Michał Tomasz Kamiński (born 28 March 1972) is a Polish politician and a member of the Senate with the Union of European Democrats. He was chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists in the European Parliament from July 2009 until March 2011.
Kamiński was a founder member of the Christian National Union (ZChN) in 1989, and served on its board from 1995 to 2001. Kamiński was elected to the Sejm in 1997 for Solidarity Electoral Action, which included ZChN. In 2001, he joined the Right Alliance (PP), which merged with Law and Justice (PiS) the following year, having been reelected on the PP-PiS joint ticket in 2001. He was elected to the European Parliament in 2004, representing Warsaw. He stepped down to become Secretary of State for Media Relations in Chancellery of the President. He was returned as an MEP in the 2009 election, and was elected chairman of the new European Conservatives and Reformists group. In November 2010, he left PiS to form the more liberal Poland Comes First (PJN); while remaining in the ECR, he stepped down as chairman in March 2011.
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Biography
Early life
Kamiński attended XLIX Liceum Ogólnokształcące in Warsaw, and then studied International Relations and Diplomacy at the University of Warsaw. He first entered politics as a teenager, joining the National Revival of Poland (Polish: Narodowe Odrodzenie Polski) when he was 15. The present day NOP is considered to be anti-Semitic, though Kamiński has defended his membership of the organisation, arguing that it was a symbol of his opposition to communism and that the party was not anti-Semitic when he was a member. In 1989 he was one of the founding members of the Christian National Union, the youngest founder at 17 years of age. He was a radio and newspaper journalist and radio producer in Bydgoszcz and Łomża. He frequently published in Catholic journals and newspapers and before 1989 his work appeared in the underground press. During the 1995 Polish presidential election, he was press spokesman for Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz. Kamiński says he taught himself English by listening to illegal BBC World Service broadcasts.
Domestic career
He was elected to the Third Sejm on 21 September 1997 as part of the Solidarity Electoral Action (Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność) grouping of parties for the Łomża Voivodeship, and later Podlaskie Voivodeship.
In 1999, he visited London to present a gorget embossed with an image of the Virgin Mary to former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet along with Marek Jurek and the journalist Tomasz Wołek. "This was the most important meeting of my whole life. Gen Pinochet was clearly moved and extremely happy with our visit," Kamiński told the BBC's Polish service. In the same year, Kamiński won a journalists' award for being the best speaker in the Sejm. However, he later defended his visit to see General Pinochet, saying "we lived in this country subject to communist propaganda. We had little access to the real information, so for many Poles – not just me – this defence of Pinochet was across centre-right political parties in Poland and other eastern European countries at that time. It was my mistake, I admit it. I think every politician has the right to some mistakes. I made this mistake by just reversing the communist propaganda. It was a mistake that decent people of the left made when they were living under right-wing dictatorships – the kind of mistake where you just reverse the black and white propaganda. Today I know much more about Pinochet and I will never call him a hero again. It’s a question of context".
In July 2000, Kamiński used the word "pedał" (a derogatory Polish word for homosexual, usually translated into English as "fag" or "queer") in a TV interview to refer to gay rights campaigners. When asked by the reporter if such a term is offensive, his reply translates as: "That's how people speak, what should I say? They are fags." In a 2009 interview with Iain Dale he admitted the word was offensive and that he would never use it again. He confirmed he has homosexual friends and stated that he respects "the right [of gay people] to be treated with civility". In the same interview he expressed his pride that Poland was one of the first countries in Europe to decriminalize homosexuality and said that he has nothing against civil partnership legislation and "would consider voting yes" if he was still a member of the Polish Parliament. Also in 2000, he visited his first Conservative Party Conference, with Czech MEP Jan Zahradil.
He became a member of the Right Alliance (Przymierze Prawicy) in 2001, and then joined the new conservative party Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość) in 2002. Kamiński was re-elected to the Sejm, for its Fourth Term, on 23 September 2001, representing the constituency of Białystok. Law and Justice increased its Parliamentary number from 18 to 45.
