_Messner
Zbigniew Religa
Zbigniew Eugeniusz Religa [ˈzbʲiɡɲɛf rɛˈliɡa] ( listen) (December 16, 1938 — March 8, 2009) was a prominent Polish cardiac surgeon and politician.
Religa finished his studies at the Medical University of Warsaw in 1963. From 1966 to 1980 he worked in the Szpital Wolski in Warsaw, where he qualified in surgery. In 1973, he visited New York to train in vascular surgery, in 1975 he trained in cardiac surgery in Detroit. In 1973, he obtained an Ph. D. degree; in 1981 he finished his habilitation, achieving academic recognition similar to an associate professor or senior lecturer. From 1980 to 1984, Religa lectured at the Warsaw Institute of Cardiology. In 1984 he obtained a chair in cardiac surgery and directed the Cardiosurgical Clinic in Zabrze, in 1990 he became full professor at the Silesian Medical University in Katowice, being its rector from 1997 to 1999. In 2001 he returned to Warsaw to become director of both the Clinic of Cardiac Surgery No. 2 and the Institute of Cardiology.
A pioneer in human heart transplantation in Poland, he led the team to prepare the first successful heart transplantation in the country, and in June 1995 he was the first surgeon to graft an artificial valve created from materials taken from human corpses. In 2004, a team led by Religa obtained a prestigious Brussels Eureka award at the World Exhibition of Innovation, Research and Technology for developing an implantable pump for a pneumatic heart assistance system.

wn.com/Zbigniew_Religa
Zbigniew Romaszewski
Zbigniew Romaszewski ( born January 2, 1940 in Warsaw) is a Polish conservative politician, a Polish senator since 1989, and a human rights activist.
After the June 1976 protests he was cofounder of assurance to workers prosecuted by communist regime. He was one of the founders of the Workers' Defence Committee (KOR). He became Chief of Bureau of Intervention of the Committee for Social Self-defence KOR in 1977. In 1980 he was the founder of the Helsinki Committee in Poland. In 1980-1981 he was chief of Commission of Intervention and Law-abidingness of Solidarity. During martial law in Poland he established independent Radio Solidarity. In 1982 he was arrested and jailed by the Communist regime until 1984.
In 2007 he was elected to the Senate from the electoral list of Law and Justice. Since November 28, 2007 he has been deputy marshal of Polish Senate.

wn.com/Zbigniew_Romaszewski
Zbigniew Ćwiąkalski
Zbigniew Ćwiąkalski [ˈzbʲiɡɲɛf t͡ɕfʲɔŋˈkalskʲi] ( listen) (born March 9, 1950 in Łańcut) is a Polish politician, former Minister of Justice and Public Prosecutor General of Poland. He is a qualified lawyer and adwokat, associate professor of law at the Jagiellonian University (Chair of Penal Law, Faculty of Law and Administration)
From 1972 to 1981 he was a member of Polish United Workers' Party on Jagiellonian University. In 1981 he joined the Polish opposition (Solidarity trade union). In 1985 he was indicated as candidate for secret collaborator of communist Służba Bezpieczeństwa, but he never collaborated (no evidences).
In 2007-2009 he was a Minister of Justice in the government of Donald Tusk.

wn.com/Zbigniew_Ćwiąkalski

Nigel Farage vs Donald Tusk (6th July 2011)

Buy Nigel Farage's book "Flying Free" cheap on Amazon by clicking the link below: www.amaz...

published: 26 Jul 2012

author: DoubleDIR

Donald Tusk - Naczelny kłamca RP

Cała prawda o najjaśniejszym Słońcu Peru...

published: 13 Jul 2012

author: LowlifeJunkie

Razem - parodia świątecznego spotu Donalda Tuska

Poniżej świąteczne życzenia składa Jaruzelski z Komorowskim www.youtube.com...

published: 12 Dec 2012

author: Zemsta Kwiatkowskiego

Donald Tusk obcy chlop

...

published: 11 May 2011

author: kakttus78

PM with Donald Tusk, PM of Poland

14 May 2012 Prime Minister Tusk, you were a gracious host during my 2008 trip to Poland an...

published: 02 Nov 2012

author: pmocpm

Nigel Farage vs Donald Tusk - parę słów prawdy

"Huczne" powitanie polskiej prezydencji w Strasburgu dnia 6 lipca 2011 r. Napisy dostępne ...

published: 06 Jul 2011

author: milka9400

Donald Tusk w szansie na sukces HD

...

published: 02 May 2012

author: Lucky Luck

Donald Tusk szokujący dokument...

...

published: 04 Jun 2010

author: mikilinkoln1

Konrad Berkowicz vs Donald Tusk.

Konrad Berkowicz o obietnicach PO. Kanał:www.youtube.com Profil na FB:www.facebook.com Fil...

published: 25 Aug 2012

author: TheEvilMaris

Polish Studio (2012-05-19) - Donald Tusk's Visit to Canada

Polish Studio (2012-05-19) - Donald Tusk's Visit to Canada...

published: 22 May 2012

author: polishcu

Młodzież wszechpolska vs Donald Tusk

...

published: 26 Sep 2012

author: TheEvilMaris

The PM of Poland Donald Tusk, addresses the EPP Congress in Bucharest

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published: 18 Oct 2012

author: epppress

Konfrontacja DonAlda Tuska z kibicami Jagiellonii Białystok 1_2

W dniu 24.09.2011 odwiedził nas, w naszym województwie, miłościwie nam panujący premier Do...

published: 25 Sep 2011

author: solidarni2010Bstok

Donald Tusk

...

published: 18 Sep 2011

author: kakttus78

Donald Tusk

"Bo Kraków stać na więcej i do tego potrzebny jest Stanisław Kracik!" - Donald Tusk - Prem...

published: 18 Nov 2010

author: Stanisław Kracik

donald tusk

wyksztalciuchy...

published: 06 Jan 2007

author: Henry

Spot TV nr 12 - Premier Donald Tusk

published: 05 Oct 2011

author: Platforma Obywatelska

Donald Tusk - Premier RP

"Bo Kraków stać na więcej i do tego potrzebny jest Stanisław Kracik!" - Donald Tusk - Prem...

published: 19 Nov 2010

author: Stanisław Kracik

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photo: AP / Nick Ut

File - Demonstrators are arrested by police after protesting outside a Walmart store Friday Nov. 23, 2012, in Paramount, Calif.

Walmart's horrific treatment of workers is too big to ignore

Al Jazeera

14 Dec 2012

Former President Bill Clinton, President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, meet 55-year-old Martha Sellers. For the past nine years, Sellers has worked as a Walmart cashier in Paramount, California ... More than 10,000 community members joined more than 30 striking employees who walked off the job to demand better working conditions. . "It was wonderful ... That's not too much to ask for." ... 1698 ... ....(size: 23.6Kb)

photo: AP / Jessica Hill

Parents leave a staging area after being reunited with their children following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northeast of New York City, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012.

27 People Dead, Mostly Children, at Connecticut Elementary School Shooting

ABC News

14 Dec 2012

More than two dozen people, mostly elementary school children, were shot and killed at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school this morning, federal and state sources tell ABC News. The massacre involved two gunmen at a Connecticut school this morning, prompting the town of Newtown to lock down all of its schools and draw SWAT teams to the school, authorities said today. State Police confirm that one shooter is dead ... at ABCNews.com ... ....(size: 4.5Kb)

photo: AP / Newtown Bee, Shannon Hicks

In this photo provided by the Newtown Bee, a police officer leads two women and a child from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012.

20 Schoolchildren, 8 Others Dead in Connecticut Massacre

Jakarta Globe

15 Dec 2012

Newtown, Conn. Twenty schoolchildren were slaughtered by a heavily armed gunman who opened fire at a suburban elementary school in Connecticut on Friday, ultimately killing at least 27 people including himself in the one of the worst mass shootings in US history ... Authorities found 18 children and seven adults, including the gunman, dead at the school, and two children were pronounced dead later after being taken to a hospital ... Reuters ....(size: 7.5Kb)

photo: AP / Manu Brabo

In this Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012 photo, a Free Syrian Army fighter poses as he carries his weapon in the northern province of Aleppo, Syria. Syria's civil war has killed more than 40,000 people.

