Rafał Dutkiewicz

In 1982 he graduated in applied mathematics at the Faculty of Fundamental Problems of Technology at the Wrocław University of Technology. He also studied at the Department of Christian Philosophy of the Catholic University of Lublin, where in 1985 he defended his doctoral thesis with formal work entitled "The research on the method of semantic tables Betha"[1][2] promoted by Professor Ludwik Borkowski. He also attended the University of Freiburg in Germany.

He was a member of the banned Solidarity movement and later served as its secretary and president in the city.

In 2002, supported by the PO-PiS coalition, Dutkiewicz was elected as Mayor of Wrocław. In the following municipal elections, in 2006, he was re-elected in the first round of voting, gaining over 85% of votes.[3] His candidacy was supported by, among others, PO and PiS, and his election result was the second best in the country. In 2010 he won in the first round again, with approx. 72% of the vote, and has remained in office for a third term.[4]

He is longlisted for the 2008 World Mayor award.[5]

During Rafał Dutkiewicz's presidency, Wrocław has seen the highest number of investments in its post-war history. During that time, in the area of the Wrocław Municipality, over 40 thousand jobs have been created by foreign investors, and more than 120 thousand jobs have been created by local businesses.[6]

In recent years, Wrocław has hosted many important international events including the Weimar Triangle Summit Meeting (2003), FIBA EuroBasket (2009), Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships (2010), and the European Culture Congress (2011). Since 2010, Wrocław has been working together with the Atlantic Council to organize the Global Forum[7] – a prestigious meeting of politicians and diplomats.

Wrocław was one of the host cities of UEFA Euro 2012 Football Championship and will be hosting 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship. The city has been selected as a European Capital of Culture for 2016, a title shared with San Sebastian (Spain). In 2017 Wrocław will become an arena for the World Games - a competition in 37 non-Olympic sport disciplines. In the bidding process, Wrocław defeated, among other candidates, Cape Town, Moscow and Budapest.

• Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity (Italy, 2006)[8]
• Order of the Polar Star (Sweden, 2011)[9]
• Knight of the Legion of Honour (France, 2013)[10]
• Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland, 2015)[11]
• Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Germany, 2017)[12]

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