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

president of Poland The president of Poland ( ), officially the president of the Republic of Poland (), is the head of state of Poland. His or her prerogatives and duties are determined in the Constitution of Poland. The president jointly exercises the executive ...

from 1995 to 2005. His tenure as President was marked by modernization of Poland, rapid economic growth (Poland's GDP doubled in ten years), the drafting of a new

Polish Constitution The Constitution of the Republic of Poland ( or ''Konstytucja RP'' for short) is the supreme law of the Republic of Poland, which is also commonly called the Third Polish Republic ( or ''III RP'' for short) in contrast with the preceding systems ...

(1997), and the accession of Poland to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

(1999) and 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 Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(2004). In 2004, he brokered a pro-democratic agreement during the

Orange Revolution The Orange Revolution () was a series of protests that led to political upheaval in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005. It gained momentum primarily due to the initiative of the general population, sparked by the aftermath of the ...

in Ukraine. He was born in

Białogard Białogard (; ; Pomeranian language, 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 Voivodeship. Bi ...

, attended the University of Gdańsk, and served as the Minister of Sport in the communist government during the 1980s. After the fall of Communism, he became a leader of the centre-left

Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

, a successor to the former ruling

Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party (, ), 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 legally permitted subordinate minor parti ...

, 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 Polish presidential election, 1990 election, Wałę ...

. He was re-elected to a second and final term as President in 2000 in a decisive first-round victory. In line with a constitutional limit of two terms, his second term ended on 23 December 2005. According to a 2020 poll conducted by ''Rzeczpospolita'', Kwaśniewski was considered the best president in the post-1989 history of Poland by a plurality of Poles, albeit tied with the two PiS presidents,

Andrzej Duda Andrzej Sebastian Duda (born 16 May 1972) is a Polish lawyer and politician who has served as the sixth president of Poland since 2015. Before becoming president, he served as a Member of the Sejm from 2011 to 2014 and before becoming Member of ...

and

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 in an air crash. The aircraft carrying ...

respectively, taken together.

Early political career (1973–1995)

From 1973 to 1977, 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 the position of 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 communist-controlled student weekly ''ITD'', then editor-in-chief of the daily communist youth '' 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 Zbigniew Stefan Messner (; 13 March 1929 – 10 January 2014) was a Polish communist politician and economist. His ancestors were of German Polish descent who had assimilated into Polish society. In 1972, he became Professor of Karol Adamiecki U ...

government, and then Chairman of the Committee for Youth and Physical Culture till 1990. He joined the government of

Mieczysław Rakowski Mieczysław Franciszek Rakowski ( Polish: ; 1 December 1926 – 8 November 2008) was a Polish communist politician, historian and journalist who was Prime Minister of Poland from 1988 to 1989. He served as the seventh and final First Secretary o ...

, 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 Tadeusz Mazowiecki (; 18 April 1927 – 28 October 2013) was a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist Polish prime minister since 1946, hav ...

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 Form ...

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 to 1979 and the Polish Olympic Committee (PKOL); he later served as PKOL president from 1988 to 1991. Running for the

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

from the

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

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 or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

leader. Kwaśniewski's campaign slogans were "Let's choose the future" (''Wybierzmy przyszłość'') and "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 (, ) is a town in eastern Poland with 40,999 inhabitants (2020). It is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship and is a part of the Warsaw metropolitan area. It is the capital of Mińsk County. Located 20 kilometers from the city li ...

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

and

. 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. The major characteristic of a mark ...

and the

privatization Privatization (rendered 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 w ...

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 resigned from the SLD after the election. Every Polish president since then has renounced formal ties with their party upon taking office. Later, he formed a coalition with the rightist government of

Jerzy Buzek Jerzy Karol Buzek (; born 3 July 1940) is a Polish politician and former 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 serv ...

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

Leszek Miller Leszek Cezary Miller (Polish pronunciation: ; born 3 July 1946) is a Polish politician who served as prime minister of Poland from 2001 to 2004. He has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in 2019–2024. From 1989 to 1990, Mill ...