Russia says Syrian rebels might win

CNTV

14 Dec 2012

One of Syria's key allies has admitted for the first time the Assad regime is losing the 20-month ground war. Russia’s deputy foreign minister’s comments are significant because Russia has blocked action to stem the violence, supplied weapons to the Assad regime, and vetoed three UN resolutions -- even as other countries called for Assad to step down. The comments are expected to put new pressure on the Syrian leader ... Reporter ...   ... ....(size: 6.6Kb)

photo: AP / Manu Brabo

A Free Syrian Army fighter takes position close to a military base, near Azaz, Syria, Monday, Dec. 10, 2012.

Syria Rebels Holding Reporter Threaten Attacks on Russians

Novosti

13 Dec 2012

MOSCOW, December 13 (RIA Novosti) – Syrian rebels behind the kidnapping of Ukrainian journalist Ankhar Kochneva have released a video threatening more attacks on Russians and Ukrainians, as a deadline for her execution approaches on Thursday. Kochneva, a 40-year-old Ukrainian citizen, was abducted in October by Syrian rebels as she traveled to the city of Homs, and has been held there by them since, they claim ... ....(size: 2.1Kb)

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Polish PM says decision on road to euro needed soon - radio

The Guardian

14 Dec 2012

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland must decide within the next few months on the details of how and when it will adopt the euro or risk becoming a peripheral member of the European Union, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. Speaking to Polish reporters during a visit to Brussels, Tusk said that Poland faced a choice "whether to become a part of the heart of ......(size: 15.0Kb)

UPDATE 1-Poland must join euro to be at Europe's heart, says PM

Reuters

14 Dec 2012

* PM Tusk says decision on road to euro needed soon ... WARSAW, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has raised the prospect of relaunching his country's bid to join the euro soon, saying to do otherwise would risk simply being on the European Union's periphery ... Speaking to reporters during a visit to Brussels on Thursday, Tusk said ......(size: 3.5Kb)

Prime Minister Vlad Filat today participated in the Summit of the European People's Party (EPP) in Brussels // Press Communiqué (Government of Moldova)

noodls

14 Dec 2012

(Source. Government of Moldova) ... Angela Merkel (Germany), Mariano Rajoy (Spain), Jean-Claude Juncker (Luxemburg), Traian Basescu (Romania), Viktor Orbán (Hungary), Donald Tusk (Poland), Fredrik Reinfeldt (Sweden), Enda Kenny (Ireland), Valdis Dombrovskis (Latvia), Boiko Borisov (Bulgaria), Lawrence Gonzi (Malta), Jyrki Katainen (Finland), Pedro Passos Coelho (Portugal), Janez Jansa (Slovenia) and Antonis Samaras (Greece) ... (noodl....(size: 2.8Kb)

Poles march to remember martial law in 1981

STL Today

13 Dec 2012

On Dec ... Demonstrators also voiced anger at the pro-market government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Their grievances are wide-ranging, and include accusations that Tusk is selling out the country to traditional foreign foes like Russia and Germany ... However, most of the country's leadership today _ including Tusk and Komorowski _ were anti-communist dissidents ... "It's not a healthy state." ....(size: 2.1Kb)

EU summit on the banking union (Chancellery of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland)

noodls

13 Dec 2012

(Source. Chancellery of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland). 13 December 2012. EU summit on the banking union ... "I do not expect such a declaration to be made at the European Council summit ... The Polish delegation is headed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. For a detailed agenda of the summit, see. ... MFA Press Office ... (noodl. 16949576) ....(size: 2.4Kb)

Poland's airline, car makers get state support

WPXI

12 Dec 2012

The government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk has also approved some 150 million zlotys for GM's Opel car factory in ......(size: 0.6Kb)

No Respect at Moody’s as Bondholders Upgrade Tusk: Poland Credit

Bloomberg

12 Dec 2012

International holdings of Poland’s domestic bonds increased to 186 billion zloty ($59 billion) at end-October, or a record 35 percent of the total, as Prime Minister Donald Tusk pledged to narrow the budget deficit and speculation mounted that the central bank would cut borrowing costs ... While Tusk’s government “achieved significant fiscal ......(size: 8.1Kb)

photo: AP / Ashwini Bhatia

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his part in fighting apartheid, speaks during a felicitation event for him in Dharmsala, India, Friday, Feb. 10, 2012.

Desmond Tutu Starts Liu Xiaobo Change.org Petition Calling For Release Of Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Huffington Post

10 Dec 2012

(AP Photo/Yves Logghe)Donald Tusk, Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, left, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, and French President Francois Hollande applaud during the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, at the City Hall in Oslo, Norway, Monday Dec ... (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)Werner Faymann, Donald Tusk, Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande....(size: 9.1Kb)

The European way is to deal peacefully (Office of the President of the Republic of Lithuania)

noodls

10 Dec 2012

After the award ceremony, President Dalia Grybauskaitė together with other leaders of member states, including President François Hollande of France, President Janos Ader of Hungary, President Traian Băsescu of Romania, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis of Latvia, Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland, also prime ......(size: 3.5Kb)

Rome, Milan could host Euro 2020 games

Newstrack India

08 Dec 2012

Tweet ... "And Milan could soon have one assigned ... Meanwhile, Poland will also strive to be one of the organisers of the Euro 2020 football championship, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. Tusk added that the most likely candidate was the Polish capital Warsaw ... Read More. Italy ... ... ) .. ). ... . . . . . .. . . .. ....(size: 2.5Kb)

Poland's Prime Minister to visit home match of Atom Trefl SOPOT (CEV - European Volleyball Confederation)

noodls

06 Dec 2012

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk - who is known as sports enthusiastic - is expected to travel to the Gdansk area and support the local heroines of Atom Trefl SOPOT in one of their next home matches ... Tusk got the chance to talk to the members of Atom Trefl this past Sunday after they had enjoyed on Saturday a soccer game in Gdansk "PGE Arena"....(size: 35.2Kb)

Gas price reduction (Chancellery of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland)

noodls

05 Dec 2012

Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the Minister of the Treasury Mikołaj Budzanowski presented today (27 November 2012) details of PGNiG's tariff application, which the company filed with the Energy Regulatory Office. After approval of the new tariff, starting from January household bills will be lower by 10%. This is the largest reduction in gas prices for individual consumers in history ... distributed by ... (noodl. 16847485) ....(size: 2.5Kb)

Poland's new deputy PM pledges focus on job protection

The Star

04 Dec 2012

At a joint press conference with Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Piechocinski reiterated his earlier pledge to keep the coalition with Tusk's Civic Platform party intact and promised to work to save jobs, particularly in industry ... (Writing by Maciej Onoszko; Editing by Catherine Evans). ....(size: 1.6Kb)

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Donald Tusk

14th Prime Minister of Poland
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 November 2007 &100000000000000040000004 years, &10000000000000223000000223 days
President	Lech Kaczyński Bronisław Komorowski (Acting) Bogdan Borusewicz (Acting) Grzegorz Schetyna (Acting) Bronisław Komorowski
Deputy	Waldemar Pawlak
Preceded by	Jarosław Kaczyński
Leader of the Opposition
In office 1 June 2003 – 16 November 2007
Prime Minister	Leszek Miller Marek Belka Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz Jarosław Kaczyński
Preceded by	Maciej Płażyński
Succeeded by	Jarosław Kaczyński
Chairperson of the Civic Platform
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 June 2003
Preceded by	Maciej Płażyński
Parliamentary Leader of the Civic Platform in the Sejm
In office 5 November 2005 – 5 December 2006
Preceded by	Jan Rokita
Succeeded by	Bogdan Zdrojewski
In office 9 April 2003 – 1 June 2003
Preceded by	Maciej Płażyński
Succeeded by	Jan Rokita
Personal details
Born	Donald Franciszek Tusk (1957-04-22) 22 April 1957 (age 55) Gdańsk (Danzig), Poland
Political party	Civic Platform
Spouse(s)	Małgorzata Tusk
Children	Michał Katarzyna
Alma mater	University of Gdańsk
Signature

Donald Franciszek Tusk [ˈdɔnalt franˈt͡ɕiʂɛk ˈtusk] ( listen) (born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska) party.