European career
Kamiński was first elected to the European Parliament on 16 June 2004. During his first term in the Parliament, he was a Vice-Chairman of the (now defunct) Union for a Europe of Nations group and sat on the European Parliament's Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. He was a substitute for the Committee on Foreign Affairs, a vice-chair of the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and a substitute for the Delegation for relations with the countries of Central America. He was one of the most active Polish MEPs, and wrote a report examining possible Ukrainian membership of the EU. Kamiński is considered a key ally of President Lech Kaczyński, as well as being a modernising, moderating influence on Law and Justice in contrast to other Law and Justice politicians such as leader Jarosław Kaczyński. The BBC described him as "a 'spin doctor' – media-savvy, smartly dressed with fashionable spectacles, one of the masterminds of conservative President Lech Kaczynski's successful election campaign in 2005". On 13 July 2007 Kamiński was appointed Secretary of State in the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland, responsible for media policy. He vacated his European Parliament seat on 6 August, and was replaced by Ewa Tomaszewska. In his maiden speech, Kamiński demonstrated his admiration for Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan:
As a Pole, I take particular pride in pointing out to the House that today’s celebrations would not be taking place were it not for the spiritual inspiration of our great fellow countryman, His Holiness John Paul II. He inspired Solidarity, the powerful social movement that led to the fall of Communism. President Lech Wałęsa, the leader of this movement became a symbol of the struggle for democracy and human rights for the world. He is our guest today in this Chamber. I also want to recall with pride that the leaders of my party, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Law and Justice), as well as many of its members, were active participants in the movement for political independence that was Solidarity. At this time I would also like to express gratitude to two great leaders of the Western world whose steadfast attitude in the eighties helped break the fetters that bound the nations of Eastern and Central Europe. I would like to thank Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan.
He was re-elected as an MEP for Warsaw in 2009, now sitting in the new European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR). In the inaugural session of the 2009–2014 European Parliament session, he was the official ECR candidate for one the Vice-President of the European Parliament positions. However, he was not elected, largely due to the intervention of the British Conservative Edward McMillan-Scott who ran as an independent candidate from the ECR group. McMillan-Scott ran, as he was "unhappy with a lack of debate about Kamiński's candidacy and the controversial new alliance". Kamiński then became the first permanent chairman of the ECR group as a compromise measure, with Timothy Kirkhope stepping aside, in order for him to take up the position. He is the first person from Central Europe to lead one of the political groups of the European Parliament. As chairman of the ECR, he is a member of the exclusive Conference of Presidents.
Return to domestic politics
In 2019, he was elected to the Senate in the 2019 Polish parliamentary election representing the Polish People's Party. In November 2019, he was elected Deputy Marshal of Senate. In 2023, he was successfully re-elected to the Senate as a candidate of the Third Way political alliance.
Political views
History
His views are described as "Euro-sceptic, free-market and Atlanticist" by Daniel Hannan MEP, who also described Kamiński as "the closest thing to a British Tory outside the Carlton Club."
Kamiński has spoken of his support for the Treaty of Lisbon which he believes "guarantees Poland's sovereignty". He has also spoken in favour of the Common Agricultural Policy. Nevertheless, in his debut speech in the European Parliament as ECR chairman he called on the EU political leaders to respect the Irish "no" vote to the Lisbon Treaty.
Holocaust
In February 2018, the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stated that "there were Jewish perpetrators" of the Holocaust, "not only German perpetrators." Kamiński said he hopes Morawiecki "is being stupid and not ruthless." Prime Minister Morawiecki also paid respect to the Holy Cross Mountains Brigade, a right-wing Polish militia that, according to some historians, collaborated with Nazi Germany. Kamiński told The Jerusalem Post that the Holy Cross Mountains Brigade is "the only possible part of Polish resistance who actively collaborated with Germans...and he is visiting their graves and I cannot understand it."
In March 2019, the low-circulation right-wing weekly Tylko Polska ran a headline "How to spot a Jew" on its front page alongside a picture of Jan Gross. When he saw the newspaper being sold in the Sejm, Kamiński said that it was an "absolute scandal" that "filthy texts, as if taken from Nazi newspapers" were sold at the parliament.
In November 2024, following the Lithuanian parliamentary election, Kamiński criticized the decision of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party to invite the nationalist Dawn of Nemunas party to join the ruling coalition. The founder of the latter party, Remigijus Žemaitaitis, is known for his antisemitic statements. In a Facebook post, Kamiński wrote that "in days when in Europe we again see pogroms, when Russia openly supports the enemies of Israel, there can be no place for antisemitism".
Poland-Ukraine relations
Kaminski is an ardent supporter of Ukraine's independence and integration with the European community and he strongly condemned the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, in 2026, he made the decision to return his Ukrainian Order of Merit as a protest against awarding a Ukrainian military unit with the title of "Heroes of UPA" by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He stated that he made this decision considering that the actions of President Zelenskyy received full support of former Ukrainian presidents and the Ukrainian political elites. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army is remembered in Poland for its role in the Volhynia Massacres of 1943-45 while in Ukraine the formation is best remembered for its fight for independence against the Soviets.
Personal life
In his private life, Kamiński's passions include books, foreign languages as well as football. He lives in the Warsaw neighbourhood of Wawer.
Honours
Order of Merit, 3rd Class (Ukraine, 2008, returned in 2026)
Order of Infant Henry with Grand Ribbon (Portugal, 2008)
Hungarian Order of Merit, Commander's Cross (Hungary, 2009)
Order of Merit of the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuania, 2009)
National Order of Merit, Honorary Officer (Malta, 2009)
Presidential Order of Excellence (Georgia, 2010)