Renata Beger
Encyclopedia
Renata Beger is a Polish politician
, a prominent member of the populist
political party
Samoobrona and a member of the Sejm
(lower chamber of the Polish parliament
) between 2001 and 2007.
Samoobrona board in 1992, and served in that function until 2001, when she was elected to the Sejm
as a representative for the Piła district. She gained some media attention, as well as became an object of ridicule, mostly due to her relatively low education for a member of Parliament (see below) and lack of experience with affairs of state, as well as devout support for her party's leader, Andrzej Lepper
.
set up to investigate a major corruption scandal that marred the fourth term of the Polish parliament, the Rywin affair
. The committee's sittings, which included hearings
of witness
es, were televised live and became some of the most publicized and discussed events in Poland at their time. Beger became notorious for her unique style of conducting those and very unusual questions, and her alleged lack of knowledge or experience in many areas the committee was dealing with.
, Beger renounced her legal immunity
as a member of the Sejm, as well as was expelled from the special committee in October. Formal proceedings began only in November 2004, and extended well into Beger's second term. She was formally convicted of counterfeit on 30 June 2006 and sentence of 2 years of incarceration suspended for 5 years.
riding on her acquired popularity. During the term, as a Samoobrona representative, she found herself a member of the parliamentary coalition supporting the Prawo i Sprawiedliwość-led governments
of first Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
and then Prawo i Sprawiedliwość chairman, Jarosław Kaczyński.
The coalition was marred by tensions between its members, and finally collapsed when Andrzej Lepper
, the leader of Samoobrona, repeatedly vowed that he and his party would not support the budget proposition approved by the Council of Ministers. This led to Kaczyński deposing Lepper of his post of deputy prime minister, but at the same time in need of parliamentary majority to support the government. As none of the remaining parties present in the Sejm would, or could, replace the Samoobrona in supporting Kaczyński's cabinet, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość had to resort to convince individual Samoobrona representatives to defect from the party in order to vote in favor of the government, which led to accusations of unethical dealing on their side.
On 26 September 2006 the TVN (Poland)
television channel broadcast, as a part of the "Teraz My" (Now We) show, footage recorded by Beger using a hidden camera, of her in an informal conversation with government minister Adam Lipiński
, discussing possible nomination
Beger could receive for defecting from Samoobrona to support and remain in the government coalition. The talks, initiated by Beger, involved the possibility of acquiring a government post. Support with current legal proceedings against her, as shown on tape, were rejected by government minister Adam Lipiński.
In an opinion poll conducted immediately after the footage was revealed, 66% of the respondents defined Prawo i Sprawiedliwość politicians' actions as "political corruption" and the same percentage demanded the Kaczyński government to resign. Beger filed a motion for prosecution against Prawo i Sprawiedliwość. Another poll showed that 58% of Poles see the actions as a provocation of political opponents, rather than explicit "corruption"."Dziennik", September 28, 2006
In the 2007 early parliamentary elections
, called after the final collapse of the coalition Government, Samoobrona failed to pass the 5% electoral threshold, required to be represented in the Sejm. Therefore, along with her party colleagues, Renata Beger is no longer a member of the polish parliament.
"like horse liked oats". Her attempts at formal speeches were often failed due to gaffes such as calling United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan
Annan Kofan on TV. Beger was frequently ridiculed by satrists and some artists, including singers and bands such as Paweł Kukiz or Big Cyc
recording songs devoted to her.
Beger famously skipped a sitting of her special parliamentary committee in order to attend a recording of a popular talk show as a celebrity guest. Over time, Beger became a popular celebrity, appearing in TV programmes and displaying a more cultivated image, including her participation in a charity fashion show as a model or in a TV dance show.
, and did not even have the matura
upon being elected for the first time. Her matura exam in 2004 was widely publicized in the media - she got a 2 (lowest passing grade) in Polish
and 4 in geography
. She then went on to become an extramural student of the faculty of political science
at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
.
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, a prominent member of the populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
Samoobrona and a member of the Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
(lower chamber of the Polish parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
) between 2001 and 2007.