Tusk was officially designated as Prime Minister on 9 November 2007 and took office on 16 November. His cabinet won a vote of confidence in the Sejm on 24 November 2007. He is currently the longest serving prime minister of the Third Republic of Poland. In October 2011, Tusk's Civic Platform won a plurality of seats in the Polish parliamentary election, meaning that Tusk became the first Prime Minister to be re-elected since the fall of communism in Poland.^[1]

Tusk began his public career as an activist in his home town of Gdansk, supporting Solidarity and organizing his fellow university students. With the exception of one four-year stretch, Tusk has served in the Third Republic parliament almost continuously since its first elections in 1991. He was Vice Marshal (deputy speaker) of the Senate from 1997 to 2001 and Vice Marshal of the Sejm from 2001 to 2005. He also served as Leader of the Opposition from 2003 to 2007.

1 Studies and personal life
2 Politics
3 Prime minister
4 Electoral history
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Studies and personal life [link]

Tusk was born in Gdańsk (Danzig). Tusk's father, also named Donald Tusk (1930–1972), was a carpenter. Donald Tusk's mother, Ewa Tusk (1934–2009),^[2] was a nurse. His uncle, Bronisław Tusk (1935–2000), was a sculptor from Gdańsk. His grandfather Józef Tusk (1907–1987) was a railway official who, as a former citizen of the Free City of Danzig, was compulsorily drafted by German Nazi authorities into the Wehrmacht^[3] on 2 August 1944. He deserted a few months later to join the Polish Army in the West on 24 November 1944.

Donald Tusk belongs to the Kashubian minority in Poland. In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in December 2008, Tusk compared his own family history to the Jewish experience, describing the Kashubian minority as a people who, "like the Jews, are people who were born and live in border areas and were suspected by the Nazis and by the Communists of being disloyal".^[4]

Tusk graduated from the Mikołaj Kopernik (Nicolaus Copernicus) High School in Gdańsk in 1976. He then enrolled as a student of history at the University of Gdańsk, from which he graduated in 1980 under professor Roman Wapiński with an M.A. thesis on Józef Piłsudski.

Donald Tusk and his wife, Małgorzata, have two children: a son, Michał (b. 1982) and a daughter, Katarzyna (b. 1987). He also has one grandson, Mikołaj (b. 2009) by his son Michał. They reside in Sopot near Gdańsk.

Politics [link]

Student activism and Solidarity in Gdańsk [link]

At the beginning of the Solidarity era, Tusk was involved in student politics in Gdańsk. He helped found the Solidarity Student Committee at the university, and later the local Independent Students Association. This positioned him at the forefront of student politics in 1980, and he was influential in founding the Independent Students Union (NZS), the Solidarity affiliate, that year. He became a journalist, involved with pro-Solidarity organs like Samorzadnosc, as well as and Kashubian publications. He collaborated with the Free Trade Unions of the Coastal Region as well as Kashubian leader Lech Bądkowski. Tusk's activities blacklisted him from at employment at state-operated firms under the Communist government, so Tusk spent seven years working at the Swietlik co-operative.

Early years of the Third Republic [link]

Tusk was one of the founders of the Liberal Democratic Congress (Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny), and become its president in 1991. In this party – which backed free markets, European integration, and privatization of state industry – one can see the consistency with the political platform Tusk backs today. In the 1991 elections, the KLD won 8% of the vote and 37 seats in the Sejm with the slogan, "Neither the right nor the left, just straight to Europe." Tusk was one of the candidates, making him a member of the First Sejm of the Third Polish Republic. Conservative parties formed a loose coalition in the Sejm, and KLD member Jan Krzysztof Bielecki became prime minister. Tusk did not enter the government. Tusk was involved in the so-called Nocna Zmiana change of government during the night of 4–5 June 1992.

Bielecki's government soon fell, and KLD stayed in opposition until Hanna Suchocka became prime minister in 1992. Suchocka's government quickly became unpopular, and KLD's popularity fell with it. In the 1993 elections, the party received only 4%, under the threshold and keeping it out of the Sejm for the next term. Tusk lost his seat as well and would be out of Parliament until 1997.

In 1994, the KLD merged with the Democratic Union (Unia Demokratyczna) to become the Freedom Union (Unia Wolności, UW). Tusk became vice-chairman of the new party. Tusk was elected to the Senate in the next election in 1997, with his UW party supporting the Solidarity (AWS) government of Jerzy Buzek. He served as deputy speaker of the Senate in that term.

Civic Platform and the 21st century [link]

In the run-up to the 2001 elections, Tusk lost a leadership campaign in the UW party to Bronislaw Geremek. With the party in disarray and the previous parliament's AWS/Solidarity coalition breaking apart, Tusk, Andrzej Olechowski, and Maciej Plazynski founded Civic Platform (PO), taking many party members with him. The party would win 65 seats in that year's election, becoming the largest single opposition party. Tusk became deputy speaker of the Sejm. While Plazynski was founding chairman of the party, Tusk took over in 2003, and has been leader ever since. (The Freedom Union party won no seats. It later changed its name to the Democratic Party.)

Tusk was the party's official candidate for the 2005 presidential election. He was defeated in the second round by a margin of 46:54 by Lech Kaczyński. He represented the constituencies of Gdynia-Słupsk (2001–2005) and Gdańsk (2005–2007). Since 2007 he has been an MP for Warsaw.

Tusk's political position emphasizes strong support for a free market economy with minimal government interference and cooperative relationships with other EU members.

Prime minister [link]

Donald Tusk (right) being appointed as Prime Minister by the then President Lech Kaczyński on 9 November 2007

Tusk and his Civic Platform party emerged victorious in the 2007 parliamentary election, defeating incumbent Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński‘s Law and Justice party. The Civic Platform’s electoral victory also pushed Law and Justice’s junior coalition partners, the League of Polish Families and Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland out of the Sejm altogether. Following the election, Tusk engaged in coalition talks with the Polish People's Party, emerging with a solid working parliamentary majority. On 9 November, President Lech Kaczyński, who had defeated Tusk in 2005’s presidential election, asked Tusk to form a government. Tusk and his assembled cabinet were sworn in on 16 November, becoming the fourteenth prime minister of the Third Republic.^[5] Tusk and his newly-assembled cabinet survived a vote of confidence in the Sejm several days later on 24 November. In the 2011 parliamentary election, Civic Platform retained its place as Poland's most popular party.

Domestic policy [link]

In his government’s domestic policy, Tusk has pursued the continuation of free-market policies, streamlining the bureaucracy, enacting long-term stable governance, cutting taxes to attract greater foreign business ventures, luring foreign-working Poles back to Poland, and privatizing state-owned companies.^[6] The construction of a more adequate and larger national road network in preparation for the UEFA 2012 football championships has been a stated priority for the Tusk government.^[7]

On 27 October 2009, Tusk declared that he wants to partially outlaw gambling.^[8] There are some concerns on Internet censorship, as Tusk wants to ban Internet gambling and monitor Internet connections and money transfers.

