Aleksander Kwaśniewski (; born 15 November 1954) is a Polish politician and journalist. He served as the

President of Poland The president of Poland ( pl, Prezydent RP), officially the president of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), is the head of state of Poland. Their rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Pola ...

from 1995 to 2005. He was born in

Białogard Białogard (pronounced , german: Belgard, ; Pomeranian: ''Biôłogard'') is a historic town in Middle Pomerania, northwestern Poland, with 23,614 inhabitants as of December 2021. The capital of Białogard County in the West Pomeranian Voivod ...

, and during communist rule, he was active in the Socialist Union of Polish Students and was the Minister for Sport in the Communist government during the 1980s. After the fall of Communism, he became a leader of the left-wing Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland, a successor to the former ruling

Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other lega ...

, and a co-founder of the Democratic Left Alliance. Kwaśniewski was elected to the presidency in 1995, defeating the incumbent,

Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who served as the President of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 election, Wałęsa became the first democrati ...

. He was re-elected to a second and final term as president in 2000 in a decisive first-round victory. Although he was praised for attempting to further integrate

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

into the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

, he faced criticism for involving the country in the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. His term ended on 23 December 2005, when he handed over power to his elected successor, conservative

Lech Kaczyński Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010. Before his tenure as president, he pre ...

Early political career (1973–1995)

From 1973–77, Kwaśniewski studied Transport Economics and Foreign Trade at the University of Gdańsk, although he never graduated. He became politically active at this time, and joined the ruling

(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 1976–77 and the vice-chairmanship of the Gdańsk Voivodship Union from 1977–79. Kwaśniewski was a member of the SZSP supreme authorities from 1977–82.

From November 1981 to February 1984 he was the editor-in-chief of the communist-controlled student weekly ''ITD'', then editor-in-chief of the daily communist youth ''Sztandar Młodych'' from 1984–85. He was a co-founder of the first computer-science periodical in Poland, ''Bajtek'', in 1985. From 1985–87, Kwaśniewski was Minister for Youth Affairs in the

Zbigniew Messner Zbigniew Stefan Messner (; 13 March 1929 – 10 January 2014) was a Communist economist and politician in Poland. His ancestors were of German Polish descent who had assimilated into Polish society. In 1972, he became Professor of Karol Adamiecki ...

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 post-communist

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

of the Republic of Poland (SdRP) 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 coalition Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) in 1991. Kwaśniewski was an activist in the Student Sports Union from 1975–79 and the Polish Olympic Committee (PKOL); he later served as PKOL president from 1988–91. Running for the

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

from the

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

constituency in 1991, he won the largest number of votes (148,533), although did not win an absolute majority. 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.

Presidency (1995–2005)

In an often bitter campaign, Kwaśniewski won the presidential election in 1995, collecting 51.7 percent of votes in the run-off, against 48.3 percent for the incumbent,

, the former

Solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti ...

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 and produced evidence to show that he had lied about his education in registration documents and public presentations. There was also some mystery over his graduation from university. A law court confirmed that Kwaśniewski had lied about his record—and this did not come to light until after the election—but did not penalise him for it. Kwaśniewski took the presidential

oath of office An oath of office is an oath or affirmation a person takes before assuming the duties of an office, usually a position in government or within a religious body, although such oaths are sometimes required of officers of other organizations. Suc ...

on 23 December 1995. 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 Mińsk Mazowiecki () "''Masovian Minsk''") is a town in eastern Poland with 40,999 inhabitants (2020). It is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999) and is a part of the Warsaw Agglomeration. It is the capital of Mińsk County. Loca ...

. His political course resembled that of Wałęsa's in several key respects, such as the pursuit of closer ties to the

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

. Kwaśniewski also continued the transition to a

market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand, where all suppliers and consumers ...

and the

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of state-owned enterprises, although with less energy than his predecessor. Hoping to be seen as "the president of all Poles", including his political opponents, he quit the Social Democratic Party after the election. Later, he formed a coalition with the rightist government of

Jerzy Buzek Jerzy Karol Buzek (born 3 July 1940) is a Polish politician and Member of the European Parliament from Poland. He has served as Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001, since being elected to the European Parliament in 2004, he served as ...

with few major conflicts and on several occasions, he stood against movements of the Democratic Left Alliance government of

Leszek Miller Leszek Cezary Miller (Polish pronunciation: ; born 3 July 1946) is a Polish politician. He has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since July 2019. From 1989 to 1990 was a member of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' P ...

