Aleksander Kwasniewski

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Aleksander Kwaśniewski ([[alεk'sandεr kfaɕɲefskʲi]]^{[Media help?]·[i]}; born November 15 1954) is a Polish politician who served as the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005. He was born in Białogard, and during the communist era he was active in the communist Socialist Union of Polish Students and was sports minister in the communist government in 1980s. He was a former leader of the left-wing Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland, successor to the former ruling Polish United Workers Party, and later of the Democratic Left Alliance.

Kwaśniewski was elected president in 1995, defeating the incumbent, Lech Wałęsa. He was re-elected to a second and final term as president in 2000 in a decisive first-round victory. His term ended on December 23, 2005, when he handed over power to his elected successor, conservative Lech Kaczyński. On March 7, 2006, Kwaśniewski was appointed Distinguished Scholar in the Practice of Global Leadership at Georgetown University where he will teach students in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service about contemporary European politics, the trans-Atlantic relationship, and democratization in Central and Eastern Europe.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

He married lawyer Jolanta Konty (now Kwaśniewska) in 1979, they have one daughter.

Kwaśniewski has stated on several occasions that he is an atheist.[link] [link] [link] [link]

1973–1991: Early political career

In the years 1973 to 1977, Aleksander Kwaśniewski studied transport economics and foreign trade at the University of Gdańsk, though he never graduated. He became politically active at this time, and joined the ruling Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) in 1977, remaining a member until it was dissolved in 1990. An activist in the communist student movement until 1982, he held, among other positions, the chairmanship of the University Council of the Socialist Union of Polish Students (SZSP) from 1976 to 1977 and the vice-chairmanship of the Gdańsk Voivodship Union from 1977 to 1979. Kwaśniewski was a member of the SZSP supreme authorities from 1977 to 1982. From November 1981 to February 1984 he was the editor-in-chief of the student weekly ITD, then editor-in-chief of the daily Sztandar Młodych from 1984 to 1985. He was a co-founder of the first computer-science periodical in Poland, Bajtek, in 1985.

From 1985 to 1987, Kwaśniewski was Minister for Youth Affairs in the Zbigniew Messner government, and then Chairman of the Committee for Youth and Physical Culture till June 1990. He joined the government of Mieczysław Rakowski, first as a cabinet minister and then as chairman of the government Social-Political Committee from October 1988 to September 1989. A participant in the Round-Table negotiations, he co-chaired the task group for trade-union pluralism with Tadeusz Mazowiecki and Romuald Sosnowski. As the PZPR was wound up, he became a founding member of the Social Democratic Party of the Republic of Poland from January to February 1990, and its first chairman until he assumed the presidency in December 1995. He was also one of the founding members of the Democratic Left Alliance in 1991.

A sports enthusiast, Kwaśniewski was an activist in the Student Sports Union from 1975 to 1979 and the Polish Olympic Committee (PKOL); he later served as PKOL president from 1988 to 1991.

1991–1995: Parliamentary terms

Running for the Sejm from the Warsaw constituency in 1991, he won the largest number of votes (148,533). Kwaśniewski headed the parliamentary caucus of the Democratic Left Alliance in his first and second terms (1991-1995). He was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and chairman of the Constitutional Committee of the National Assembly from November 1993 to November 1995.

1995–2005: Presidency

In an often bitter campaign, Aleksander Kwaśniewski won the presidential election in 1995, collecting 51.7 percent of votes in the run-off, against 48.3 percent for the incumbent, Lech Wałęsa, the former Solidarity leader. Kwaśniewski's campaign slogans were "Let's choose the future" (Wybierzmy przyszłość) and "A Poland for all" (Wspólna Polska). Political opponents disputed his victory, claiming that he had lied about his education in registration documents, implying that he had graduated from university; a court challenge proved unsuccessful.

Kwaśniewski took the presidential oath of office on December 231995. Later the same day, he was sworn in as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces at the Warszawa First Fighter Wing, in Mińsk Mazowiecki.

Despite the deep polarization brought about by his election, and opposition fears that a Kwaśniewski presidency would signal a return to communism, these fears proved groundless and he proved a surprisingly popular leader. His political course resembled that of Wałęsa's in several key respects, such as the pursuit of closer ties to the European Union and NATO, and the transition to a market economy and the privatization of state-owned enterprises, but he was able to avoid the conflicts with the Sejm that had often characterized his predecessor's term of office. He wanted to be seen as "the president of all Poles", including his political opponents and he quit the Democratic Left Alliance after election. Later, he cohabited with the rightist government of Jerzy Buzek without major conflicts and on several occasions he stood against movements of the Democratic Left Alliance government of Leszek Miller. At a moment, a support of Kwaśniewski reached as high as 80% in popularity polls; for most time it was over 50%.

An initial success of Kwaśniewski's was his ability to bring about a new Constitution of Poland to replace the modified Stalinist document then still in use. The failure to create a new document had been a criticism often leveled at Wałęsa. Kwaśniewski actively campaigned for its approval in the subsequent referendum, and he signed it into law on July 161997.

Kwaśniewski took an active part in the efforts to secure Polish membership of NATO. He headed Poland's delegation at the 1997 Madrid summit, where Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary were promised membership; and the Washington summit, where on February 261999, during the Kosovo conflict, which he supported, he signed the instruments ratifying Poland's membership of NATO. He also took active part in promoting further enlargement of the alliance, speaking out in favor of membership for a further seven states (see Prague summit) and the open-door policy that leaves open the option of further members. 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.

An advocate of regional cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe, Kwaśniewski hosted a summit of the region's leaders at Łańcut in 1996. Speaking out against the danger organized crime posed to the region, he submitted a draft of a convention on fighting organised crime to the UN in 1996. He was an active participant at meetings of regional leaders in Portorož in 1997, Levoča in 1998, and Lviv and Yalta in 1999. After a history of sometimes acrimonious relations with Lithuania, Kwaśniewski was a driving force behind the presidential summit in Vilnius in 1997, at which the two countries' presidents signed a treaty of friendship. Poland subsequently became one of the strongest advocates of Lithuanian membership in NATO and the European Union and the strongest advocate of Ukraine in Europe.

In 2000 he was re-elected in the first round of voting, collecting 53.9 percent of the vote. His election campaign slogan was: "A home for all—Poland" (Dom wszystkich—Polska). On December 232000 he took office for the second term.

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Kwaśniewski organized an international conference in Warsaw, with participation of leaders from Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe to strengthen regional activities in fighting international terrorism. Under Kwaśniewski's leadership, Poland became a strong ally of the United States in the war on terror, and contributed troops in the Iraq war, a move that was highly controversial in Poland. Poland was in charge of a sector of Iraq after the removal of Saddam Hussein.

Polish membership of the European Union became a reality on May 12004, during Kwaśniewski's second term. Both he and his wife Jolanta had campaigned for approval of the EU accession treaty in June 2003. Thanks to his close relations with Leonid Kuchma, in late 2004 he became a mediator in a political conflict in Ukraine - the Orange Revolution, and according to some commentators, he played the major role in its peaceful solution.

2006 - : Post-Presidency

Kwaśniewski spoke at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC in April of 2006. The title of his speech was "The U.N. and its Role in Making the 21st Century an Era of Peace and Progress." He is currently a visiting faculty member of the Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Awards

Aleksander Kwaśniewski was honored with the following decorations:

• Grand Master of the Order of the White Eagle (ex officio)

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