Political career
Beger became a vice-chairman of the local Wielkopolska voivodshipGreater Poland Voivodeship
Wielkopolska Voivodeship , or Greater Poland Voivodeship, is a voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Poznań, Kalisz, Konin, Piła and Leszno Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998...
Samoobrona board in 1992, and served in that function until 2001, when she was elected to the Sejm
Polish parliamentary election, 2001
Polish parliamentary election in 2001 to Sejm and Senate of Poland were held on the 23rd September. In Sejm elections, 46.29% of citizens cast their votes, 96.01% of those were counted as valid...
as a representative for the Piła district. She gained some media attention, as well as became an object of ridicule, mostly due to her relatively low education for a member of Parliament (see below) and lack of experience with affairs of state, as well as devout support for her party's leader, Andrzej Lepper
Andrzej Lepper
Andrzej Zbigniew Lepper was a Polish politician who was the leader of Samoobrona RP political party....
.
Rywin affair
Beger's gained more notoriety when she was delegated by her party to serve in a special committeeCommittee
A committee is a type of small deliberative assembly that is usually intended to remain subordinate to another, larger deliberative assembly—which when organized so that action on committee requires a vote by all its entitled members, is called the "Committee of the Whole"...
set up to investigate a major corruption scandal that marred the fourth term of the Polish parliament, the Rywin affair
Rywin affair
The Rywin affair was a corruption scandal in Poland, which began in late 2002 while the post communist government of the SLD was in power...
. The committee's sittings, which included hearings
Hearing (law)
In law, a hearing is a proceeding before a court or other decision-making body or officer, such as a government agency.A hearing is generally distinguished from a trial in that it is usually shorter and often less formal...
of witness
Witness
A witness is someone who has firsthand knowledge about an event, or in the criminal justice systems usually a crime, through his or her senses and can help certify important considerations about the crime or event. A witness who has seen the event first hand is known as an eyewitness...
es, were televised live and became some of the most publicized and discussed events in Poland at their time. Beger became notorious for her unique style of conducting those and very unusual questions, and her alleged lack of knowledge or experience in many areas the committee was dealing with.
Counterfeit accusation and conviction
During her first term in parliament, Beger was accused of counterfeiting signatures on the lists of citizens supporting her parliamentary candidacy (required to register as a candidate in Poland). In November 2003, as the issue became officially pursued by a prosecutorProsecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
, Beger renounced her legal immunity
Parliamentary immunity
Parliamentary immunity, also known as legislative immunity, is a system in which members of the parliament or legislature are granted partial immunity from prosecution. Before prosecuting, it is necessary that the immunity be removed, usually by a superior court of justice or by the parliament itself...
as a member of the Sejm, as well as was expelled from the special committee in October. Formal proceedings began only in November 2004, and extended well into Beger's second term. She was formally convicted of counterfeit on 30 June 2006 and sentence of 2 years of incarceration suspended for 5 years.
Second term - Secret Footage
Despite the legal proceedings against her, Beger got reelected to SejmPolish parliamentary election, 2005
Parliamentary elections for both houses of the Parliament of Poland were held on September 25, 2005. Thirty million voters were eligible to vote for all 460 members of the lower house, the Assembly of the Republic of Poland , and all 100 members of the upper house, the Senate of the Republic of...
riding on her acquired popularity. During the term, as a Samoobrona representative, she found herself a member of the parliamentary coalition supporting the Prawo i Sprawiedliwość-led governments
Council of Ministers of Poland
The Cabinet of Poland consists of the Prime Minister and ministers. Deputy Prime Ministers and presidents of committees specified in statutes may also be appointed to the Cabinet...
of first Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz is a Polish conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland from October 31, 2005 to July 14, 2006...
and then Prawo i Sprawiedliwość chairman, Jarosław Kaczyński.
The coalition was marred by tensions between its members, and finally collapsed when Andrzej Lepper
Andrzej Lepper
Andrzej Zbigniew Lepper was a Polish politician who was the leader of Samoobrona RP political party....