. At one moment, support for Kwaśniewski reached as high as 80% in popularity polls; most of the time it was over 50%. In 1997, the Polish newspaper ''Zycie'' reported that Kwaśniewski had met former KGB officer

Vladimir Alganov Vladimir Petrovich Alganov (russian: Владимир Петрович Алганов; born 22 October 1952 in Leningrad) is a Russian spy. He was Soviet KGB officer in Warsaw, Poland in the 1980s and Russian SVR officer in the same city in the 19 ...

at the Baltic sea resort Cetniewo in 1994. First Kwaśniewski denied ever meeting Alganov and filed a libel suit against the newspaper. Eventually, Kwaśniewski admitted that he had met Alganov on official occasions, but denied meeting him in Cetniewo. Kwaśniewski's greatest achievement was his ability to bring about a new

Constitution of Poland The current Constitution of Poland was founded on 2 April 1997. Formally known as the Constitution of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Konstytucja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), it replaced the Small Constitution of 1992, the last amended version of ...

to replace the modified

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

ist document then still in use. The failure to create a new document had been a criticism often levelled at Wałęsa. Kwaśniewski actively campaigned for its approval in the subsequent referendum, and he signed it into law on 16 July 1997. He took an active part in the efforts to secure Polish membership of

. He headed Poland's delegation at the 1997 Madrid summit, where Poland, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, and

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

were promised membership; and the Washington summit, where on 26 February 1999, during the

Kosovo conflict The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

, which he supported, he signed the instruments ratifying Poland's membership of NATO. He also took an active part in promoting further enlargement of the alliance, speaking out in favor of membership for a further seven states 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 Łańcut (, approximately "wine-suit"; yi, לאַנצוט, Lantzut; uk, Ла́ньцут, Lánʹtsut; german: Landshut) is a town in south-eastern Poland, with 18,004 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship ( ...

in 1996. Speaking out against the danger

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

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 Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...

and

Yalta Yalta (: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Cri ...

in 1999. After a history of sometimes acrimonious relations with

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, Kwaśniewski was a driving force behind the presidential summit in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urba ...

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

and the

and the strongest advocate of

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

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 23 December 2000, he took office for the second term. Following the

11 September 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

, Kwaśniewski organized an international conference in Warsaw, with the 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 The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...

and contributed troops in the

, a move that was highly controversial in Poland and Europe. Poland was in charge of a sector of Iraq after the removal of

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

. Polish membership of the

became a reality on 1 May 2004, during Kwaśniewski's second term. Both he and his wife

Jolanta Jolanta (or Jolantha) is a Czech, Lithuanian, Polish and Slovak form of the Greek name Iolanthe. It is derived from Greek words ιολη (iole) "violet" and ανθος (anthos) "flower". Similar names also derived from Iolanthe are Yolande, Jola ...

had campaigned for approval of the EU accession treaty in June 2003. He strongly supported including mention of Europe's Christian roots into the European Constitution. Thanks to his close relations with

Leonid Kuchma Leonid Danylovych Kuchma ( uk, Леоні́д Дани́лович Ку́чма; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. Kuchma's presidency saw numerous corru ...

, in late 2004 he became a mediator in a political conflict in Ukraine – the

Orange Revolution The Orange Revolution ( uk, Помаранчева революція, translit=Pomarancheva revoliutsiia) was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate afterm ...

, and according to some commentators, he played the major role in its peaceful solution. After the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture in December 2014, Kwaśniewski admitted that he had agreed in 2003 to host a secret

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

black site In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black operation or black project is conducted. According to the Associated Press, "Black sites are clandestine jails where prisoners generally are not charged with ...

in Poland, but that activities were to be carried out in accordance to Polish law. He said that a U.S. draft memorandum had stated that "people held in Poland are to be treated as prisoners of war and will be afforded all the rights they are entitled to", but due to time constraints, the U.S. had not signed the memorandum. The U.S. had conducted activities in great secrecy at the site.

