Mariusz Błaszczak (born 19 September 1969) is a Polish politician, historian, and local government representative. Błaszczak has served as Minister of National Defence of Poland from 2018 to 2023. On 22 June 2022, President Andrzej Duda nominated Błaszczak to succeed Jarosław Kaczyński as the Deputy Prime Minister of Poland.

Early life

Błaszczak was born in Legionowo to Lucjan and Danuta Błaszczak; his father worked at the FSO factory in Żerań.

Political career

In the 2002 Polish local elections, Błaszczak was the candidate of the Electoral Committee of Justice, Law and Self-Government Voters for the position of president of Legionowo. He obtained 11.02% of the votes and did not advance to second round. In the 2005 Polish parliamentary election, Błaszczak failed to run for the Sejm from the Warsaw PiS list. He became the spokesman of KP PiS in March 2009, then the chairman of the party's parliamentary club on 3 August 2010. Błaszczak was re-elected with 44,319 votes in the 2011 Polish parliamentary election. In the 2015 Polish parliamentary election, he was elected to the Sejm once again, this time receiving 73,139 votes. The same year on 16 November, Błaszczak was appointed Minister of Interior and Administration in the Cabinet of Beata Szydło. In the 2017 interview with Polskie Radio about the European refugee crisis, Błaszczak stated that thanks to Christianity, there were leaders like "Charles the Hammer who stopped the Muslim invasion of Europe in the eighth century". In August 2018, Błaszczak's public statements on TV Trwam regarding the equality parade in Poznań were described by some media and commentators as homophobic and constituted hate speech.

Minister of Interior

On 11 December 2017, Błaszczak became Minister of Interior of Poland in the First Cabinet of Mateusz Morawiecki. He resigned from the position on 9 January 2018, later replacing Antoni Macierewicz as Minister of National Defence.

Minister of Defence

In the 2019 Polish parliamentary election, Błaszczak successfully ran for parliamentary re-election, receiving 135,189 votes. The same year on 15 November, he became Polish Minister of Defence again, becoming part of the Second Cabinet of Mateusz Morawiecki. On 22 June 2022, Błaszczak was appointed to the position of deputy prime minister, replacing Jarosław Kaczyński. Błaszczak served as Vice-President of the Council of Ministers until 21 June 2023, but resigned together with other deputy prime ministers due to Jarosław Kaczyński's re-entry into the government. In the 2023 Polish parliamentary election, Błaszczak won a parliamentary seat for the fifth time in a row (with the result of 127,578 votes). Later that November, he became chairman of his party's parliamentary club again. Błaszczak left the office on 13 December 2023.

Honours