Borys Budka
Borys Piotr Budka is a Polish politician, member of Sejm of the 7th, 8th and 9th legislature, Minister of Justice in 2015, vice-president of the Civic Platform political party in the 2016–2020 period, leader of the parliamentary political group of Civic Coalition since 2019, leader of the Civic Platform from 2020 to 2021. Elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2024.
Life
Budka is the son of Józef and Maria Budka. He was born in Czeladź. In 2002, he graduated Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Silesia in Katowice. In 2007, Budka began practice as Legal Counsel. In 2011, at the University of Economics in Katowice, based on the Kwalifikacje pracownicze w stosunku pracy, he obtained a PhD in economics with a specialization in employment policy. After graduation, he worked as an academic teacher at the Department of Law at the Faculty of Finance and Insurance of the University of Economics.Local Councilor
In 2002 he obtained the mandate of a local councilor in Zabrze. In both 2002 and 2010 he was a local councilor belonging to Civic Platform. In 2006 he held the same function again as a member of the local committee. In 2002-2005 he was a vice leader of Gliwice City Council. In 2014, Budka was a candidate for the presidential election of Gliwice. He took third place.Polish Parliament
In 2011, Borys Budka obtained a parliamentary mandate in Gliwice constituency. He got 10 260 votes. On 30 April 2015, Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz announced his candidacy as Minister of Justice. He held this position on 4 May 2015. In parliament of the 8th term of office, he became a member of the Justice and Human Rights Committee and the Legislative Committee, and also became the co-leader of the Special Committee for Changes in Codifications. He was also appointed by the parliament to the National Council of the Judiciary. On 26 February 2016, Budka held the position of co-leader of Civic Platform's parliamentary club. On 12 November 2019, he became the new leader of the Civic Coalition parliamentary club. On 3 January 2020, he announced his start in the election as leader of the Civic Platform. On 25 January 2020, he was elected chairman of the Civic Platform, defeating Tomasz Siemoniak, Bogdan Zdrojewski and Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz in the first round of elections. He officially took the office on 29 January 2020, when the official election results were announced. He replaced the current party leader Grzegorz Schetyna. In 2020, he officially supported Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska in the presidential election.European Parliament
Elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2024. He is the Chairof the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy in the European Parliament.
Private life
Budka is married to Katarzyna Kuczyńska-Budka, a local councilor in Gliwice.He is a long-distance runner, preferring road running. He achieved his lifetime personal best marathon time of 2 hours, 39 minutes, 3 seconds in the 2009 first edition of the Silesia Marathon.