Controversial pardons

In December 2005, when his presidency was coming to an end, he granted

clemency A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

for a post-Communist deputy minister of Justice Zbigniew Sobotka, who had been sentenced for 3.5 years of prison for revealing a state secret (effectively, he warned gangsters about an operation against them). Kwaśniewski changed the prison sentence to

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...

. Another case of Kwaśniewski's controversial granting of

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

s was the Peter Vogel case. The story goes back to 1971 when Piotr Filipczyński, a.k.a. Peter Vogel was sentenced to 25 years in jail for a brutal murder (shortened to 15 years in 1979). Surprisingly enough, in 1983 (during martial law in Poland) he was granted a passport and allowed to leave the country. He returned in 1990 soon earning the nickname "the accountant of the Left" as a former Swiss banker who took care of more than thirty accounts of Polish social democrats. Despite an arrest warrant issued in 1987, Vogel moved freely in Poland and was eventually arrested in 1998 in Switzerland. After Vogel's extradition to Poland, in 1999 Kwaśniewski initiated the procedure of granting him amnesty. In December 2005 (a few days before leaving his office) Kwaśniewski pardoned Vogel despite the negative opinion of the procurer.

Rywingate

Kwaśniewski refused in 2003 to face a special parliamentary commission, which was set up to reveal all circumstances linked with Rywingate. Kwaśniewski argued, that the constitution did not allow parliamentary commissions to investigate the president, and there were no clear law opinions. The commission decided eventually not to summon Kwaśniewski. For a second time Kwaśniewski refused as a witness to face the commission investigating the privatization of Orlen petrol concern, in March 2005. He argued that the actions of commission members, being in opposition to the leftist government supported by him, were directed against him. He sought to undermine the commission by releasing considerable amounts of information to journalists while only belatedly making it available to the commission members.

Member of secret police allegations

In 2007, IPN revealed that Kwaśniewski was registered during communist times as an agent "Alek" of the secret police, the Security Service ('' Służba Bezpieczeństwa'' – SB), from 1983 to 1989. Kwaśniewski himself denied having been an agent in a special statement, demanded from politicians by Polish law, and a court confirmed his statement.

Post-presidency

On 7 March 2006, Kwaśniewski was appointed Distinguished Scholar in the Practice of Global Leadership at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private research university in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll in 1789 as Georgetown College, the university has grown to comprise eleven undergraduate and graduate ...

, where he teaches 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. He also teaches a course on political leadership, convened by Professor Carol Lancaster, with former Spanish Prime Minister

José María Aznar José María Alfredo Aznar López (; born 25 February 1953) is a Spanish politician who was the prime minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He led the People's Party (PP), the dominant centre-right political party in Spain. A member of the Fre ...

. He is also Chairman of the supervisory board of the International Centre for Policy Studies in Kiev, Ukraine and a member of the International Honorary Council of the European Academy of Diplomacy. In 2008 Aleksander Kwaśniewski became Chairman of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation, a not-for-profit organization established to monitor

tolerance Tolerance or toleration is the state of tolerating, or putting up with, conditionally. Economics, business, and politics * Toleration Party, a historic political party active in Connecticut * Tolerant Systems, the former name of Veritas Software ...

in Europe, prepare practical recommendations to governments and

international organisation An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states an ...

s on improving interreligious and interethnic relations on the continent. The organization is co-chaired by European Jewish Fund President Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor. Since June 2012 Kwaśniewski and

Pat Cox Patrick Cox (born 28 November 1952) is a former Irish Fine Gael politician, journalist and television current affairs presenter who served as President of the European Parliament from 2002 to 2004 and Leader of the European Liberal Democrat a ...

lead a

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

monitoring mission in

to monitor the criminal cases against Yulia Tymoshenko,

Yuriy Lutsenko Yuriy Vitaliyovych Lutsenko ( uk, Юрій Віталійович Луценко; born 14 December 1964) is a Ukrainian politician whose most recent post was Prosecutor General of Ukraine from 12 May 2016 Valeriy Ivaschenko Valerii Ivashchenko ( uk, Валерій Іващенко) (* 30 July 1956, Zaporizhia) — Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine in 2007–2009, Acting Minister from 2009 to 2010. Colonel stock. Biography Ivashchenko born 30 July 1956 in Z ...

