Elżbieta Rafalska

Education She graduated from the , Gorzów Wielkopolski branch. She graduated from the University of Szczecin in 1998 with a degree in special education, and completed further postgraduate studies in 2001 in social work.

Career She was a member of the sixth term of the Senate, and was a member of the Sejm during its sixth, seventh, and eighth terms. She served as the of the then-Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, now renamed to the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy. On 16 November of that year she was appointed to the position of Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy by Prime Minister Beata Szydło. She maintained this position in the 2017 government of newly-elected Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

In the 2019 Polish European Parliament election, she was elected as a member of parliament, receiving 70,916 votes. Due to her new role in the European Parliament, she was succeeded by Bożena Borys-Szopa as Minister of Family, Labour, and Social Policy. She ran unsuccessfully in the 2024 Polish European Parliament.

Political positions In November 2024, Rafalska said that she "[had] no doubt" that the Civic Coalition primaries were manipulated by Donald Tusk in order to "humiliate" Rafał Trzaskowski and Radosław Sikorski.

In a December 2024 interview, Rafalska emphasised the importance of ensuring that the country does not suffer human capital flight from what she claimed was the increasing amount of young Poles emigrating abroad. She blamed PiS's opposition party, Civic Platform, saying that they "did nothing to keep young Poles in the country".

During the 2019 social worker union strikes, Rafalska blamed local governments for not compensating social workers adequately and said that there was nothing the national government could do about the situation. According to the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, the national government sets the minimum wage for social workers whilst the local governments determine the social workers' salaries.

Awards Rafalska received the in 2017 for "implementing the 500+ Programme in cooperation with local governments" and was given the "Fighter for the Family" award by Platform for the Family Catalonia-ONU for 500+ Programme being an "important instrument promoting the family".

In 2017, Hungarian President János Áder awarded her the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit for her work in developing and strengthening Polish-Hungarian relations in the field of family and social policy.