Poland: Poland-US relations - timeline
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Timeline
- November 2007. President Vladimir Putin signs into law a bill suspending Russia's participation in a crucial arms’ control measure: the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty of 1990 between members of the former Warsaw Pact and NATO.
- Ocotber 2007. Donald Tusk’s centrist Citizens’ Platform (PO) wins a landslide victory in legislative elections, defeating incumbent Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s minority ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS). The pro-EU PO pledges to improve relations with Germany, Russia, and the EU, which had soured during the previous government’s term.
- September 2007. The Sejm (the lower house of the bicameral legislature) votes to dissolve itself, paving the way for an early general election on Oct. 21, two years ahead of schedule.
- August 2007. Jaroslaw Kaczynski announces that Poland is to hold early legislative elections following the departure of PiS from the coalition with the radical agrarian Samoobrona (Self-Defence) farmers’ union party and the right-wing League of Polish Families (LPR).
- July 2007. A summit meeting between Putin and President George W. Bush of the USA is held at the Bush family summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, with the aim of improving the tense relations between the two countries.
- June 2007. Putin declares that Russia would target missiles at Europe if the USA presses ahead with its plans to develop a Missile Defence System (MDS).
- April 2007. Marek Jurek, speaker of the Sejm, resigns when the house fails to pass a constitutional amendment enforcing stricter abortion laws. Jurek and five other defecting PiS deputies, set up a new faction in the Sejm named the Right Wing of the Republic of Poland, a Christian-conservative party dedicated to promoting Catholic values.
- March 2007. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, secretary general of NATO, warns that the alliance risks being divided between those members covered by the USA's proposed MDS and those who remained exposed.
- February 2007. Defence Minister Radoslaw Sikorski abruptly resigns over major policy differences with Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his twin brother President Lech Kaczynski.
- January 2007. Former President Aleksander Kwasniewski (1995-2005) accuses his conservative successor Lech Kaczynski of isolating Poland on the world stage.
- November 2006. Poland uses its EU veto to block the opening of negotiations on an expanded EU-Russia strategic partnership despite last-minute diplomatic efforts by European Commission (EC) President José Manuel Barroso.
- July 2006. Poland is governed by twins when Lech Kaczynski formally appoints his twin brother and head of the PiS, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, as Prime Minister. The appointment comes after former Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz resigns.
- September 2005. The PiS party wins the general election. PiS is expected to form a coalition government with the Citizens' Platform (PO).
- May 2004. Poland, along with 10 other countries, joins the EU.
- June 2003. A national referendum is held on Poland's proposed accession to the EU. Official results show a significant majority of 77.45 per cent in favour, with 22.55 per cent against accession.
- March 2003. The 16-month-old ruling coalition of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and the Labour Union (UP) collapses when Prime Minister and SLD leader Leszek Miller expells his junior coalition partner, the Polish Peasants' Party (PSL). Miller states that he was not prepared to tolerate a party that was simultaneously in government and in opposition.
- Deccember 2002. The EU formally invites Poland to join the EU.
- October 2001. The SLD and its electoral ally the UP form a coalition government with the PSL to form a coalition government. The new administration controls a total of 258 seats in the 460-member Sejm.
- January 2001. The Sejm approves a bill offering 50 per cent compensation in bonds, or where possible property, to Poles whose property had been confiscated by the Communist authorities between 1944 and 1962.
- September 2000. President Aleksander Kwasniewski vetoes a mass privatisation bill, which had been approved by the Sejm in July and the Senate (the upper house) in August. The enfranchisement bill would offer every Polish citizen a share of state assets including state-owned apartments and land.
- June 2000. The coalition agreement between the Solidarity Electoral Alliance (AWS) and its junior partner the Freedom Union (UW) collapses when the UW withdraws its ministers from the cabinet of Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek. The end of the two-and-a-half year coalition comes after weeks of negotiations between the two parties had failed to find a mutually acceptable alternative to Buzek as Prime Minister.
- March 1999. Poland is formally admitted to NATO.
- November 1995. The leader of the ruling SLD, Aleksander Kwasniewski, a former communist who had held ministerial office in 1985-89, defeats Lech Walesa in the second round of the presidential election.
- July 1995. Lech Walesa vetoes a bill on the commercialisation and privatisation of state enterprises approved by the Sejm. Walsea argues that the bill, which is also opposed by opposition parties, employers’ organisations, and Solidarity, would actually slow down the process of privatisation.
