Andrzej Duda facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Andrzej Duda
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Official portrait, 2019
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| President of Poland | |
| Assumed office 6 August 2015 |
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| Prime Minister | Ewa Kopacz Beata Szydło Mateusz Morawiecki Donald Tusk |
| Preceded by | Bronisław Komorowski |
| Member of the European Parliament | |
| In office 1 July 2014 – 25 May 2015 |
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| Constituency | 10 – Kraków |
| Member of the Sejm | |
| In office 8 November 2011 – 1 July 2014 |
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| Constituency | 13 – Kraków II |
| Member of the Kraków City Council | |
| In office 2 December 2010 – 8 November 2011 |
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| Constituency | 2 – Prądnik Biały/Krowodrza |
| Undersecretary of State in the Chancellery of the President | |
| In office 16 January 2008 – 6 July 2010 |
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| President | Lech Kaczyński vacant |
| Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Justice | |
| In office 1 August 2006 – 15 November 2007 |
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| Minister | Zbigniew Ziobro |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Andrzej Sebastian Duda
16 May 1972 Kraków, Poland |
| Political party | Independent (2015–present) |
| Other political affiliations |
Law and Justice (2005–2015) Freedom Union (2000–2001) |
| Spouse |
Agata Kornhauser
(m. 1994) |
| Children | Kinga Duda |
| Residence | Presidential Palace |
| Alma mater | Jagiellonian University |
| Salary | ~300,000 zł (€64,000), annual |
| Awards |                |
| Signature |  |
Andrzej Sebastian Duda ( ahn-JAY-_-DOO-də; born 16 May 1972) is a lawyer and politician who has served as President of Poland since 6 August 2015.
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Early life and education
Duda was born on 16 May 1972 in Kraków, to Janina (Milewska) and Jan Tadeusz Duda, professors at the AGH University of Science and Technology. His grandfather fought in the Polish–Soviet War and later was a member of the Home Army during the Second World War.
Between 1987 and 1991, Duda attended Jan III Sobieski High School, Kraków, where he excelled in Humanities. He subsequently studied law at the Jagiellonian University, and earned a law degree. In 2001, he was appointed as a research assistant in the Department of Administrative Law of the Jagiellonian University's Faculty of Law and Administration. In January 2005, Duda earned a Doctor of Law degree (LL.D.) at the Jagiellonian University. Due to his political career, he has been mostly on unpaid leave from the university since September 2006, except for a 13-month interval beginning in September 2010, when he returned to the university. Additionally, he was a lecturer at Mieszko I College of Education and Administration, Poznań.
Political career
Duda began his political career with the now defunct Freedom Union Party in the early 2000s. After the parliamentary elections in 2005, he began his collaboration with the Law and Justice Party (PiS). He was an undersecretary of state in the Ministry of Justice between 2006 and 2007 before becoming a member of Polish State Tribunal from 2007 until 2008.
From 2008 to 2010, during the presidency of Lech Kaczyński, Duda was an undersecretary of state in the Chancellery of the President. In 2010, he was an unsuccessful candidate to become the Mayor of Kraków as a PiS candidate, but was more successful in the 2011 parliamentary election, where he received 79,981 votes for the Kraków area, and thus became a member of the Sejm.
In September 2013, the news magazine Polityka commended Duda for being one of the most active members of parliament, describing him as being open to opposition arguments and as refraining from personal attacks, as part of his role at the Commission for Constitutional Responsibility. Duda remained a member of the Sejm until he was elected to the European Parliament in 2014.
Presidency (2015–present)
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The first five-year term of Andrzej Duda began on 6 August 2015 with taking an oath of office during a National Assembly session.
Duda rejected the European Union's proposal of migrant quotas to redistribute asylum seekers, saying: "I won't agree to a dictate of the strong. I won't back a Europe where the economic advantage of the size of a population will be a reason to force solutions on other countries regardless of their national interests".
In September 2015 Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz declared that Poland, as an expression of "European solidarity", would take in 2,000 people over the next two years, mainly from Syria and Eritrea (out of 3,700 originally requested).
Duda and Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović were the originators of the Three Seas Initiative.
Duda repeatedly met with general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping, stating that "Polish companies will benefit hugely" from China's Belt and Road Initiative. Duda and Xi signed a declaration on strategic partnership in which they reiterated that Poland and China viewed each other as long-term strategic partners. Duda said that he hopes Poland will become a gateway to Europe for China.