During the 2009 swine flu pandemic, Tusk defended his government's decision not to purchase swine flu vaccine, citing the lack of testing by pharmaceutical companies and its unavailability to be purchased freely through the market. Tusk criticized other nations' responses to the pandemic. "The eagerness of some countries seems to be excessive and disproportionate to the real epidemiological situation", Tusk stated, referring to the pandemic's relatively low fatality rate.^[9] The government's decision drew harsh responses from opposition members in the Sejm.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy

European policy [link]

In continental policy, Tusk has strongly supported greater political and economic integration within the European Union, strongly backing the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, standing in stark contrast to President Lech Kaczyński's vehement opposition.^[10] Tusk has repeatedly stated his government’s intention in bringing Poland into the Eurozone. Originally wanting to introduce the euro by 2012, Tusk envisioned in 2009 a starting year of 2015 as "a realistic and not overly-ambitious goal".^[11] However, during the European sovereign debt crisis, Tusk and his government displayed less optimism in joining the monetary union under contemporary economic circumstances, leading to Finance Minister Jan Vincent-Rostowski calling any move "unthinkable."^[12] Despite not being a member of the eurozone, Tusk pressed that Poland, along with the other non-eurozone states of the EU, should be included in future euro financial negotiations.^[13]

Between July and December 2011, Poland under Tusk's government presided over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.^[14] Under its presidency tenure, Poland supported and welcomed Croatia's entry into the European Union through the Treaty of Accession 2011.^[15]

While being a constituent member of the Weimar Triangle with fellow states Germany and France, Tusk showed displeasure over German Chancellor Angela Merkel's and French President Nicolas Sarkozy's dominating roles in eurozone negotiations, remarking to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in January 2012 that "this should not translate into a lasting political monopoly: things cannot be left to only two capitals of Europe."^[16] While supporting Franco-German efforts to solve the crisis, Tusk believed the effort should be continental-wide, with EU states using their own initiatives.

Foreign policy [link]

In foreign policy, Tusk has sought to improve relations severely damaged during the previous Kaczyński government, particularly with Germany and Russia. While criticizing the words of German politician Erika Steinbach with regard to her opinion over the expulsion of Germans from Poland following World War II, Tusk has stressed the need for warm relations with Berlin.^[17] Tusk has also advocated a more realistic relationship with Moscow, especially in regards to energy policy.^[17] Under Tusk’s premiership, Russian bans on Polish meat and agricultural products have been lifted, while Poland reversed its official policy of disagreement on a European Union-Russian partnership agreement.^[18]

Donald Tusk with President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev in 2010

During a speech delivered to the Sejm in the first weeks of his premiership, Tusk outlined a proposal to withdraw military units from Iraq, stating that "we will conduct this operation keeping in mind that our commitment to our ally, the United States, has been lived up to and exceeded".^[19] The last Polish military units completed their withdrawal in October 2008.^[20]

In regards to U.S. plans of hosting missile defense shield bases in the country, Tusk hinted skepticism toward the project, saying that their presence could potentially increase security risks from Russia, and rejected U.S. offers in early July 2008.^[21] By August, however, Tusk relented, and supported the missile shield, declaring: "We have achieved the main goal. It means our countries, Poland and the United States will be more secure."^[22] Following President Barack Obama's decision to scrap and revise missile defense strategy, Tusk described the move as "a chance to strengthen Polish-US co-operation in defense..." He said: "I took this declaration from President Obama very seriously and with great satisfaction."^[23] Tusk later supported a smaller and more mobile defense strategy equipped with short-range missiles and fewer personnel.

Contrary to the condemnation of foreign governments and the leadership of the European Union, Tusk supported Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in his efforts of implementing a new controversial constitution. Tusk stated that the Hungarian constitution's democratic controversies were "exaggerated" and that Hungary had "a European level standard of democracy."^[24] Tusk's support for the Hungarian government garnered a rare show of solidarity with the opposition Law and Justice, which also publicly displayed support for Orbán's efforts.^[25]

In early 2012, Tusk announced his support for committing Poland to signing the international Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). In response, websites for the Chancellery, Sejm and Presidency were hacked in mid-January.^[26] Following Anonymous' claim of responsibility for the web attack, Tusk remained undeterred by internet protests, authorizing the Polish ambassador in Japan to sign the agreement, yet promised that final legislation in the Sejm would not go ahead without assurances regarding freedom to access the Internet.^[27] Despite the government's guarantees, mass protests erupted in late January, with demonstrations held in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław and Kielce.^[28]^[29] Further web attacks were reported on the website of Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski.^[30]

Constitutional reform [link]

The Tusk cabinet in Presidential Palace, November 2007.

After being elected prime minister, relations between Tusk and President Lech Kaczyński were often acrimonious due to different political ideologies and the constitutional role of the presidency. Using presidential veto powers, Kaczyński blocked legislation drafted by the Tusk government, including pension reform, agricultural and urban zoning plans, and restructuring state television.^[31] Tusk and Kaczyński repeatedly sparred over issues ranging from European integration, homosexuality, foreign policy, to constitutional issues, with Tusk taking more socially liberal opinions than the conservative Kaczyński.

In his premiership, Tusk has proposed various reforms to the Polish constitution. In 2009, Tusk proposed changes to the power of the presidency, by abolishing the presidential veto. "The president should not have veto power. People make their decision in elections and then state institutions should not be in conflict", said Tusk.^[32] Tusk again reiterated his desire for constitutional reform in February 2010, proposing that the presidential veto be overridden by a simple parliamentary majority rather than through a three-fifths vote. "Presidential veto could not effectively block the will of the majority in parliament, which won elections and formed the government", stated Tusk.^[33] Further constitutional reforms proposed by Tusk include reducing the Sejm from a membership of 460 to 300, "not only because of its savings, but also the excessive number of members' causes blurring certain plans and projects".^[33] Similarly, Tusk proposed radical changes to the Senate, preferring to abolish the upper house altogether, yet due to constitutional concerns and demands from the junior coalition Polish People's Party partner, Tusk proposed reducing the Senate from 100 to 49, while including former presidents to sit in the Senate for political experience and expertise in state matters.^[33] Parliamentary immunity for all members of the Sejm and Senate would also be stripped, except for in special situations.^[33] In addition, Tusk proposed that the prime minister's role in foreign policy decisions would be greatly expanded.^[34] By decreasing the president's role in governance, executive power would further be concentrated in the prime minister, directly responsible to the cabinet and Sejm, as well as avoiding confusion over Poland's representation at international or EU summits.^[35] The opposition conservative Law and Justice party deeply criticized Tusk's constitutional reform proposals, opting in opposing legislation for the presidency to garner greater power over the prime minister.^[36]

In an interview with the Financial Times in January 2010, Tusk was asked if he considered running again as Civic Platform's candidate for that year's presidential election. Tusk replied that although the presidential election typically drew the most voters to the polls and remained Poland's most high-profiled race, the presidency had little political power outside of the veto, and preferred to remain as prime minister. While not formally excluding his candidacy, Tusk declared that "I would very much like to continue to work in the government and Civic Platform, because that seems to me to be the key element in ensuring success in the civilisational race in which we are engaged".^[37] A day after the interview, Tusk formally announced his intention of staying as prime minister, allowing his party to choose another candidate (and eventual winner), Bronisław Komorowski.^[38]

Tusk receiving the Karlspreis

Awards [link]

The Karlspreis of the city of Aachen was awarded to Tusk on 13 May 2010 for his merits in the further unification of Europe and for his role as a "patriot and great European". He dedicated the prize to the people killed in a plane crash of a Polish Air Force Tu-154 in April 2010 including the Polish president Lech Kaczyński. The eulogy was given by German chancellor Angela Merkel.^[39]

He was also awarded a Economy Raspberry Award (similar to the Golden Raspberry Award in movies) by the Puls Biznesu ("Business' Pulse") and organizacja Pracodawców RP (Polish Employers Confederation) awarded to the persons who had negative influence in Polish economy, destroyed entrepreneurship and damaged quality standards of capital market.^[40] ^[41]

Electoral history [link]

Polish presidential election, 2005

1st round : 5,429,666 (36,3%) – head of the first round
2nd round : 7,022,319 (45.96) – defeated in the second round round against Lech Kaczynski

Prime Minister of Poland (vote of confidence)

2007

Yes – 238
No – 204
Abstain – 2

2011

Yes - 234
No - 211
Abstain - 2

References [link]

