Michał Wawrykiewicz (born 11 May 1971) is a Polish lawyer and politician of the Civic Coalition who was elected

member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Commu ...

2024 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1928 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ***'' Steamboat Willie'', Walt Disney ...

. He is a co-founder of

Free Courts Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procur ...

and the Justice Defence Committee, which advocate for the rule of law.

Biography

Education and legal career

A graduate of the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

. Between 1990 and 1996, he studied at the Faculty of Law and Administration, where he obtained a Master’s degree in

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...

. In 1999, he completed his legal apprenticeship, took a

bar exam A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associa ...

and began practising law. In July 2017, together with Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram, Maria Ejchart, and Paulina Kieszkowska, he co-founded the

(Wolne Sądy) initiative, an informal group of lawyers engaged in activities supporting the rule of law. In 2018, as part of Free Courts, he was one of the initiators of the Justice Defence Committee, a platform for cooperation among several civic organizations and legal associations, providing legal assistance to persecuted judges and prosecutors. Along with Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram, he also represented Bart Staszewski in cases regarding the prohibition of distributing “

LGBT-free zone LGBT-free zones ( pl, Strefy wolne od LGBT) or LGBT ideology-free zones ( pl, Strefy wolne od ideologii LGBT) are municipalities and regions of Poland that have declared themselves unwelcoming of what they described as "LGBT ideology", in order ...

” stickers, as well as

Elżbieta Podleśna Elżbieta Podleśna (; born ),
CNN, Paul P. Murphy and Antonia ...

in a defamation case against

Magdalena Ogórek Magdalena Agnieszka Ogórek (; born 23 February 1979) is a Polish TV presenter and politician. In 2015 she was a presidential candidate of Democratic Left Alliance. Early life and education Ogórek was born in Rybnik, Poland. In 2002, she compl ...

and

Rafał Ziemkiewicz Rafał is the Polish form of the male given name Raphael. Rafał (Polish pronunciation: ) may refer to: * Rafał Śliż (born 1983), Polish ski jumper * Rafał A. Ziemkiewicz (born 1964), Polish fiction author and journalist * Rafał Andraszak ( ...

. Michał Wawrykiewicz represented Polish

judges A judge is an official who presides over a court. Judge or Judges may also refer to: Roles *Judge, an alternative name for an adjudicator in a competition in theatre, music, sport, etc. *Judge, an alternative name/aviator call sign for a memb ...

before the

Court of Justice of the European Union The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) (french: Cour de justice de l'Union européenne or "''CJUE''"; Latin: Curia) is the judicial branch of the European Union (EU). Seated in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembou ...

in consolidated cases related to

preliminary questions A preliminary ruling is a decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the interpretation of European Union law that is given in response to a request (preliminary reference) from a court or a tribunal of a member state. A preliminary ruli ...

concerning the compliance of the new method of appointing the

National Council of the Judiciary In the European continental judicial tradition, the national councils of the judiciary are institutions that ensure the self-management of the judiciary and the effective delivery of justice, which are autonomous or independent of the executive a ...

and the establishment of the Disciplinary Chamber of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

with the EU principle of the rule of law (which resulted in a judgment on November 19, 2019). He also represented Igor Tuleya before the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

in the case of Tuleya v. Poland. Since 2016, he has been active as a consultant and expert for

parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

working groups, preparing opinions for the

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

’s Bureau of Research and serving as a legal expert for the Speaker of the Senate in legislative processes. He has also been a consultant for the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...

’s

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(LIBE) regarding the rule of law in Poland. Additionally, he participated as a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

expert in a Consolidation of the Justice System in Albania project (EURALIUS). He is the author and co-author of texts published by ''

OKO.press OKO.press is a Polish investigative journalism website created on 15 June 2016. The name is a word play on ''oko'', Polish for ''eye'', and an abbreviation for "Ośrodek Kontroli Obywatelskiej" (''Centre for Civic Control''). OKO.press is fund ...

'', ''Liberté!'', and ''

Verfassungsblog Verfassungsblog () is an academic blog published in German and English, which focuses on the constitutional law of Germany and Europe in general. It was founded on 30 July 2009 by and is now published in cooperation with the Berlin Institute for ...

''. In 2022, he became a fellow of the ''

National Endowment for Democracy The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is an organization in the United States that was founded in 1983 for promoting democracy in other countries by promoting political and economic institutions such as political groups, trade unions, ...

'' in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, where he worked on a program focusing on the role of civic movements in defending the rule of law and

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

. As part of this fellowship, he delivered lectures at universities such as Harvard,

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

Georgetown Georgetown or George Town may refer to: Places Africa *George, South Africa, formerly known as Georgetown * Janjanbureh, Gambia, formerly known as Georgetown *Georgetown, Ascension Island, main settlement of the British territory of Ascension Isl ...

, and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

. In 2023, he co-founded and became a board member of '' DemoCrisis'', an international organization dedicated to protecting the rule of law and judicial independence.

Political career

In the

2019 European Parliament elections Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

, he unsuccessfully ran for an

MEP MEP may refer to: Organisations and politics * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, a political party in Sri Lanka * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (1956), a former political alliance in Sri Lanka * Maison européenne de la photographie, a photography centre ...

mandate in District No. 7 in Poland as an

independent candidate An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views th ...

on the ''

European Coalition European Coalition was the name adopted by various electoral coalitions formed in Spain for elections to the European Parliament. The coalitions were headed by Canarian Coalition. In 2019 the European Coalition was formed in Poland for elections to ...

'' list, receiving 35,750 votes. In 2024, he ran again in the same district in the next

European Parliament elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Unti ...

(as an independent candidate supported by the '' Civic Coalition''). This time, he received 119,068 votes (11.58% of the votes in the district), securing an MEP mandate. In the 10th term of the European Parliament, he joined the ''European People’s Party'' (EPP) faction. He became a member of the ''Committee on Legal Affairs'' (JURI) and the ''Delegation for Relations with the United States'' (D-US). Additionally, he serves as a substitute member of the ''Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs'' (LIBE), where he holds the position of EPP vice-coordinator, as well as the ''Special'' ''committee on the European Democracy Shield'' (EUDS). He is a board member of the ''Anti-Corruption Intergroup''. Moreover, he acts as the shadow rapporteur for a report on the rule of law in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

. As part of his MEP mandate, Michał Wawrykiewicz participated in an

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

observation mission in

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnist ...

in October 2024. On October 23, 2024, on the anniversary of the outbreak of the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hung ...

, he delivered a speech at Bem Square in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, during a protest organized by the leader of the Hungarian opposition, Péter Magyar. In December 2024, he took part in a mission to

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

, where he met with

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

Salome Zourabichvili Salome Zourabichvili ( ka, სალომე ზურაბიშვილი, ; born 18 March 1952) is a Franco-Georgian political figure and former diplomat who currently serves as the fifth President of Georgia, in office since December 201 ...

, opposition leaders, and representatives of

non-governmental organizations A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

in connection with ongoing

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Politi ...

and pro-democratic protests.

Personal life

He is the brother of rapper

Jędker Jędker (), real name Andrzej Wawrynkiewicz (), is a rapper from Warsaw, Poland. Member of ZIP Skład (Ziomki i Przyjaciele) and WWO (W Witrynach Odbicia, W Wyjątkowych Okolicznościach), together with DJ Deszczu Strugi, and Sokół Sokół ( ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wawrykiewicz, Michal 1971 births Living people Civic Coalition (Poland) MEPs for Poland 2024–2029 21st-century Polish politicians 21st-century Polish lawyers