. Since 2011, Kwaśniewski has served on the Leadership Council for Concordia, a nonpartisan, nonprofit based in New York City focused on promoting effective public-private collaboration to create a more prosperous and sustainable future. Kwaśniewski was also involved with the EU talks with the Ukrainian government about the association agreement with the EU that the Ukrainian parliament failed to ratify in November 2013. After the Maidan unrest had installed the transitional government under Yatsenyuk, who signed the EU association agreement for Ukraine in 2014, Kwaśniewski took up in a director's post in the gas company ″ Burisma Holdings Limited″ which owns licenses for the major Ukrainian gas fields.

Possible illegal lobbying on behalf of Paul Manafort

In a plea agreement filed in United States Federal court on 14 September 2018, former Donald Trump campaign chair

Paul Manafort Paul John Manafort Jr. (; born April 1, 1949) is an American lobbyist, political consultant, and Lawyer, attorney. A long-time Republican Party (United States), Republican Party campaign consultant, he chaired the Donald Trump 2016 presidential ...

admitted to organizing a group of former European heads of state to illegally lobby, starting in 2011, on behalf of then-Ukrainian president

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of D ...

. The plea agreement describes one of the heads of state involved in this secret lobbying as a "former Polish President" who "was also a representative of the European Parliament with oversight responsibility for Ukraine." At least one press report claimed that Kwaśniewski was this former Polish President.

Awards

Aleksander Kwaśniewski - Europejski Kongres Gospodarczy 2013 (5)

Aleksander Kwaśniewski has been honored to date with the following decorations: * : Grand Master of the Order of the White Eagle (''ex officio''); Knight of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on foreigners for outstanding achievemen ...

First Class, Grand Master of the Order and President of the Chapter * : Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great (1996), Grand Cross of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas (1999); Order of Vytautas the Great with Golden Chain (2005) * : Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) a ...

(March 1996); Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

(October 1996) * : Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-rankin ...

with Collar (1996) * :

Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

(1996) * : Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Saint Olav (1996) * : Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer (1996) * : Grand Cross of the

Order of the White Rose The Order of the White Rose of Finland ( fi, Suomen Valkoisen Ruusun ritarikunta; sv, Finlands Vita Ros’ orden) is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty, and the Order of the Lion of Finland. ...

with Collar (1997) * : Grand Cross of the Order of the Three Stars (1997) * : Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...

(1997) * : Commander Grand Cross, with Collar, of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (1997) Aleksander Kwasniewski and Mary McAleese

* : Honorary Recipient of the

Order of the Crown of the Realm The Most Exalted Order of the Crown of the Realm ( ms, Darjah Utama Seri Mahkota Negara) is a Malaysian federal award. It is ranked lower than the Order of the Royal Family of Malaysia. It should not be confused with the Order of Loyalty to th ...

(1997) * :

Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise The Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise ( uk, Орден князя Ярослава Мудрого) is an award of Ukraine. It is awarded for distinguished services to the state and people of the Ukrainian nation in the field of state building, ...

, 1st class (1997);

Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by ...

, 1st class (2005) * : Order of Infant Henry with Grand Ribbon (1997) * : Grand Cross (or 1st Class) of the Order of the White Double Cross (1997) * : Grand Cross with Ribbon of the

Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana The Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana ( et, Maarjamaa Risti teenetemärk, sometimes translated as the Order of the Cross of St. Mary's Land) was instituted by the President of Estonia, Lennart Meri, on 16 May 1995 to honour the independence of t ...

(1998); Collar of the

Order of the White Star The Order of the White Star ( et, Valgetähe teenetemärk; french: Ordre de l'Etoile Blanche) was instituted in 1936. The Order of the White Star is bestowed on Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Balti ...

(2002) * : Grand Cross of the

Order of the Star of Romania The Order of the Star of Romania (Romanian: ''Ordinul Steaua României'') is Romania's highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the defunct Order of Michael the Brave. It is awarded by the President of Romania. It has five r ...

with Sash (1999) * : Grand Chain of the Order of Merit (1999) * : Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold (1999) * : First Class of the

Order of the State of Republic of Turkey The Order of the State of Republic of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Nişanı) is the highest state order awarded to foreign nationals by the President of the Republic of Turkey. The Order of the State is conferred by the President, ...