^ "PSL want to continue coalition in next year's general election". TheNews.pl (Polskie Radio). 18 November 2010. http://www.thenews.pl/national/?id=143700. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
^ mm, PAP, Gazeta.pl (2009-04-07). "Zmarła matka premiera Donalda Tuska". Wiadomosci.gazeta.pl. http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80273,6475126,Prezydent__Uczcijmy_minuta_ciszy_pamiec_matki_premiera.html. Retrieved 2010-03-14.
^ "Europe | Profile: Donald Tusk". BBC News. 2007-10-22. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7056054.stm. Retrieved 2010-03-14.
^ "Polish PM: There is no Polish culture without Jewish culture". Haaretz. 2010-02-10. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/972224.html. Retrieved 2010-04-04.
^ "Tusk takes over as PM". Polskie Radio. 2007-10-16. http://www.thenews.pl/national/?id=69544. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "Remaking Poland". Time. 2008-09-08. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1729145-1,00.html. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "Poland's derelict highways stall investments". EUbusiness. 2009-11-05. http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1241925431.97. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "Tusk dokona "ostatecznego cięcia" ws. hazardu w Polsce- Onet.pl — Wiadomości −27.10.2009". Wiadomosci.onet.pl. 2009-10-27. http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/2067607,11,tusk_dokona_ostatecznego_ciecia_ws_hazardu_w_polsce,item.html. Retrieved 2010-03-14. ^{[dead link]}
^ "Gov't defends stance on swine flu". Warsaw Voice. 2009-11-18. http://www.warsawvoice.pl/view/21311. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "Poland poses latest problem for EU". BBC News. 2008-01-07. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7483370.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "Poland delays adoption of the Euro until 2015". MercoPress. 2009-12-16. http://en.mercopress.com/2009/12/15/poland-delays-adoption-of-the-euro-until-2015. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "Adopting euro currency currently 'unthinkable'". Polskie Radio. 2011-11-24. http://www.thenews.pl/1/12/Artykul/59075,Adopting-euro-currency-currently-unthinkable. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
^ "Poland pushes for place at eurozone negotiations table". Polskie Radio. 2012-01-24. http://www.thenews.pl/9/7/Artykul/84094,Poland-pushes-for-place-at-eurozone-negotiations-table. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
^ "Half-year Polish Presidency in figures". Council of the European Union. 2011-12-28. http://pl2011.eu/en/content/half-year-polish-presidency-figures. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
^ "Croatia signs EU treaty". Polskie Radio. 2011-12-09. http://www.thenews.pl/9/7/Artykul/80187,Croatia-signs-EU-treaty. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
^ "Tusk - Don't leave crisis to Paris and Berlin". Polskie Radio. 2012-01-19. http://www.thenews.pl/1/12/Artykul/83696,Tusk-Dont-leave-crisis-to-Paris-and-Berlin. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
^ ^a ^b "Polish PM Calls for Unified European Crisis Strategy". Der Spiegel. 2009-03-02. http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,610726,00.html. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "Deal cools Polish-Russian relations". BBC News. 2008-08-15. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7562258.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "Poland to withdraw troops from Iraq". B92. 2007-11-24. http://www.b92.net/eng/news/world-article.php?yyyy=2007&mm=11&dd=24&nav_id=45669. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "Polish military marks close of Iraq mission". Radio Free Europe. 2008-04-10. http://www.rferl.org/content/Polish_Close_Iraq_Mission/1293972.html. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "Poland holds out over US missiles". BBC News. 2008-04-07. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7490146.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "Missile deal frays US-Russia ties". BBC News. 2008-08-26. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7573686.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "Polish hopes shot down by US move". BBC News. 2009-09-17. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8261941.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "PM Tusk defends Orban amid EU crisis talks". Polskie Radio. 2012-01-18. http://www.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/83652,PM-Tusk-defends-Orban-amid-EU-crisis-talks-. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
^ "Polish conservatives show solidarity with Hungarian Fidesz". Polskie Radio. 2012-01-17. http://www.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/83565,Polish-conservatives-show-solidarity-with-Hungarian-Fidesz. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
^ "Polish sites hit in Acta hack attack". BBC News. 2012-01-23. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16686265. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
^ "PM Tusk stands firm on ACTA despite internet attacks". Polskie Radio. 2012-01-24. http://www.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/84150,PM-Tusk-stands-firm-on-ACTA-despite-internet-attacks. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
^ "Poland signs ACTA agreement". Polskie Radio. 2012-01-26. http://www.thenews.pl/1/12/Artykul/84286,Poland-signs-ACTA-agreement-%E2%80%93-LIVE. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
^ "Thousands march in Poland over Acta internet treaty". BBC News. 2012-01-26. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16735219. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
^ "Anonymous hacks foreign minister’s web site". Polskie Radio. 2012-01-25. http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/84219,Anonymous-hacks-foreign-ministers-web-site. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
^ "Polish president, prime minister at loggerheads". Global Post. 2009-01-27. http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/poland/090127/polish-president-prime-minister-at-loggerheads. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "Polish PM says president should lose veto power". Buenos Aires Herald. http://www.buenosairesherald.com/BreakingNews/View/17934. Retrieved 2010-04-04.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Proponujemy zmiany w konstytucji". Civic Platform. 2010-02-10. http://www.platforma.org/pl/aktualnosci/newsy/art1932,proponujemy-zmiany-w-konstytucji.html. Retrieved 2010-04-04. (Polish)
^ "Poland's PM proposes constitutional changes". Civic Platform. 2010-02-15. http://www.platforma.org/en/about-civic-platform/art762,polands-pm-proposes-constitutional-changes.html. Retrieved 2010-04-04.
^ "Civic Platform overhauling the constitution". Polskie Radio. 2010-09-02. http://www.thenews.pl/press/?id=125258. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "Battle over the Constitution". Polskie Radio. 2010-01-15. http://www.thenews.pl/press/?id=123742. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "FT interview transcript: Donald Tusk". Financial Times. 2010-01-27. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9ad8793a-0b74-11df-8232-00144feabdc0.html. Retrieved 2010-04-04.
^ "Tusk not running in 2010 presidential election". Polskie Radio. 2010-01-28. http://www.thenews.pl/national/?id=124537. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ dw-world.de
^ http://tvp.info/informacje/biznes/przyznano-gospodarcze-maliny/6177494
^ http://biznes.interia.pl/news/tusk-i-zus-najwiekszymi-szkodnikami-polskiej-gospodarki,1745519

External links [link]

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(Polish) Prime Minister | Council of Ministers | The Chancellery of the Prime Minister

Political offices
Preceded by Jarosław Kaczyński	Prime Minister of Poland 2007–present	Incumbent

v t e Prime Ministers of Poland

Kingdom of Poland (1916–1918)	Kucharzewski · Ponikowski · Kanty Steczkowski · Świeżyński · Wróblewski

Republic of Poland (1918–1939)	Daszyński · Moraczewski · Paderewski · Skulski · Grabski · Witos · Ponikowski · Śliwiński · Nowak · Sikorski · Witos · Grabski · Skrzyński · Witos · Bartel · Piłsudski · Bartel · Świtalski · Bartel · Sławek · Piłsudski · Sławek · Prystor · Jędrzejewicz · Kozłowski · Sławek · Zyndram-Kościałkowski · Składkowski

Polish government in Exile (1939–1990)	Sikorski · Mikołajczyk · Arciszewski · Bór-Komorowski · Tomaszewski · Odzierzyński · Hryniewski · Mackiewicz · Hanke · Pająk · Zawisza · Muchniewski · Urbański · Sabbat · Szczepanik

People's Republic of Poland (1944–1989)	Osóbka-Morawski · Cyrankiewicz · Bierut · Cyrankiewicz · Jaroszewicz · Babiuch · Pińkowski · Jaruzelski · Messner · Rakowski · Kiszczak · Mazowiecki

