Bronislaw Komorowski – Keynote Speaker

Bronislaw Komorowski has led a remarkable life which eventually led to him being elected President of Poland in 2010.

Earlier in his career, Komorowksi was an underground publisher during the democratic movement. In 1980 he was arrested for participating in a demonstration with the Movement for Defence of Human and Civic Rights and put in prison. Komorowski was elected to parliament in 1991 and then again in 1993. From 1997-2000 he presided over the Parliamentary National Defence committee, at the end of which he served as Minister of Defence.

Bronislaw Komorowski became Vice Speaker for the Sejm in 2007 before finally being elected President in 2010 after the terrible air crash in Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski and scores of other senior Polish political and business figures.

In 2015, following his defeat in the second round of the presidential election, Bronislaw Komorowski conceded the presidency to rival Andrzej Duda, after the latter won a 51% majority. This was the tightest election in Polish history. His term ended on 6 August 2015, when Duda was sworn in as a new president.