Morawiecki, Mateusz Jakub

Morawiecki, Mateusz Jakub, 1968–, Polish economist, banker, and political leader, b. Wrocław, grad. Univ. of Wroclaw, 1992, Wrocław Univ. of Science and Technology, 1993, M.B.A. Wrocław Univ. of Economics, 1995. A student activist, he followed his father into Fighting Solidarity, a radical offshoot of Solidarity, worked in publishing (1993–96), and taught at Goethe Univ. of Frankfurt (1996–97), Wrocław Univ. of Science and Technology (1996–98) and Wrocław Univ. of Economics (1996–2004). As deputy director of the Accession Negotiations Department in the Committee for European Integration in 1998, he helped negotiate Poland's accession to the European Union. That same year he joined Bank Zachodni WBK, a Polish bank, and ultimately served as its CEO (2007–15). He also was an economic adviser to Prime Minister Donald Tusk (2010). Having become a member of the Law and Justice party, he was appointed Polish minister of economic development (2015) and finance minister and deputy prime minister (2016). In Dec., 2017, he replaced Beata Maria Szydło as prime minister, but party leader Jarosław Kaczyński continued to be regarded as the real leader of the government. Morawiecki remained prime minister after the 2019 elections.

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