Republic of Poland (1989–present)	Mazowiecki · Bielecki · Olszewski · Pawlak · Suchocka · Pawlak · Oleksy · Cimoszewicz · Buzek · Miller · Belka · Marcinkiewicz · Kaczyński · Tusk

v t e The Cabinet of Donald Tusk

Original members	Elżbieta Bieńkowska • Zbigniew Ćwiąkalski • Zbigniew Derdziuk • Mirosław Drzewiecki • Jolanta Fedak • Cezary Grabarczyk • Aleksander Grad • Katarzyna Hall • Bogdan Klich • Ewa Kopacz • Barbara Kudrycka • Maciej Nowicki • Waldemar Pawlak • Jan Vincent-Rostowski • Marek Sawicki • Grzegorz Schetyna • Radosław Sikorski • Donald Tusk • Bogdan Zdrojewski

Joined later	Michał Boni • Andrzej Czuma • Adam Giersz • Krzysztof Kwiatkowski • Jerzy Miller • Andrzej Kraszewski

v t e Parliamentary caucus heads of Civic Platform

Maciej Płażyński • Donald Tusk • Jan Rokita • Donald Tusk • Bogdan Zdrojewski • Zbigniew Chlebowski • Grzegorz Schetyna • Tomasz Tomczykiewicz • Rafał Grupiński

v t e Deputy Marshals of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (Third Republic)

1st term (1991–1993)	Henryk Bąk · Andrzej Kern · Jacek Kurczewski · Dariusz Wójcik · Józef Zych

2nd term (1993–1997)	Marek Borowski · Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz · Olga Krzyżanowska · Aleksander Małachowski · Józef Zych

3rd term (1997–2001)	Marek Borowski · Jan Król · Franciszek Stefaniuk · Stanisław Zając

4th term (2001–2005)	Andrzej Lepper · Tomasz Nałęcz · Donald Tusk · Kazimierz Ujazdowski · Janusz Wojciechowski · Józef Zych

5th term (2005–2007)	Janusz Dobrosz · Jarosław Kalinowski · Bronisław Komorowski · Marek Kotlinowski · Andrzej Lepper · Wojciech Olejniczak · Genowefa Wiśniowska

6th term (2007–2011)	Jarosław Kalinowski · Ewa Kierzkowska · Marek Kuchciński · Stefan Niesiołowski · Krzysztof Putra · Jerzy Szmajdziński · Jerzy Wenderlich

7th term (2011–)	Cezary Grabarczyk · Eugeniusz Grzeszczak · Marek Kuchciński · Wanda Nowicka · Jerzy Wenderlich

v t e Deputy Marshals of the Senate of the Republic of Poland (Third Republic)

1st term (1989–1991)	Zofia Kuratowska · Józef Ślisz · Andrzej Wielowieyski

2nd term (1991–1993)	Andrzej Czapski · Alicja Grześkowiak · Józef Ślisz

3rd term (1993–1997)	Ryszard Czarny · Stefan Jurczak · Zofia Kuratowska · Grzegorz Kurczuk

4th term (1997–2001)	Andrzej Chronowski · Tadeusz Rzemykowski · Donald Tusk · Marcin Tyrna

5th term (2001–2005)	Jolanta Danielak · Ryszard Jarzembowski · Kazimierz Kutz

6th term (2005–2007)	Ryszard Legutko · Maciej Płażyński · Krzysztof Putra · Marek Ziółkowski

7th term (2007–2011)	Krystyna Bochenek · Zbigniew Romaszewski · Grażyna Sztark · Marek Ziółkowski

8th term (2011–)	Stanisław Karczewski · Maria Pańczyk-Pozdziej · Jan Wyrowiński

v t e European Council

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v t e previous ← Candidates in the Polish presidential election, 2005 → following

Winner	Lech Kaczyński

Lost in runoff	Donald Tusk

Other candidates	Henryka Bochniarz · Marek Borowski · Leszek Bubel · Liwiusz Ilasz · Jarosław Kalinowski · Janusz Korwin-Mikke · Andrzej Lepper · Jan Pyszko · Adam Słomka · Stanisław Tymiński

Withdrew	Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz · Maciej Giertych · Zbigniew Religa

Died before election	Daniel Podrzycki

Recipients of the Charlemagne Prize

Richard Nikolaus Graf Coudenhove-Kalergi (1950)
Hendrik Brugmans (1951)
Alcide de Gasperi (1952)
Jean Monnet (1953)
Konrad Adenauer (1954)
Sir Winston S. Churchill (1956)
Paul Henri Spaak (1957)
Robert Schuman (1958)
George C. Marshall (1959)
Joseph Bech (1960)
Walter Hallstein (1961)
Edward Heath (1963)
Antonio Segni (1964)
Jens Otto Krag (1966)
Joseph Luns (1967)
The European Commission (1969)
François Seydoux de Clausonne (1970)
Roy Jenkins (1972)
Don Salvador de Madariaga (1973)
Leo Tindemans (1976)
Walter Scheel (1977)
Konstantinos Karamanlis (1978)
Emilio Colombo (1979)
Simone Veil (1981)
King Juan Carlos of Spain (1982)
The People of Luxembourg (1986)
Henry A. Kissinger (1987)
François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl (1988)
Frère Roger (1989)
Gyula Horn (1990)
Václav Havel (1991)
Jacques Delors (1992)
Felipe González Márquez (1993)
Gro Harlem Brundtland (1994)
Franz Vranitzky (1995)
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (1996)
Roman Herzog (1997)
Bronisław Geremek (1998)
Anthony (Tony) Charles Lynton Blair (1999)
William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton (2000)
György Konrád (2001)
The euro (2002)
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (2003)
Pat Cox (2004)
Extraordinary prize: Pope John Paul II (2004)
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (2005)
Jean-Claude Juncker (2006)
Javier Solana (2007)
Angela Merkel (2008)
Andrea Riccardi (2009)
Donald Tusk (2010)
Jean-Claude Trichet (2011)
Wolfgang Schäuble (2012)

Persondata
Name	Tusk, Donald
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1957-04-22
Place of birth	Gdańsk, Poland
Date of death
Place of death

http://wn.com/Donald_Tusk

http://it.wn.com/Donald Tusk

http://cs.wn.com/Donald Tusk

http://id.wn.com/Donald Tusk

http://es.wn.com/Donald Tusk

http://ru.wn.com/Туск, Дональд

http://nl.wn.com/Donald Tusk

http://pl.wn.com/Donald Tusk

http://fr.wn.com/Donald Tusk

http://de.wn.com/Donald Tusk

http://pt.wn.com/Donald Tusk

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Tusk

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

Nigel Farage MEP

Leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 November 2010
Preceded by	Jeffrey Titford
In office 27 September 2006 – 27 November 2009
Preceded by	Roger Knapman
Succeeded by	Lord Pearson of Rannoch
Member of the European Parliament for South East England
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 July 1999
Personal details
Born	(1964-04-03) 3 April 1964 (age 48) Kent, England, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Political party	UK Independence Party
Spouse(s)	Gráinne Hayes (1988-1997, divorced) Kirsten Mehr (1999-present)
Children	4
Alma mater	Dulwich College
Religion	Church of England
Website	Nigel Farage MEP

Party political offices
Preceded by ?	Chairman of the UK Independence Party 1998–2000	Succeeded by Mike Nattrass
Preceded by Roger Knapman	Leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party 2006–2009	Succeeded by The Lord Pearson of Rannoch
Preceded by Jeffrey Titford	Leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party 2010–present	Incumbent

This article is about the President of Poland. For the Catholic priest murdered during World War II, see Bronisław Komorowski (priest).

