Krystyna Maria Łybacka (; 10 February 1946 – 20 April 2020) was a Polish political figure who served in the country's national Parliament (
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 t ...
), since 1991 to 2014 and from October 2001 to May 2004, and was a member of the cabinet, with the title of
Minister of National Education.
A native of the small, west-central town of
Jutrosin
Jutrosin (german: Jutroschin, ''Gutterschin'', older ''Morginberg'') is a town in Rawicz County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland, with 1,947 inhabitants (2014). in
Greater Poland Voivodeship's
Rawicz County, Łybacka received her degree from the mathematics/physics/chemistry department at
Adam Mickiewicz University in
Poznań
Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...
. Earning a doctorate from the Mathematics Institute of
Poznań University of Technology in 1976 with the thesis, ''Random Division of a Square'', she remained on the faculty of the Institute's
Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
department. A member of
Polish Mathematical Society since 1969, wherein 1983-1986 she was a secretary, and in 1986-1989 - a member of the board of the Poznań Branch of the
Polish Mathematical Society.
During the years 1978–89, she was a member of
Polish United Workers' Party, the name used by the
communist party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
ruling Poland between 1948 and 1989 and, in 1993, joined its successor party, the
Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland
Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland (SdRP) ( pl, Socjaldemokracja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, SdRP) was a social-democratic political party in Poland created in 1990, shortly after the Revolutions of 1989. The party was the main party of ...
, becoming, in 1996, its leader in Poznań. In 1999, she rose to the head of Poznań
voivodeship sejmik ounciland, in December, to the deputy leader of the
Democratic Left Alliance's national leadership council. Starting with modern Poland's first entirely free election, in 1991, she was re-elected to the Sejm in each subsequent poll, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005, and 2007, serving on various committees, including the National Defense Committee and the Special Services Committee. In her 3rd term, she was deputy head of the Committee for Education, Study, and Youth, a position she also held in the 5th term.
In the aftermath of the
23 September 2001 parliamentary election, Prime Minister
Leszek Miller
Leszek Cezary Miller (Polish pronunciation: ; born 3 July 1946) is a Polish politician. He has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since July 2019.
From 1989 to 1990 was a member of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Pa ...
asked her to join his cabinet in the position of
Minister of National Education and Sport, which she fulfilled for the following two-and-a-half years from 19 October 2001 until 2 May 2004. Subsequently, in 2004–05, she was deputy leader of the Democratic Left Alliance's Parliamentary Club. Following her win in the
2007 election, with 24,405 votes in the Poznań constituency, she switched, on 22 April 2008, to the new Left grouping formed from the dissolved
Left and Democrats.
In
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
she was elected as
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 ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
(MEP) for the
Democratic Left Alliance party. In 2019, Łybacka received the Education, Culture and Media Award at ''The Parliament Magazines annual
MEP Awards
''The Parliament Magazine'' is a monthly EU politics, policy and culture magazine. Its website, www.theparliamentmagazine.eu, is a forum for discussion on the latest developments in EU politics and policy, featuring regular contributions from pr ...
.
See also
*
Members of Polish Sejm 2005-2007
References
External links
Krystyna Łybacka's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lybacka, Krystyna
1946 births
2020 deaths
People from Rawicz County
Polish United Workers' Party members
Democratic Left Alliance politicians
Members of the Polish Sejm 1991–1993
Members of the Polish Sejm 1993–1997
Members of the Polish Sejm 1997–2001
Members of the Polish Sejm 2001–2005
Members of the Polish Sejm 2005–2007
Education ministers of Poland
Government ministers of Poland
Women government ministers of Poland
MEPs for Poland 2014–2019
Women members of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland
20th-century Polish women politicians
Members of the Polish Sejm 2007–2011
Women MEPs for Poland