Aleksander Kwasniewski
Polish president 1995-2005
Born in 1954. Studied foreign trade 1973-1977, but did not complete his studies, which later became an issue when he during the presidential election declared that he had a higher education.
Sports-loving minister in the communist government before 1989
Active in socialist student organisations and minister without portfolio 1985-1989. President of the Polish Olympic Committee 1988-1991. Participant in the Round Table Talks and in 1990 founder of the Polish Social Democracy together with later Prime Minister Leszek Miller, with whom he would later co-operate, although the two have never developed anything resembling a friendship.
Liberal in the 1990s
In the 1990s, Kwasniewski was a leading figure within the reformed communists and belonged to the group that saw a liberal economic policy and close co-operation with the US as a necessity. At the same time, however, with an idea of continued co-operation with Russia.
President from 1995
He was relatively young and articulate when he won the 1995 presidential election over Wałęsa, who at the time seemed alienated and very arrogant from his position in the presidential palace in Warsaw.
Kwasniewski’s presidency was characterised by setting the framework for the role of the president in Poland, which he defined as representative, with the opportunity to put his fingerprints on matters that he, as president, considered to be of particular importance. He was deeply involved in the drafting of the 1997 Polish Constitution and in the negotiations leading up to Poland’s membership of NATO (1999) and the EU (2004).
Known for floating above the waters during his presidency and not engaging deeply in matters of detail, which sometimes led to him being labelled as “lazy”. It is also a well-documented fact that he liked a glass of wine and other forms of alcohol. Expressions like “Filipino illness” have become part of the language after Kwasniewski once explained a public performance, where he was obviously drunk, with this very term. However, Kwasniewski seemed human and likeable, and easily won re-election in 2000 in the first round of voting.
With a few failed attempts to return to active politics, he has lived a reclusive life since 2005, but regularly appears as a commentator on current political events.
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