Bronisław Komorowski

5th President of Poland
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 August 2010
Prime Minister	Donald Tusk
Preceded by	Grzegorz Schetyna (Acting)
In office 10 April 2010 – 8 July 2010 Acting
Prime Minister	Donald Tusk
Preceded by	Lech Kaczyński
Succeeded by	Bogdan Borusewicz (Acting)
Marshal of the Sejm
In office 5 November 2007 – 8 July 2010
President	Lech Kaczyński
Prime Minister	Jarosław Kaczyński Donald Tusk
Preceded by	Ludwik Dorn
Succeeded by	Grzegorz Schetyna
Minister of National Defence
In office 16 June 2000 – 19 October 2001
Prime Minister	Jerzy Buzek
Preceded by	Janusz Onyszkiewicz
Succeeded by	Jerzy Szmajdziński
Personal details
Born	Bronisław Maria Komorowski (1952-06-04) 4 June 1952 (age 60) Oborniki Śląskie, Poland
Political party	Independent (2010–present)
Other political affiliations	Civic Platform (2001–2010) Conservative People's Party (Before 2001)
Spouse(s)	Anna Dziadzia
Children	5
Residence	Belweder
Alma mater	University of Warsaw
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature

Bronisław Maria Komorowski [brɔˈɲiswaf kɔmɔˈrɔfskʲi] ( listen) (born 4 June 1952) is Polish politician and historian. He current serving as President of Poland. As Marshal of the Sejm (Speaker of Parliament), Komorowski exercised powers and duties of head of state following the death of President Lech Kaczyński in a plane crash on 10 April 2010.^[1] Komorowski was the governing Civic Platform party's candidate in the resulting 2010 presidential election, which he won in the second round of voting on 4 July 2010. He was sworn in as fulltime President on 6 August 2010. Komorowski is thus the second person to serve on two occasions as the Polish head of state since 1918 after Maciej Rataj. Rataj, however, was twice Acting President, while Komorowski first acted as President, and then became elected President.

Komorowski was the Minister of Defence from 2000 to 2001.

1 Youth
2 Dissident activity
3 Third Republic
4 Marshal of Lower House
5 Acting President and President-elect
6 Family
7 Honours and awards
8 References
9 External links

Youth [link]

Bronisław Maria Komorowski was born in Oborniki Śląskie. Komorowski is the son of Count Zygmunt Leon Komorowski (1925–1992)^[2] and Jadwiga Komorowska (née Szalkowska) (1921–).^[3]

The Komorowski family, which held the Korczak coat of arms,^[3]^[4] owned land in the Żywiec region of southern Poland,^[5] as well as properties in northern Lithuania in Aukštaitija, the ancestral home of Bronisław Komorowski's paternal branch.^[2] Its residence was in Kavoliškis manor (Rokiškis district).^[2] The family received the title of count from Matthias Corvinus, a 15th century King of Hungary.^[5] The title was later confirmed by the Austrian emperor.^[5]

From 1957 to 1959 he lived in Józefów near Otwock. From 1959 to 1966 he also attended elementary school in Pruszków. In 1966 he transferred to Warsaw and graduated from Cyprian Kamil Norwid High School no. 24.

For many years he was affiliated with the Scout Movement. He belonged to the 75th Mazovian Scout Team in Pruszków. During his studies he was a Scout instructor in 208 WDHiZ "Parasol" Battalion in Mokotów. He met his future wife through Scouting.^[6]

In 1977 he finished his studies in history at the University of Warsaw. From 1977 to 1980 was an editor at the journal "Słowo Powszechne."

Dissident activity [link]

In the People's Republic of Poland he took part in the democratic movement as an underground publisher and co-operated with Antoni Macierewicz^[4] on the monthly Głos.^[4] In 1980 he was sentenced along with activists of the Movement for Defense of Human and Civic Rights to one month in prison for organizing a demonstration on 11 November 1979^[7] (the judge who presided the trial was Andrzej Kryże).^[7] From 1980 to 1981 he worked in the Centre of Social Investigation of NSZZ "Solidarity".^[7] On 27 September 1981 he was one of the signatories of the founding declaration of the Clubs in the Service of Independence.^[7] He was interned while Poland was under martial law.^[7] From 1981 to 1989 he taught at the Lower Seminary in Niepokalanów.^[7]

Third Republic [link]

Bronisław Komorowski as Deputy Marshal in Sejm, September 2007

From 1989 to 1990 he was the manager minister Aleksander Hall's office, and from 1990 to 1993, the civil vice minister of national defence in the governments of Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Jan Krzysztof Bielecki and Hanna Suchocka. In the early 1990s he was involved with the Democratic Union and Freedom Union (Unia Wolności). From 1993 to 1995 he was the general secretary of these parties.

As the candidate of the Democratic Union he was elected to parliament in 1991 and 1993. In 1997, during the 2nd Sejm, together with a group of Warsaw University activists under the management of Jan Rokita he created Koło Konserwatywno-Ludowe. In the same year Koło Konserwatywno-Ludowe joined the newly created Stronnictwo Konserwatywno-Ludowe, which joined Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność (AWS). In 1997 Komorowski was elected as a candidate of AWS. From 1997 to 2000 he presided over the Parliamentary National Defence Committee,

Bronisław Komorowski with Lech Kaczyński and Nicolas Sarkozy

and from 2000 to 2001 served as the minister of national defence in the government of Jerzy Buzek. In 2001, while still a minister in the minority AWS government, Komorowski, along with some activists from SKL, became a member of Civic Platform (abbreviated PO). He stood for election to the 4th Sejm as a candidate of PO. Again he was elected, this time for the Warsaw constituency. After the inauguration of the new parliament he resigned from SKL. Since 2001 he has been a member of the National Civic Platform Board. In the 4th Sejm he was the deputy chairman of the Parliamentary National Defence Committee and a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs.

He won election to the 5th Sejm in a district outside Warsaw. On 26 October 2005 he was elected Vice Speaker of the Sejm. 398 MPs voted in favour of his candidacy. His party had earlier recommended him as a candidate for Speaker. His candidacy, in defiance of precedent, was rejected by Law and Justice (PiS) which voted for Marek Jurek. This created an unfavourable climate further discussions regarding a PO-PiS coalition.

After the resignation of Marek Jurek as Speaker of the Sejm on 25 April 2007 Civic Platform announced Komorowski's candidacy for Speaker. On 27 April 2007 the Sejm rejected his nomination, and Ludwik Dorn from PiS became a new marshal. 189 MPs voted for Komorowski. Komorowski became Vice Speaker.

Komorowski took first place on the PO list for the Warsaw constituency in the 2007 parliamentary election and received 139,320 votes.

On 27 March 2010 he was chosen by PO members to be their candidate in 2010 presidential election.

Marshal of Lower House [link]

On 5 November 2007 in the first session of the 4th Sejm of the Polish Republic Bronisław Komorowski was elected Speaker by 292 votes. He stood against Krzysztof Putra from PiS who received 160 votes. Stefan Niesiołowski, Krzysztof Putra, Jarosław Kalinowski, Jerzy Szmajdziński were elected Vice Speakers.

Acting President and President-elect [link]

President Bronisław Komorowski with two former Presidents, Lech Wałęsa and Aleksander Kwaśniewski

Komorowski became Acting President on 10 April 2010 following the death of President Lech Kaczyński. His first decision was to announce seven days of national mourning beginning on 10 April.^[8] According to the Constitution of Poland, Komorowski was required to set a date for the next presidential election within 14 days of assuming the position, the election date coming within 60 days of that announcement. On 21 April, his office announced that the election would be held on 20 June.^[9] In the election, he got 41.54% of votes in the first round and then faced Jarosław Kaczyński, who got 36.46% of votes in the first round.

In the runoff Komorowski was elected President (8 933 887 valid votes, 53,01%) and formally took office on 6 August 2010.

Following the death of the chief of the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland

President Bronisław Komorowski during the speech in front of the National Assembly with Sejm Marshal Grzegorz Schetyna and Senate Marshal Bogdan Borusewicz behind him

Władysław Stasiak, Komorowski appointed Jacek Michałowski to succeed him on an acting basis.^[10] A high number of vacancies following the Smolensk crash necessitated numerous other appointments. On 12 April, he appointed retired General Stanisław Koziej head of the National Security Bureau in place of the late Aleksander Szczygło.^[11]

On 29 April 2010, Komorowski signed into law a parliamentary act that reformed the Institute of National Remembrance.^[12]

On 27 May 2010, Komorowski nominated Marek Belka, former Finance Minister and Prime Minister (2004–2005) of a then-leftist government, to be the President of the National Bank of Poland in place of the late Sławomir Skrzypek.^[13]

Following his election, Komorowski announced that he would resign from the Sejm on 8 July 2010, and thus cease to be Marshal and Acting President (his successor as Acting President was the next Marshal of the Sejm Grzegorz Schetyna, who held the position for about a month before Komorowski's formal inauguration).^[14]

Komorowski currently resides and works in the Belweder Palace instead of the Presidential Palace.