. At one moment, support for Kwaśniewski reached as high as 80% in popularity polls; most of the time it was over 50%. Aleksander Kwasniewski i Jacques Chirac

In 1997, the Polish newspaper ''Zycie'' reported that Kwaśniewski had met former KGB officer Vladimir Alganov 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 Constitution of the Republic of Poland ( or ''Konstytucja RP'' for short) is the supreme law of the Republic of Poland, which is also commonly called the Third Polish Republic ( or ''III RP'' for short) in contrast with the preceding syste ...

to replace the modified

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

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, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

were promised membership; and the Washington summit, where on 26 February 1999, during the Kosovo conflict, 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 (, ; ; ) is a town in south-eastern Poland, with 18,004 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (since 1999), it is the Capital (political), capital of Łańcut County. History Archeological investigat ...

in 1996. Speaking out against the danger

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

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 Portorož (; ) is a Slovenian Adriatic seaside resort and spa settlement located in the Municipality of Piran in southwestern Slovenia. Its modern development began in the late 19th century with the vogue for the first health resorts. In the earl ...

in 1997,

Levoča Levoča (; ; ) is the principal town of Levoča District in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia, with a population of 14,256. The town has a historic center with a well-preserved town wall, a Gothic architecture, Gothic church with the talle ...

in 1998, and

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

and

Yalta Yalta (: ) is a resort town, 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 Crime ...

in 1999.

Aleksander Kwasniewski i Jan Peter Balkenende

After a history of sometimes acrimonious relations with

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, Kwaśniewski was a driving force behind the presidential summit in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

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 is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

in Europe. In 2000 he was re-elected in a single round, collecting 53.9 percent of the vote. His election campaign slogan was: "A home for all—Poland" (''Dom wszystkich—Polska''). To date, this is the only time since the end of Communism that a presidential election has been decided in a single round. Following the

11 September 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, 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 and contributed troops in the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

, 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 (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

. Polish membership of the

became a reality on 1 May 2004, during Kwaśniewski's second term. Both he and his wife Jolanta 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 The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European ...

. Thanks to his close relations with

Leonid Kuchma Leonid Danylovych Kuchma (, ; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine, serving from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. The only president of Ukraine to serve two terms, his presidency was marked by demo ...

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

, 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 The Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program is a report compiled by the bipartisan United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) about the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)'s Detent ...

in December 2014, Kwaśniewski admitted that he had agreed in 2003 to host a secret

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

black site 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 ''The Site'' is an hour-long television program devoted to the Internet revolution. It debuted in July 1996 with MSNBC's launch, and aired Monday through Saturday, reaching 35 million homes. Soledad O'Brien hosted ''The Site'', along with her ...

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 offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

. 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 Martial law in Poland () existed between 13 December 1981 and 22 July 1983. The Polish United Workers' Party, government of the Polish People's Republic drastically restricted everyday life by introducing martial law and a military junta in an a ...

) 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 Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

. 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 Orlen S.A. (formerly ), commonly known as Orlen, is a Polish multinational corporation, multinational oil refiner, petrol retailer and natural gas trader headquartered in Płock, Poland. The company's subsidiaries include the main oil and gas c ...

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, the

Institute of National Remembrance The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (, abbreviated IPN) is a Polish state research institute in charge of education and archives which also includes two public prosecutio ...

revealed that Kwaśniewski was registered during communist times as an agent "Alek" of the secret police, the Security Service (''

Służba Bezpieczeństwa The Security Service (; ), in full Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and commonly known as SB, was a secret police force established in the Polish People's Republic in 1956 as a successor to the Ministry of Public Security (P ...

'' – 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 university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

, 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 (Spain), People's Party (PP), the dominant centre-right political party in Spai ...

. He is also Chairman of the supervisory board of the International Centre for Policy Studies in Kyiv, 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 in Europe, prepare practical recommendations to governments and

international organisation ''International Organization'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers the entire field of international relations, international affairs. It was established in 1947 and is published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of th ...

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 lead a

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

monitoring mission in

to monitor the criminal cases against Yulia Tymoshenko, Yuriy Lutsenko and Valeriy Ivaschenko. 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. In 2019, he became a Member of the International Advisory Council (IAC) to Uzbekistan. In 2020, he assumed the position of Chair of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Commission on Drugs.

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 former lobbyist, political consultant, and attorney. A long-time Republican Party campaign consultant, he chaired the Trump presidential campaign from June to August 2016. Manafo ...

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 (born 9 July 1950) is a Ukrainian politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014. He also served as the prime minister of Ukraine several times between 2002 and 2007 and was a member of t ...

. 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 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 (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

First Class, Grand Master of the Order and President of the Chapter * : Grand Cross of the

Order of Vytautas the Great The Order of Vytautas the Great () is the Lithuanian Presidential Award.''Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucija. 84 straipsnis''. Priimta 1992 It may be conferred on the heads of Lithuania and foreign states, as well as their citizens, for distinguish ...

