POLITICAL VOICES

Aleksander Kwaśniewski

President of Poland (1995-2005), Member of Club de Madrid

Aleksander Kwaśniewski is a Polish politician and journalist. He won the presidential election in 1995, his campaign slogans being “Let’s choose the future” (Wybierzmy przyszłość) and “A Poland for all” (Wspólna Polska). His political course resembled that of former President Wałęsa’s in several key respects, such as the pursuit of closer ties to the European Union and NATO. Kwaśniewski also continued the transition to a market economy and the privatization of state-owned enterprises. His greatest achievement was his ability to bring about a new Constitution of Poland which became effective in July 1997.

He was an author of the 2002 Riga Initiative, a forum for cooperation between Central European states, aimed towards further enlargement of NATO and the European Union. Under Kwaśniewski’s leadership, Poland became a strong ally of the United States in the War on Terror. Polish membership of the European Union became a reality on 1 May 2004, during Kwaśniewski’s second term.

Action

During his presidency, Kwaśniewski played a key role in the reconciliation between the Poles and the German, the Jewish and the Ukrainian people. Thanks to his close relations with Leonid Kuchma, in late 2004 he became a mediator in a political conflict in Ukraine – the Orange Revolution, playing a major role in its peaceful solution.

Mr. Kwasniewski participated in the famous “Round-Table” negotiations in Poland that finally brought the peaceful transformation of Poland and the whole Central and Eastern Europe from communism to democracy. Once the Iron Curtain had fallen, he co-founded the Social Democratic Party of the Republic of Poland (SdRP) and became its first chairman.

Relevant discourse

In 2001, Kwaśniewski issued an emotional apology after admitting for the first time that Poles were responsible for killing almost the entire Jewish population of a north-eastern village 60 years ago. He stressed that nothing justified the crime, despite claims by some Poles that the Jews were punished for having betrayed them to the Russians, who subsequently sent many of the Poles to Siberia. In his speech, he said that “For this crime we should beg for forgiveness from the souls of the dead and their families. This is why today, as both a citizen and president of the republic of Poland, I apologise in my own name, and in the name of those Poles whose conscience is shattered by that crime.” Kwaśniewski added:

We have become aware of the responsibility for our attitude towards the dark pages in our history. We have understood that bad service is done to the nation by those who are impelling to renounce that past ’’.

Expertise, Leadership lessons / innovative policies or discourses:

More information about fields of expertise (i.e. AIDS, reconstruction, digitalization…): Reconciliation

Personal Website or others: https://kwasniewskialeksander.pl/

IGOs positions (i.e. EU, OSCE, ILO, OAS… in bold if they are currently holding that position): UN Special Envoy on Tuberculosis, High Representative of United Nation Alliance of Civilizations, Member of the Leadership Council of Concordia; Member of the International Advisory Board of the Atlantic Council

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