In September 2017, his approval rating stood at 71% and in February 2018, at 72%, a record surpassed only by Aleksander Kwaśniewski, whose approval ratings surpassed 75% from 1995 to 2005.
On 6 June 2023, Duda presented three goals of Poland's presidency in the European Union in the first half of 2025. The first goal is to deepen transatlantic cooperation and strengthen the relationship between the European Union and the United States. The second goal is to further expand the community to include Ukraine, Moldova, and the Western Balkans, and in the future, other aspiring countries as well. The third goal will be to enhance Europe's energy security.
Constitutional crisis
Andrzej Duda refused to swear in any of the five Constitutional Tribunal judge candidates selected by the Sejm of the VII term. Three of them had been selected since 7 November 2015 whose election was declared constitutional. Between 3 and 9 December 2015, Duda swore in five other candidates for the same office selected by the Sejm of the VIII term.
On 28 December 2015, Duda signed the Constitutional Tribunal bill (passed on 22 December 2015 by the Sejm), which unequivocally breaches the Constitution of Poland according to the National Council of the Judiciary of Poland, the Public Prosecutor General and the Polish Ombudsman.
In July 2017, Duda informed the public he had decided to veto two controversial judicial bills backed by the government and passed by both houses of the Polish parliament. The President's spokesman subsequently said that the third act – the common courts bill – would be signed. The veto was just one example of Duda opposing the policies of PiS.
Politics of memory and the Holocaust
In February 2018, Duda said that he would sign into law the Amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance, making it illegal to accuse 'the Polish nation' of complicity in the Holocaust and other Nazi German atrocities, a measure that has roiled relations with Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu going as far as accusing the Polish government of "Holocaust denial".
In September 2022, Duda and his wife attended the funeral of Holocaust survivor Edward Mosberg in the United States, and Duda announced that he was awarding Mosberg the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, the highest Polish award in its class. He awarded it in recognition of Mosberg's achievements in advancing Polish-Jewish dialogue and developing cooperation between nations, and for preserving the memory of and communicating what happened in the Holocaust.
Stance on LGBT rights
In June 2020, Duda said that he would not allow gay couples to marry or adopt children. He also pledged he would ban LGBT teaching in schools.
On 4 July 2020, Duda proposed changing the constitution to ban LGBT couples from adopting children. On 6 July 2020, he signed a document with a presidential draft of the amendment to the Polish Constitution.
Personal life
Duda is married to Agata Kornhauser-Duda, a teacher of German at Jan III Sobieski High School in Kraków. They met as high school students, at a party. The couple have been married since 21 December 1994. They have one daughter named Kinga (b. 1995). Duda's father-in-law is Julian Kornhauser, a well-known writer, translator and literary critic.
Duda is a keen skier, and he participated in the Polish Academic Championships in Alpine skiing while he was a university student.
Duda is a practising Roman Catholic. He took part in religious ceremonies on many occasions, including Midnight Mass, the blessing of food on Holy Saturday, and the Corpus Christi procession in Kraków.
Honours
National Honours
Poland: Order of the White Eagle (ex officio)- Poland: Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (ex officio)
Foreign Honours
Belgium: Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold (2015)
Bulgaria: I Class Order of Stara Planina (Стара планина) (14 April 2016)
Czech Republic: Collar of the Order of the White Lion (15 March 2016)
Finland: Grand Cross with Collar Order of the White Rose of Finland (2017)
Greece: Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer (2017)
Italy: Knight Grand Cross decorated with Grand Cordon of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (17 April 2023)
Latvia: Commander Grand Cross with Chain of the Order of the Three Stars (2018)
Lithuania: Grand Cross with Golden Chain of the Order of Vytautas the Great (21 February 2019)
Norway: Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav (23 May 2016)
Portugal: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit Grand Cross (2008)
Romania: Collar of the Order of the Star of Romania (10 July 2016)
Slovakia: Grand Cross of the Order of the White Double Cross (2019)
Hungary: Grand Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit (2020)
Ukraine: Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 1st class (2021)
International Olympic Committee: Gold Olympic Order (23 July 2022)
North Macedonia: Grand Cross of the Order 8-September (24 October 2022)
South Korea: Grand Order of Mugunghwa (13 July 2023)
See also
In Spanish: Andrzej Duda para niños