, the leader of Samoobrona, repeatedly vowed that he and his party would not support the budget proposition approved by the Council of Ministers. This led to Kaczyński deposing Lepper of his post of deputy prime minister, but at the same time in need of parliamentary majority to support the government. As none of the remaining parties present in the Sejm would, or could, replace the Samoobrona in supporting Kaczyński's cabinet, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość had to resort to convince individual Samoobrona representatives to defect from the party in order to vote in favor of the government, which led to accusations of unethical dealing on their side.
On 26 September 2006 the TVN (Poland)
TVN (Poland)
TVN is a major Polish commercial television network. The broadcaster was co-founded by Polish businessmen Mariusz Walter and Jan Wejchert. The network launched on October 3, 1997. TVN belongs to the TVN S.A...
television channel broadcast, as a part of the "Teraz My" (Now We) show, footage recorded by Beger using a hidden camera, of her in an informal conversation with government minister Adam Lipiński
Adam Lipinski
Adam Lipiński is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 17857 votes in 1 Legnica district.He was also a member of Sejm 1991-1993 and Sejm 2001-2005.-External links:...
, discussing possible nomination
Nomination
Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to an office, or the bestowing of an honor or award.In the context of elections for public office, a candidate who has been selected by a political party is normally said to be the nominee of that party...
Beger could receive for defecting from Samoobrona to support and remain in the government coalition. The talks, initiated by Beger, involved the possibility of acquiring a government post. Support with current legal proceedings against her, as shown on tape, were rejected by government minister Adam Lipiński.
In an opinion poll conducted immediately after the footage was revealed, 66% of the respondents defined Prawo i Sprawiedliwość politicians' actions as "political corruption" and the same percentage demanded the Kaczyński government to resign. Beger filed a motion for prosecution against Prawo i Sprawiedliwość. Another poll showed that 58% of Poles see the actions as a provocation of political opponents, rather than explicit "corruption"."Dziennik", September 28, 2006
In the 2007 early parliamentary elections
Polish parliamentary election, 2007
Early parliamentary elections for both houses of parliament were held in Poland on 21 October 2007 after the Sejm voted for its own dissolution on 7 September 2007. The election took place two years before the maximum tenure of four years, with the previous elections having been in September 2005...
, called after the final collapse of the coalition Government, Samoobrona failed to pass the 5% electoral threshold, required to be represented in the Sejm. Therefore, along with her party colleagues, Renata Beger is no longer a member of the polish parliament.
Media personality
Renata Beger is one of the most known, as well as controversial, politicians in Poland, not only for her political activity, but also for her personality traits. She is often very frank in her opinions. In her first term in parliament, in an interview for the Super Express tabloid, she expanded on her sexual life with her husband, and declared she loved sexSexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
"like horse liked oats". Her attempts at formal speeches were often failed due to gaffes such as calling United Nations Secretary-General
United Nations Secretary-General
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the Secretariat of the United Nations, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations....
Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
Annan Kofan on TV. Beger was frequently ridiculed by satrists and some artists, including singers and bands such as Paweł Kukiz or Big Cyc
Big Cyc
Big Cyc is a Polish rock band formed in 1988.The band is well known in Poland for their controversial behaviour. The cover of their first album, Z partyjnym pozdrowieniem , was an image of Vladimir Lenin with a Mohawk hairstyle...
recording songs devoted to her.
Beger famously skipped a sitting of her special parliamentary committee in order to attend a recording of a popular talk show as a celebrity guest. Over time, Beger became a popular celebrity, appearing in TV programmes and displaying a more cultivated image, including her participation in a charity fashion show as a model or in a TV dance show.
Education
Beger formally has only basic secondary educationSecondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...
, and did not even have the matura
Matura
Matura or a similar term is the common name for the high-school leaving exam or "maturity exam" in various countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia,...
upon being elected for the first time. Her matura exam in 2004 was widely publicized in the media - she got a 2 (lowest passing grade) in Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
and 4 in geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
. She then went on to become an extramural student of the faculty of political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan
Adam Mickiewicz University is one of the major Polish universities, located in the city of Poznań in western Poland. It opened on May 7, 1919, and since 1955 has carried the name of the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz.-History:...
.