(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 King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

(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, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

(October 1996) * : Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic () is the most senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking honour of the Republi ...

with Collar (1996) * :

Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

(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 (; ) is one of three official Order (decoration), orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty, and the Order of the Lion of Finland. The President of Finland is the Grand Master of all ...

with Collar (1997) * : Grand Cross of the

Order of the Three Stars Order of the Three Stars () is the highest civilian order awarded for meritorious service to Latvia. It was established in 1924 in remembrance of the founding of Latvia. Its motto is ''Per aspera ad astra'', meaning "Through hardships towards the ...

(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 (, ) is a Dutch honours system, Dutch order of chivalry founded by William I of the Netherlands on 29 September 1815. The Order of the Netherlands Lion wa ...

(1997) * : Commander Grand Cross, with Collar, of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (1997) * : Honorary Recipient of the Order of the Crown of the Realm (1997) * :

Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise The Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise () is a Ukrainian award. It is awarded for distinguished services to the state and people of the Ukrainian nation in the field of state building, strengthening the international prestige of Ukraine, develop ...

, 1st class (1997);

Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

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

Order of the White Double Cross The Order of the White Double Cross () is the highest state decoration of the Slovak Republic. The Order was instituted on 1 March 1994 after Slovakia became independent on 1 January 1993. It continues the Czechoslovak Order of the White Lio ...

(1997) * : Grand Cross with Ribbon of the

Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana The Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana (, also 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 the Estonian state. (The Latin name ''Terra Mariana'' ...

(1998); Collar of the

Order of the White Star The Order of the White Star (; ) was instituted in 1936. The Order of the White Star is bestowed on Estonian citizens and foreigners to give recognition for services rendered to the Estonian state. Design Classes The Order of the White Star ...

(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 Order of Michael the Brave. It is the oldest Order of Romania. It is awarded by the Preside ...

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 (2000) * : Grand Order of King Tomislav with Sash and Great Star (April 2001) * : Grand Cross of the

Order of Isabella the Catholic The Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic (; Abbreviation, Abbr.: OYC) is a knighthood and one of the three preeminent Order of merit, orders of merit bestowed by the Kingdom of Spain, alongside the Order of Charles III (established in 1771) and ...

with Chain (2001) * : Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary The Hungarian Order of Merit () is the fourth highest Order (honour), State Order of Hungary. Founded in 1991, the order is a revival of an original order founded in 1946 and abolished in 1949. Its origins, however, can be traced to the Order of ...

with Collar (2001) * : Collar of the National

Order of the Southern Cross The National Order of the Southern Cross () is a Brazilian Orders, decorations, and medals of Brazil, order of chivalry founded by List of monarchs of Brazil, Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, Pedro I on 1 December 1822. The order aimed to commemorate ...

(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 (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

(2002) * : Grand Cordon of the Supreme

Order of the Chrysanthemum is Japan's highest Order (decoration), order. The Grand Cordon of the Order was established in 1876 by Emperor Meiji of Japan; the Collar of the Order was added on 4 January 1888. Unlike European counterparts, the order may be Posthumous award, ...

(2002) * : Collar of the Order of the White Lion (2004) * : Collar of the Supreme

(2004) *International: Order of the Smile (1993) *International: Golden

Olympic Order The Olympic Order, established in 1975, is the highest award of the Olympic Movement. It is awarded for particularly distinguished contributions to the Olympic Movement, i.e. recognition of efforts worthy of merit in the cause of sport. Tradit ...

of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

in (1998) *International: Gold Order of Merit of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (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 hono ...

by the

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...

in Jerusalem (2004), Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (2005) and the

University of Vilnius Vilnius University (Lithuanian language, Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a Public university, public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher e ...

(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 (), commonly known as the Polish Orthodox Church, or Orthodox Church of Poland, is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches in full communion. The church was established in 1924, to accommodate O ...

, the Order of Saint Magdalena, first degree with decorations (1998). He received the television "Wiktor" prize three times (1993, 1995, and 2000). *

Jan Karski Eagle Award The Jan Karski Eagle Award (pol. ''Nagroda Orła Jana Karskiego'') was established on 5 May 2000 by Polish professor Jan Karski (1914–2000), war courier of the Polish government-in-exile, Polish government in-exile, witness of the The Holocaust, ...

(2010). *Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service (2007) * Knight of Freedom Award (2009) * Steiger Award (2009)

Personal life

In 1979, Kwaśniewski married lawyer Jolanta Konty in a civil ceremony. They have one 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 Cross of the Legion of Honour 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) Recipients of the Order of Outstanding Merit