Wilfried Martens prime minister, described him as a "true statesman and one of the fathers of federal Belgium". Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, paid tribute to him as a "statesman of Belgium, Europe and an outstanding leader of European Parliament". Jerzy Buzek, EPP MEP and former prime minister of Poland, described him as "irreplaceable". The EPP think tank Centre for European Studies has been renamed after him, now being the "Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies", a decision taken during the EPP Congress in Dublin held on 9 March 2014. He received an Official State funeral, which was attended by
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz was also a member of the Solidarity movement and editor of underground press materials. In 1992 he became a State Secretary (formal name for deputy minister) in the Ministry of National Education. From 1999 to 2000 he was the cabinet chief for Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek. Following the victory of the Law and Justice party in the September 2005 Polish parliamentary elections, its prime ministerial candidate, party leader Jarosław Kaczyński decided against becoming prime minister so as not to damage the chances of his twin brother, Lech Kaczyński in the then-upcoming October presidential election. Instead the little-known Marcinkiewicz became PM,