- April 1995. Prime Minister Jozef Oleksy visits Brussels to press Poland's case for membership of NATO and of the EU.
- January 1991. Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary agree, at a trilateral meeting of their foreign ministers in Budapest (the capital of Hungary), to withdraw all co-operation with the Warsaw Treaty organisation.
- December 1990. Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity trade union and the country's most prominent opposition figure in the 1980s, gains a landslide victory in the second round of presidential elections. Walesa secures the backing of virtually all of the country's political and social organisations, including the Catholic Church.
- September 1990. President Wojciech Jaruzelski yields to the demand that he should resign. Jaruzelski proposes to the Sejm that it amend the constitution in order for him to step down early from his six-year term.
- April 1989. A series of round-table talks between the Polish authorities and the outlawed Solidarity trade union concludes with the signature of three comprehensive agreements covering trade union pluralism, political reforms, and economic and social policy. The changes include the creation of a new bicameral parliamentary system and an executive presidency, more democratic elections, freedom of association, opposition access to the media, and a more independent judiciary.
- July 1983. The state of martial law is formally lifted following the stabilisation of Poland's internal security situation. However, a series of laws and constitutional amendments are passed which extend the scope for state control in emergencies and also provide closer control of trade unions, universities, and local authorities.
- March 1982. The UN Human Rights Commission votes to call on the UN Secretary-General (Javier Pérez de Cuellar) to appoint a body of inquiry to investigate the alleged abuse of human rights in Poland. The decision marks the first time since the establishment of the Commission in 1946 that it has been called on to investigate developments in an East European country.
- December 1981. The Polish military authorities move to take control of the country, led by Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski. A state of martial law is declared and the Warsaw headquarters of Solidarity are raided by police and militiamen; it is later claimed that documents taken during the raid include plans for a seizure of power by Solidarity.
- November 1980. A wave of severe industrial unrest becomes increasingly politicised, especially in the Baltic port of Gdansk. The unrest results in the resignation of Prime Minister Edward Babiuch.
- December 1970. An announcement of major increases in the price of food and fuel lead to demonstrations and strikes. Violent riots develop in the Baltic ports of Gdansk, Gdynia and Szczecin, resulting in a heavy loss of life.
- April 1968. At the University of Warsaw hundreds of militiamen and police fight students who are demonstrating in the university grounds. The immediate cause of the demonstration is a demand for the reinstatement of two students who had been expelled from the university for taking part in a demonstration against the banning of a play by Polish playwright Adam Mickiewicz.
- May 1966. Relations between the government and the Roman Catholic Church in Poland, become increasingly strained as Polish Primate Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski discusses political matters involving Poland's western frontiers without the knowledge or approval of the Government.
- June 1957. Following negotiations between a Polish economic delegation and the US government, an agreement is reached on the shipment to Poland of agricultural and industrial products from the USA.
- October 1956. The Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' (Communist) Party, elects a new politburo (governing body) from which all former "Stalinist" elements are dropped. The government emphasies that whilst Poland will continue a policy of friendship and alliance with the Soviet Union, it is determined to pursue its own road to socialism.
- September 1952. Poland becomes the People's Republic of Poland with the adoption of a new constitution. Poland officially becomes a Soviet state.
- January 1949. The Polish Socialist and Communist parties become a single organisation under the name of the United Workers' Party. President Boleslaw Bierut states that the government is determined to collectivise Polish agriculture according to the Soviet model.
- June 1945. At the Yalta conference an agreement is made that a Polish Provisional Government of National Unity is to be formed, with the intention of free and unfettered elections as soon as possible.
- October 1939. Germany annexes Western Poland.
- September 1939. The signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact establishes friendship between Germany and the Soviet Union and divides the occupation of Poland between the two countries.
- July 1931. Field Marshal Jozef Pilsudski marks the Eastern frontier of Poland.
- May 1926. Pilsudski stages a military coup, becoming the de facto dictator of Poland.
- November 1918. Poland regains its independence as German troops retreat. Pilsudski becomes the head of the Provisional People's Government of the Polish Republic.
- March 1918. The Brest-Litovsk Treaty results in Russia surrendering Poland (in addition to the Ukraine, Finland, the Baltic provinces, and the Caucasus).
