Karol Nawrocki: Who Is the Polish President-Elect?

In late May, CPAC hosted its first-ever conference in Poland, bringing together leaders from across the region working for a conservative Eastern Europe. Speakers covered a wide range of topics, including why the EU’s new Green Deal and its Migration Pact are bad for everyday Europeans, strengthening the US-Polish alliance, and bringing back traditional values of faith, family, and freedom. A few days later, Poland joined the wave of right-wing party victories sweeping through Europe from Finland to France by electing Karol Nawrocki, a Polish historian and conservative politician, as its new president.  

President-elect Nawrocki ran on a platform of “Poland first,” emphasizing that Poland “should preserve its identity” and “not be pushed to the margin of geopolitical changes.” He said, “Europe needs the strong conservative voice that comes from Poland” to help preserve the continent’s identity as well. Within the idea of “Poland first,” Nawrocki also brings opposition to automatic alignment with EU-wide policies, such as the Pact on Migration and Asylum and the Green Deal, instead focusing on the national sovereignty of Poland and traditional values. He believes in rights to faith, family, and freedom, and is intent on making them foundational in all aspects of Polish life, from education to government and the economy.  

In line with national sovereignty, Nawrocki supports strengthening the Polish military and believes it could help Ukraine with a few caveats. He is open to continued support in Ukraine by sending weapons, but is more reserved when it comes to allowing more Ukrainian refugees into the country. Poland has already accepted over two million Ukrainian refugees fleeing the fighting in their homeland. That adds pressure to available resources for all legal immigrants. At the same time, Nawrocki is a strong supporter of “defending [Polish] borders” because “we have the right to do that.” He believes that the president “has this responsibility to guard the security of the country,” which can be challenging with a massive influx of refugees and immigrants.  

As a conservative candidate who supports and advocates for traditional values being at the forefront of daily life in Poland, Nawrocki firmly opposes liberal policies, including liberalizing strict abortion laws. “We want to defend these values that we share together,” he said at CPAC Poland. “We need to make sure that Europe and the world grow and develop in spite of these trends, which pose a threat for us.”  

The president-elect is also in favor of stronger alliances with the West and is particularly interested in strengthening ties with the United States. For Poles, a “relationship with the US is based on the deep foundations of values such as freedom, democracy, and sovereignty, and many, many years of shared values.” Those values often include family and faith being paramount to an individual’s success, and, ultimately, the country’s success.  

President-elect Nawrocki will be inaugurated on the morning of Wednesday, August 6, and will succeed current conservative president Andrzej Duda.