(2000) * :

Grand Order of King Tomislav The Grand Order of King Tomislav ( hr, Velered kralja Tomislava), or officially the Grand Order of King Tomislav with Sash and Great Morning Star (''Velered kralja Tomislava s lentom i Velikom Danicom''), is the highest state order of Croatia. It ...

with Sash and Great Star (April 2001) * : Grand Cross of the

Order of Isabella the Catholic The Order of Isabella the Catholic ( es, Orden de Isabel la Católica) is a Spanish civil order and honor granted to persons and institutions in recognition of extraordinary services to the homeland or the promotion of international relations a ...

with Chain (2001) * : Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary with Collar (2001) * : Collar of the National

Order of the Southern Cross Emperor Pedro I of Brazil founded the National Order of the Southern Cross ( pt, Ordem Nacional do Cruzeiro do Sul) as a Brazilian order of chivalry on 1 December 1822. The order aimed to commemorate the independence of Brazil (7 September 1 ...

(2002) * : Special Grand Cross of the

"in recognition of the Special Merit" (2002) * : Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

(2002) * : Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum (2002) * : Collar of the Order of the White Lion (2004) * : Collar of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum (2004) *International: Order of the Smile (1993) *International: Golden Olympic Order of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...

in (1998) *International: Gold Order of Merit of the

International Amateur Athletic Federation World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

(1999) *International: Medal of Merit of the European Olympic Committee (2000) *Awarded

doctor honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad ho ...

by the

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public university, public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein ...

in Jerusalem (2004), Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (2005) and the University of Vilnius (2005). In 2010, became an honorary citizen of Warsaw. *Kwaśniewski was awarded the highest distinction of the

Polish Orthodox Church The Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church ( pl, Polski Autokefaliczny Kościół Prawosławny), commonly known as the Polish Orthodox Church, or Orthodox Church of Poland, is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches in full communion. T ...

, the Order of Saint Magdalena, first degree with decorations (1998). He received the television "Wiktor" prize three times (1993, 1995, and 2000). *In 2006, he was awarded the Jan Karski Award for opposing anti-Semitism. *In 2007, he was awarded the Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service as a recognition of his outstanding achievements in the field of government. *In 2009, he was the co-recipient (together with Valdas Adamkus) of the

Knight of Freedom Award The Knight of Freedom Award () is a Polish international award conferred annually to "outstanding figures, who promote the values represented by General Casimir Pulaski: freedom, justice, and democracy". History The award was established in 200 ...

for his merits in favour of a peaceful end to the

. He was also the co-recipient (together with

Romano Prodi Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Pr ...

) of the

Steiger Award The Steiger Award or ''Der Steiger'' is an international award established in 2005 and presented annually by the award organization based in Bochum, Germany. The title refers to '' steiger'' (mining foreman), reflecting the qualities of respon ...

for his contributions to the building of the European community.

Personal life

In 1979, Kwaśniewski married lawyer Jolanta Konty in a civil ceremony. They have one child: a daughter, Aleksandra (born 1981). He identifies as an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

."I am an atheist and everybody knows it..."
Atheist premier attacks lack of Christianity in EU constitution
', by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, ''The Telegraph'', 4 June 2003. In 2005, at the end of his second presidential term, the couple finalised their marriage in a low-key Catholic ceremony presided by Kwaśniewski's former presidential chaplain, in the presidential chapel.

References

External links

Aleksander Kwaśniewski – official web page
* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kwasniewski, Aleksander 1954 births Living people People from Białogard Polish atheists Polish socialists Polish United Workers' Party members Presidents of Poland Members of the Polish Sejm 1991–1993 Members of the Polish Sejm 1993–1997 Democratic Left Alliance politicians Walsh School of Foreign Service faculty Collars of the Order of Isabella the Catholic Collars of the Order of the White Lion Grand Collars of the Order of Prince Henry Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur Grand Crosses of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Recipients of the Collar of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana Recipients of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 1st class Grand Crosses of the Order of Polonia Restituta Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 1st class Grand Crosses with Chain of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (civil) Grand Crosses Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Olympic Order Recipients of the National Order of Merit (Malta) Polish Round Table Talks participants Candidates in the 2000 Polish presidential election Candidates in the 1995 Polish presidential election Grand Crosses of the Order of the Star of Romania Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)