Editing Aleksander Kwaśniewski (section)

==Presidency (1995–2005)==
[[File:Z Aleksandrem Kwaśniewskim- gratulacje 1995 po wyborach prezydenckich.jpg|left|thumb|[[Kwaśniewski]] receiving praises by supporters after his presidential victory in 1995]]

In an often bitter campaign, Kwaśniewski won the [[1995 Polish presidential election|presidential election in 1995]], collecting 51.7 percent of votes in the [[Two-round system|run-off]], against 48.3 percent for the incumbent, [[Lech Wałęsa]], the former [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity]] leader. Kwaśniewski's campaign slogans were "Let's choose the future" (''Wybierzmy przyszłość'') and "Poland for all" (''Wspólna Polska'').<ref>{{Cite web |author=Olga Szarycka |date=29 October 2021 |title=Aleksander Kwaśniewski - wykształcenie, działalność polityczna i życie prywatne. Wszystko w jednym miejscu |trans-title=Aleksander Kwaśniewski – education, political activity, and private life. Everything in one place. |url=https://depesza.fm/aleksander-kwasniewski-wszystko-co-trzeba-wiedziec-o-bylym-prezydencie-polski-1635408433 |access-date=11 November 2023 |website=depesza.fm |language=pl}}</ref>

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]] 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]].<ref name=":0" />

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]]. Kwaśniewski also continued the transition to a [[market economy]] and the [[privatization]] 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]] with few major conflicts and on several occasions, he stood against movements of the SLD government of [[Leszek Miller]]. At one moment, support for Kwaśniewski reached as high as 80% in popularity polls; most of the time it was over 50%.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
[[File:Aleksander Kwasniewski i Jacques Chirac.jpg|thumb|Kwaśniewski with French President [[Jacques Chirac]] in Strasbourg, October 1997]]
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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=East European Constitutional Review |url=http://www1.law.nyu.edu/eecr/vol6num4/constitutionwatch/poland.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20140805210933/http://www3.law.nyu.edu/eecr/vol6num4/constitutionwatch/poland.html |archive-date=2014-08-05 |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=www1.law.nyu.edu}}</ref>

Kwaśniewski's greatest achievement was his ability to bring about a new [[Constitution of Poland]] to replace the modified [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]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 [[NATO]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rls/prsrl/2002/11898.htm |title=Joint Statement by President George W. Bush and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski |website=state.gov |date=17 July 2002 |access-date=11 November 2023}}</ref>
[[File:Vladimir Putin 15 October 2001-4.jpg|thumb|Kwaśniewski with Russian President [[Vladimir Putin]] in Moscow, October 2001]]
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 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/opinions_19645.htm |title=Statement on NATO Enlargement by H. E. Aleksander Kwasniewski, President of the Republic of Poland |website=nato.int |date=21 November 2002 |access-date=11 November 2023}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":0" />

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.
[[File:Aleksander Kwasniewski i Jan Peter Balkenende.jpg|thumb|Kwaśniewski with Dutch Prime Minister [[Jan Peter Balkenende]] in Warsaw, October 2003]]
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 a single round, collecting 53.9 percent of the vote. His election campaign slogan was: "A home for all—Poland" (''Dom wszystkich—Polska''). <ref>{{Cite news |last=Press |first=The Associated |date=2000-10-09 |title=Polish President Wins Election For Second Term |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/09/world/polish-president-wins-election-for-second-term.html |access-date=2025-05-09 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> 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]], 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 [[Polish involvement in the 2003 invasion of Iraq|contributed troops]] in the [[Iraq War]], a move that was highly controversial in Poland and Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3525356.stm |title=Poland was 'misled' over Iraq WMD |website=news.bbc.co.uk |date=18 March 2004 |access-date=11 November 2023}}</ref>

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 1 May 2004, during Kwaśniewski's second term.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Aleksander Kwaśniewski - European Economic Congress |url=https://www.eecpoland.eu/2023/en/speakers/aleksander-kwasniewski,20079.html |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=www.eecpoland.eu |language=en}}</ref> Both he and his wife [[Jolanta Kwaśniewska|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]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/06/04/wkwas04.xml |title=Atheist premier attacks lack of Christianity in EU constitution |first=Ambrose |last=Evans-Pritchard |date=2003-06-04 |work=[[telegraph.co.uk]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040417034703/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2003%2F06%2F04%2Fwkwas04.xml |archive-date=17 April 2004 |access-date=19 April 2021 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2003 |title=Wywiady zagraniczne – Rok 2003 – NRC Handelsblad, 27 września 2003 r. |trans-title=Foreign interviews – Year 2003 – NRC Handelsblad, September 27, 2003. |url=http://www.prezydent.pl/x.node?id=3666 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051029122834/http://www.prezydent.pl/x.node?id=3666 |archive-date=2005-10-29 |website=prezydent.pl |language=pl}}
</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://diplomats.pl/member/kwasniewski-aleksander/ |language=en |title=Aleksander Kwasniewski |website=diplomats.pl |access-date=11 November 2023}}</ref>
[[File:President George W. Bush and Poland's President Aleksander Kwasniewski shake hands as they meet with reporters in the Oval Office at the White House.jpg|thumb|Kwaśniewski with U.S. President [[George W. Bush]] in Washington, D.C., October 2005]]
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]] [[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 [[Stare Kiejkuty (base)|the site]].<ref name=telegraph-20141210>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/11286267/Polish-president-admits-Poland-agreed-to-host-secret-CIA-black-site.html |title=Polish president admits Poland agreed to host secret CIA 'black site' |author=Matthew Day |newspaper=Daily Telegraph |date=10 December 2014 |access-date=17 December 2014}}</ref>

