The Fonds of Jerzy Buzek

Biography

Jerzy Karol Buzek was born on 3 July 1940 in Smilovice, Czechoslovakia. He graduated in 1963 from the Mechanics and Energy Division of the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, where he specialised in chemical engineering. He became a scientist in the Chemical Engineering Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Gliwice. In 1969, he was awarded a Ph.D. He spent 1971 on a research placement at the University of Cambridge. Buzek was a respected lecturer at the Silesian Institute of Technology in Gliwice and at the Opole Institute of Technology. In the early 1980s, his focus shifted to environmental protection. He eventually obtained the title of Professor of Technical Sciences. He was the Vice-rector of the Akademia Polonijna (Polonia University) in Częstochowa from 2002 to 2004, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the universities of Dortmund, Seoul and Isparta (Turkey) as well as the Technical Universities of Silesia, Opole and Łódź. 

In the 1980s, Buzek was an activist of the Solidarność (Solidarity) trade union and political anti-communist movement. He was a delegate to the Solidarność’s First National Congress of Delegates and later chaired the fourth, fifth and sixth Congress of Delegates. In 1981, he escaped incarceration and went underground to become the co-publisher of the illegal „S” bulletin. For a number of years, he was active in the underground regional and national authorities of the "S". A serious illness of his daughter made him quit underground activism.

From 1997 to 2001, Buzek was Prime Minister of Poland.

His return to political life in 2004 saw him gain the largest popular vote in Poland as the member for Katowice to the European Parliament standing for the Civic Platform. As in 2004, he received a record number of votes again in 2009, when he was re-elected MEP for the Silesian Voivodeship constituency.

On 14 July 2009, Buzek was elected President of the European Parliament. He was re-elected Member of the European Parliament in 2014 and 2019. 

He has been a member of the Delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and has been active in the Subcommittee on Security and Defence, the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly and the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee. He represented the European Parliament as an election observer during the 2004 elections in Ukraine.

Political Posts held

•    1980-1987: Solidarność (Solidarity) trade union activist
•    September 1980: Elected Chair of Solidarność’s Works Committee
•    1981: Delegate to the Solidarność’s First National Congress of Delegates, Chair  of the 4th, 5th and 6th National Congress of Delegates (1992-1994) 
•    February 1997: Coordinator of economy experts for the Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS) coalition
•    1997-2001: Prime Minister of Poland
•    1998: Founded the Family Foundation
•    1999: Elected Chairman of the political coalition Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS)
•    since 2004: Member of the European Parliament 
•    since 2004: Member of the European Energy Forum (2004-2014: Vice-President, since 2014: President)
•    2009-2012: President of the European Parliament
•    2014-2019: Chair of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

What's in the Archives

The fonds of President Jerzy Buzek’s cabinet contains 765 files, most of them in electronic format. These fonds reflect the activities of the President in the performance of his duties and the documents focus on the Cabinet’s relations with Parliament’s other Directorates-General and the Presidents’ contacts with the other EU institutions and Member States. Groups of documents containing information on speeches, press releases, interviews and participation in various events such as conferences, openings and seminars should be noted.

Reflections of Former Presidents of the European Parliament: Jerzy Buzek

Extract from Buzek's valedictory speech Strasbourg, Thursday 15 December 2011:

"If Sparta and Rome perished" wrote Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "what state can hope to last forever?" No human institutions are immortal. We Europeans must not be deluded into thinking that our Union is somehow an exception. To remain strong it requires an every day investment in our common future.

[...]

As President of the European Parliament I served you, and Europe's citizens. I have been incredibly honoured by your choice of two and a half years ago given with such a great majority.[...] I did everything in order not to disappoint your trust. I knew that I could count on you, no matter what our views were. Today I would like to give my report on the work of our Parliament: your work, as well as mine. This is not a detailed report. You will find such a document in your mailboxes in the New Year. However, I would like to present what we have achieved together, and what still remains ahead of us.

You know as well as I do that my term as President coincided with an exceptionally difficult time for Europe:

First, we introduced the Lisbon Treaty;

Second, we faced the crisis;

Third, we observed globalisation at an incredible speed.

Fourth, we stand in front of the most important decisions for our future.

[...]

Conference 'Integrating the wider Europe after the Lisbon Treaty'. David Harley (L), Jerzy Buzek (C), Alan Mayhew (R) © European Union 2011 – European Parliament

Let me address the citizens of Europe directly.

I understand that you may be disappointed. But Europe, in many respects, is the best place in the world. It is in our European diversity, creativity, and openness that you can best satisfy your aspirations and passions. Log in to our common European space, it is your Space.

And please do not let yourself be persuaded that there is a contradiction between being a good Pole and a good European, a good British citizen and a European citizen, a good Spaniard and at the same time a good European. This alternative is absolutely a false one. Europe allows you to discover the magic of the word "and": being a good citizen of your town, region, country - and your continent.

Dear Friends,

Paradoxically, through this crisis we are starting to see the emergence of a true demos. Europeans can see how interdependent we are. One country can undermine the whole economy, but many countries working together can solve the problem. This is why I have pushed for greater dialogue with people, and promoted the idea of a European civic space, in all my visits within the EU. Democracy built in such a way could be stronger than financial markets which are so influential on our political decisions, and everyday lives.

[...] I believe we need a "New Deal for Europe".

Ladies and gentlemen,

Our real problem is the lack of mutual trust, and the loss of a sense of meaning. As the historian Norman Davies wrote in Vanished Kingdoms, it is precisely through such a loss of purpose that powers fall.

We need a common project and not a mortgage on the next generation's future. In the thirties, while our continent was sliding towards tragedy, President Roosevelt saved democracy and the free market economy in the United States of America with his New Deal. Today, our crisis demands a New Deal for Europe.