Andrzej Duda

Andrzej Sebastian Duda (born 16 May 1972) is a Polish lawyer and politician who has served as President of Poland since 6 August 2015. Before becoming president, Duda was a member of the Polish Lower House of Parliament (Sejm) from 2011 to 2014 and served as an MEP from 2014 to 2015.

Andrzej Duda in 2019

Quotes

• I was raised in a family that has always been Catholic, for generations. That's the type of family I grew up in. This connection to the Church, to the Catholic Christian community, was always a fact, from the beginning of my life.
  • "'The family has fundamental value' - an interview with Polish President Andrzej Duda" in Catholic News Agency (27 September 2020)

• Poland is stable politically. The opposition is making it impossible for parliament to work.
  • "Polish president tells opposition, Brussels to back off" in POLITICO (21 December 2016)

• I always say that as a President of my country, President of Poland, I would like to have the best relations with all our neighbors.
  • "In an interview with 77 WABC Radio" (23 November 2016)

• I will never agree with statements that Poles as a nation participated in the Holocaust or Poland participated in the Holocaust. It humiliates us and hurts us. In my own family, there were people murdered by the Germans, and first and foremost [to say the contrary] waters down what really happened.
  • "Polish president denies saying Israel is responsible for antisemitism" in The Jerusalem Post (29 September 2016)

• This is not why my parents’ generation for 40 years struggled to expel communist ideology from schools, so that it could not be foisted on children, could not brainwash and indoctrinate them. They did not fight so that we would now accept that another ideology, even more destructive to man, would come along, an ideology which under the clichés of respect and tolerance hides deep intolerance.
  • Comments on LGBTQ
  • "Polish president calls LGBT ‘ideology’ worse than communism" in Associated Press (13 June 2020)

• Peace and law - two words, without which co-existence of nations, ethnic groups or those whose religions are different, is unimaginable. Peace and law - terms that are beautiful, important, but very brittle, that need to be taken care of, than need to be - without any interruptions - treated well. We, the Poles, know it perfectly, that peace cannot be taken for granted.
  • "Speech At The UN" in Defence 24.com (30 September 2015)

• I wanted Poland to be, right from the start, a country of solidarity, a country not guided by the rule: the weaker has to die. Therefore, we tried to protect each and every life with the same commitment. Therefore, whenever we could, we tried to show solidarity with other nations who needed assistance at a given time.
  • "Speech by the President at the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly" (21 September 2021)

• If someone is undertaking aggressive military activities in Ukraine and Syria, if someone is bolstering his military presence near his neighbors ... then we have an unequivocal answer regarding who wants to start a new Cold War. Certainly, it is not Poland or the NATO alliance.
  • "Polish president Duda says Russia fomenting new Cold War" in Reuters (19 February 2016)