Family [link]

He has been married to Anna Dembowska since 1977. He has five children: Zofia Aleksandra (b. 1979), Tadeusz Jan (b. 1981), Maria Anna (b. 1983), Piotr Zygmunt (b. 1986) and Elżbieta Jadwiga (b. 1989).

He is a descendent of Polish nobility. He is distantly related to Princess Mathilde of Belgium, Duchess of Brabant, via her mother Anna Countess d'Udekem d'Acoz born Countess Komorowska.^[15]^[16]

Honours and awards [link]

Order of the White Eagle
Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta
Honorary doctorate from the Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius, Lithuania (14 January 2008)

President Bronisław Komorowski with Barack Obama (Washington)
President Bronisław Komorowski with Dmitry Medvedev
President Bronisław Komorowski with Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy
President Bronisław Komorowski with Dalia Grybauskaitė
President Bronisław Komorowski with Christian Wulff
President Bronisław Komorowski with Victor Yanukovych
President Bronisław Komorowski with Mykola Azarov
President Bronisław Komorowski with Pope Benedict XVI
President Bronisław Komorowski with Petr Nečas
President Bronisław Komorowski with Barack Obama (Warsaw)
President Bronisław Komorowski with Abdullah Gül

References [link]

^ "Parliament Head Komorowski Becomes Poland President after Kaczynski's Death". novinite.com. 10 April 2010. http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=115087. Retrieved 10 Apr. 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c Andrzej Hennel, "Drzewo genealogiczne Bronisława Komorowskiego. Kandydat herbu Korczak". (Genealogical Tree of Bronisław Komorowski. The candidate of the Korczak Coat-of-Arms.) Part two: "Kuzynka księżna z Belgii", Polityka Weekly, Warsaw, 15 June 2010.^{[citation needed]}
^ ^a ^b Andrzej Stankiewicz, Piotr Śmiłowicz, Zofia Wojtkowska, "Bronisław Komorowski. Człowiek, który płynie z prądem." (Bronisław Komorowski. A man's ability to go with the flow of life.) Part 1 of 4. Newsweek Polska, 19 March 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c Mariusz Janicki, "Komorowski Bronisław. Kandydat." Polityka Weekly, Kraj; 28 March 2010. (Polish)
^ ^a ^b ^c Andrzej Hennel, "Drzewo genealogiczne Bronisława Komorowskiego. Kandydat herbu Korczak". Part one: Historie polskich rodów, Polityka Weekly, Warsaw, 15 June 2010.
^ bronislawkomorowski.pl
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Bronisław Komorowski – Encyklopedia Solidarności
^ "Biuro Prasowe Kancelarii Sejmu". Orka.sejm.gov.pl. http://orka.sejm.gov.pl/webBPKS.nsf/pub/EPIA-84DFZC. Retrieved 15 Apr. 2010.
^ "Poland's snap presidential elections set for 20 June." BBC News, 21 April 2010
^ 15.04.2010 (22 Mar. 2010). "Nowy szef kancelarii Prezydenta". Tvn24.pl. http://www.tvn24.pl/12690,1651793,0,1,nowy-szef-kancelarii-prezydenta,wiadomosc.html. Retrieved 15 Apr. 2010.
^ ła. "Pierwsze decyzje Komorowskiego: gen. Koziej będzie szefem BBN-u". Wiadomosci.gazeta.pl. http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80269,7762298,Gen__Stanislaw_Koziej_nowym_szefem_BBN_u.html. Retrieved 15 Apr. 2010.
^ Poland's Komorowski approves shakeup of archive body. arabnews.com
^ Komorowski: Marek Belka kandydatem na prezesa NBP. gazeta.pl
^ Shortly Borusewicz, Schetyna later. To oni będą kolejno pełnić obowiązki prezydenta They will in turn serve as President of Poland
^ Prinses Mathilde verre nicht van Poolse interimpresident.
^ Bronislaw La princesse Mathilde, cousine éloignée de Bronislaw Komorowski.

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bronisław Komorowski

	Poland portal
	Biography portal

The only Official Biography of Bronisław Komorowski(in English)
The official website of the President of the Republic of Poland
Polish Lower House (in English – Polish version)
Civic Platform (Polish)
Wprost 24 (Polish)

Political offices
Preceded by Janusz Onyszkiewicz	Minister of National Defence 2000–2001	Succeeded by Jerzy Szmajdziński
Preceded by Ludwik Dorn	Marshal of the Sejm 2007–2010	Succeeded by Grzegorz Schetyna
Preceded by Lech Kaczyński	President of Poland Acting 2010	Succeeded by Bogdan Borusewicz Acting
Preceded by Grzegorz Schetyna Acting	President of Poland 2010–present	Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Donald Tusk	Civic Platform nominee for President of Poland 2010	Most recent

v t e Heads of state of Poland

Kingdom of Poland (1916–1918)	Provisional Council Regency Council

Republic of Poland (1918–1939)	Józef Piłsudski Gabriel Narutowicz Maciej Rataj (acting) Stanisław Wojciechowski Maciej Rataj (acting) Ignacy Mościcki

Government of the Republic of Poland in Exile (1939–1990)	Władysław Raczkiewicz August Zaleski Stanisław Ostrowski Edward Raczyński Kazimierz Sabbat Ryszard Kaczorowski

People's Republic of Poland (1944–1989)	Bolesław Bierut Aleksander Zawadzki Edward Ochab Marian Spychalski Józef Cyrankiewicz Henryk Jabłoński Wojciech Jaruzelski

Republic of Poland (1990–Present)	Wojciech Jaruzelski Lech Wałęsa Aleksander Kwaśniewski Lech Kaczyński Bronisław Komorowski (acting) Bogdan Borusewicz (acting) Grzegorz Schetyna (acting) Bronisław Komorowski

v t e Sejm Marshals of the Third Polish Republic

Wiesław Chrzanowski • Józef Oleksy • Józef Zych • Maciej Płażyński • Marek Borowski • Józef Oleksy • Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz • Marek Jurek • Ludwik Dorn • Bronisław Komorowski • Grzegorz Schetyna

v t e Ministers of National Defence of Poland

Piotr Kołodziejczyk • Jan Parys • Janusz Onyszkiewicz • Piotr Kołodziejczyk • Zbigniew Okoński • Stanisław Dobrzański • Janusz Onyszkiewicz • Bronisław Komorowski • Jerzy Szmajdziński • Radosław Sikorski • Aleksander Szczygło • Bogdan Klich • Tomasz Siemoniak

v t e previous ← Candidates in the Polish presidential election, 2010

Winner	Bronisław Komorowski

Lost in runoff	Jarosław Kaczyński

Other candidates	Marek Jurek · Janusz Korwin-Mikke · Andrzej Lepper · Kornel Morawiecki · Grzegorz Napieralski · Andrzej Olechowski · Waldemar Pawlak · Bogusław Ziętek

Rejected from race	Zdzisław Jankowski · Gabriel Janowski · Dariusz Kosiur · Bartłomiej Kurzeja · Krzysztof Mazurski · Paweł Pietrzyk · Roman Sklepowicz · Paweł Soroka · Bogdan Szpryngiel · Ludwik Wasiak · Józef Wójcik · Waldemar Urbanowski

Heads of state of the European Union member states

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronisław_Komorowski

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

Persondata
Name	Farage, Nigel
Alternative names
Short description	British politician
Date of birth	3 April 1964
Place of birth	Kent, United Kingdom
Date of death
Place of death

Persondata
Name	Komorowski, Bronislaw
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	4 June 1952
Place of birth	Oborniki Śląskie, Poland
Date of death
Place of death

Tusk, Donald Filmography

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