Jerzy Karol Buzek ([ˈjɛʐɨ ˈbuzɛk] ⓘ; born 3 July 1940) is a Polish politician and former Member of the European Parliament from Poland.

Jerzy Karol Buzek was born to a Lutheran family on 3 July 1940 in Smilovice, Czechoslovakia (at the time part of Nazi Germany and called Smilowitz).

In 1963 Jerzy Buzek graduated from the Mechanics-and-Energy Division of the Silesian University of Technology, specialising in chemical engineering.

On receiving the award again, as President of the European Parliament, he stressed that he was the first winner to be honoured for his work beyond the borders of Poland.

His return to political life in 2004 saw him gain the largest popular vote in Poland as the member for Katowice to the European Parliament standing for the Civic Platform.

[1] He pledged to make human rights and the promotion of the Eastern partnership two of his priorities during his term of office, which would last two and a half years, due to a political deal, Social Democrat MEP Martin Schulz who take over after that.

[15] The Lisbon Treaty, which came into force on 1 December 2009 shortly after Buzek assumed office, brought a conclusion to nearly a decade of internal discussions and greatly boosted the democratic powers of the European Parliament.

From very early on Buzek has been a vocal supporter of the treaty as part of a wider push for greater political integration in Europe.

[17] Since its introduction Parliament has equal rights with the Council of Ministers over 40 new fields within the "co-decision" procedure, such as agriculture, energy security, immigration, justice and home affairs, health and structural funds.

With the adoption of the six-pack, the EU significantly strengthens its budget discipline and moves towards true economic governance.

"[19] One of Buzek's major challenges as EP president was dealing with the allegations of corruption, illegal lobbying and mismanagement of public funds of which several members of the European Parliament have been accused in the wake of a cash-for-amendments scandal.

On 7 July 2011, the Conference of Presidents approved the first-ever code of conduct for MEPs and it was officially endorsed by the parliament on 1 December 2011.

[20] The code sets out rules and principles that MEPs should follow in their dealings with outside parties in order to avoid conflicts of interest.

The code contains an explicit ban on MEPs receiving payments or other rewards in exchange for influencing parliamentary decisions.