Ryszard Legutko

Legutko in 2005

Ryszard Antoni Legutko (born December 24, 1949 in Cracow ) is a Polish philosopher and politician of the Law and Justice Party (PiS). He is a professor of humanities. From 2005 to 2007 he was a member of the Senate, briefly became Minister of Education in 2007 and then State Secretary in the President's office . He has been a member of the European Parliament since 2009 .

academic career

Legutko studied English philology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow from 1968 to 1973 , graduated with a master's degree in English and then studied philosophy until 1976. Since 1975 he also worked as a university lecturer.

In 1981 he received his doctorate in philosophy. In the 1980s he was one of the editors of the oppositional samizdat "Arka".

After the system change, he completed his habilitation in 1991, still at the Jagiellonian University, on the subject of "Critique of Democracy in Plato's Political Philosophy " ( Krytyka demokracji w filozofii politycznej Platona ). From 1992 to 1998 he taught there as a professor of humanities.

In 1992 he co-founded the conservative think tank Ośrodek Myśli Politycznej (Center for Political Thought), which he headed as president from the beginning until 2005.

Legutko has published numerous articles and books, many of which deal with the philosophy of Plato. He also translated and commented on Plato's works Phaedo , Euthyphron and Apology .

Political career

Legutko was elected to the Polish Senate for PiS in Cracow in 2005 . There he held the office of deputy spokesman until November 4, 2007. Appointed Minister of Education in the Kaczyński cabinet on August 13, 2007 , he had to resign on November 16 of the same year due to the early elections (October 21).

Since Legutko also missed entry into the Sejm in these elections , he was appointed State Secretary in the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland on December 4th . He held this position until April 16, 2009.

He then successfully ran for the 2009 European elections . In 2014 he again succeeded in entering the European Parliament. There he is currently Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET). Legutko is also vice-chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group and is a member of the delegations for relations with the Mercosur countries and for the Euro- Latin American Parliamentary Assembly .

Political positions and criticism

His statement made in 2009 to pupils who campaigned for the removal of Christian crosses from the rooms of public schools caused a sensation, stating that they were twisted snot noses ("rozpuszczeni smarkacze") and that their statements were typical blage riots ("typowa szczeniacka zadyma"). The pupils relied on a decision by the European Court of Human Rights , according to which the use of such religious symbols could constitute a violation of freedom of thought (see Crucifix Decision ). Legutko was convicted of violating personal rights for these statements, against which he tried unsuccessfully to defend himself by invoking his parliamentary immunity .

Web links

Commons : Ryszard Legutko  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry on Ryszard Legutko in the Members' database of the European Parliament

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Elected in the 7th electoral term (2009-2014) and the 8th electoral term (2014-2019)
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Entry on Ryszard Legutko in the Members' database of the European Parliament
3. ↑ Artur Drożdżak: Wrocław: Legutko odpowie przed SADEM za "smarkaczy". In: Gazeta Wrocławska. November 17, 2010, accessed October 29, 2015 (Polish). 
4. ^ Judgment of the ECHR of November 3, 2009 in the case of Soile Lautsi / Italy - 30814/06 LAUTSI AND OTHERS v. ITALY . Repealed by the Grand Chamber on March 18, 2011 .