===Controversial pardons===
In December 2005, when his presidency was coming to an end, he granted [[clemency]] 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]].<ref>{{cite news |language=pl |work=[[Gazeta Wyborcza]] |url=http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/kraj/1,47243,3072146.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231074520/http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/kraj/1,47243,3072146.html |archive-date=31 December 2006 |title=Kwaśniewski ułaskawił Sobotkę |date=2005-12-17 |trans-title=Kwaśniewski pardoned Sobotka}}</ref><ref>
{{cite news |language=pl |work=[[WP.pl]] |url=http://wiadomosci.wp.pl/kat,1342,wid,8124847,wiadomosc.html?ticaid=12ddb |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224050641/http://wiadomosci.wp.pl/kat,1342,wid,8124847,wiadomosc.html?ticaid=1df9e |archive-date=2012-02-24 |date=2005-12-16 |title=Zbigniew Sobotka ułaskawiony |trans-title=Zbigniew Sobotka pardoned}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|author=Marek Chodakiewicz|work=The Institute of World Politics |title=Kwasniewski's chekist service killed his chance to head UN|url=http://www.iwp.edu/news/newsID.315/news_detail.asp|access-date=2020-09-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317171437/http://www.iwp.edu/news/newsID.315/news_detail.asp|archive-date=17 March 2007|quote=Likewise, in December 2005, Kwasniewski pardoned the post-Communist deputy minister of Justice Zbigniew Sobotka, who had warned gangsters about a planned police operation against them. Sobotka was convicted and sentenced to jail but the presidential pardon freed him.}}</ref>

Another case of Kwaśniewski's controversial granting of [[pardon]]s was the [[Peter Vogel (banker)|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 [[Democratic Left Alliance (Poland)|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.<ref>[http://www.iwp.edu/news/newsID.315/news_detail.asp The institute of world politics] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317171437/http://www.iwp.edu/news/newsID.315/news_detail.asp |date=17 March 2007 }}, retrieved on 1 January 2007</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.wprost.pl/ar/?O=85649 |language=pl |work=[[Wprost]] |author1-first=Grzegorz |author1-last=Indulski |author2-first=Balz |author2-last=Rigendinger |title=Kasjer Vogel |date=8 January 2006}}</ref>

===Rywingate===
Kwaśniewski refused in 2003 to face a special parliamentary commission,<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.worldpress.org/Europe/1098.cfm |title=Poland: Paper Chase |first=Marcin |last=Hadaj |date=June 2003 |magazine=[[World Press Review]] |volume=50 |number=6}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.warsawvoice.pl/view/2877/ |title=Endgame Sans President |date=10 July 2003 |work=[[The Warsaw Voice]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030822072402/http://www.warsawvoice.pl/view/2877 |archive-date=2003-08-22}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |language=pl |url=http://wiadomosci.polska.pl/polityka/article,Prezydent,id,49332.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719065429/http://wiadomosci.polska.pl/polityka/article,Prezydent,id,49332.htm |archive-date=19 July 2011 |title=Prezydent odetchnął |date=2003-07-01 |first=Marcin |last=Pijaczyński |work=Polska.pl}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite news |language=pl |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/polish/domestic/story/2005/03/050307_kwasniewski_commission.shtml |work=BBCPolska.com |title=Prezydent nie stanie przed komisją |trans-title=President will not stand before the commission |date=2005-03-07}}</ref> He sought to undermine the commission by releasing considerable amounts of information to journalists while only belatedly making it available to the commission members.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

===Member of secret police allegations===
In 2007, the [[Institute of National Remembrance]] 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.<ref>{{cite news |date=27 September 2007 |title=Kwaśniewski oszukiwał nawet esbeków |trans-title=Kwaśniewski even deceived the secret police officers. |url=http://www.dziennik.pl/polityka/article54626/Kwasniewski_oszukiwal_nawet_esbekow.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305005125/http://www.dziennik.pl/polityka/article54626/Kwasniewski_oszukiwal_nawet_esbekow.html |archive-date=5 March 2009 |work=[[Dziennik.pl]] |language=pl}}</ref>