REPUBLIC OF POLAND

The Republic of Poland is a state in Central Europe, which has an over 200 kilometres-long border with Russia (Kaliningrad Region). It also borders on Germany, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. In the north, Poland is washed by the Baltic Sea.

Area: 312.7 thousand square kilometres.

Population: 38.51 million, over 97 percent Poles.

Religion: Roman Catholicism (95 percent of the population are Roman Catholics).

Official language: Polish.

Currency: Polish zloty.

Administrative divisions: Three stages, 16 voivodeships (provinces), 379 powiats (counties or districts), and 2,479 gminas (a gmina is the main unit of territorial self-government).

Capital: Warsaw (1.7 million). Other large cities are Krakow (756,000), Lodz (737,000), Wroclaw (633,000), Poznan (552,000), and Gdansk (457,000).

National flag:  Red and white.

National emblem: White eagle against red background.

National anthem: Dąbrowski’s mazurka “Jeszcze Polska nie zgineła” (Poland is not yet lost).

National holidays: May 3, anniversary of the 1791Constitution. The current Constitution came into force in October 1997.  November 11, Independence Day, marking the restoration of Polish statehood in 1918.

History: The Polish state emerged in the late 10th century AD. In 966, its ruler, Duke Mieszko I, adopted Christianity. In 1025, Poland became a kingdom with its seat in Gniezno. It was headed by the Piast national dynasty. In the mid-12th century, it broke up into apanage principalities but was reunited by King Casimir the Great in the early 14th century. The King also conquered Galician Rus and part of Volyn and Podolye. Krakow became Poland’s capital in 1320.

In 1386, the Polish throne went to the Lithuanian Jagiellonian dynasty, this opening the way to a personal union of the two states. In the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, the united Polish-Lithuanian force and allied Smolensk regiments defeated the Teutonic Order, thus putting an end to its expansion, which had deprived Poland of access to the Baltic Sea in the 13th and 14th centuries.

The first Rzeczpospolita (borrowed from the Latin res publica) was established with the signing of the Union of Lublin by Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569. At the peak of its power, this state spread “from sea to sea (In the first half of the 17th century, it included most of modern Poland and Ukraine, Byelorussia, Lithuania, a portion of Latvia, and some West Russian lands, while Courland, Liefland, Danzig and Prussia were its vassals. Thus it really had an access to the Baltic Sea and indirectly to the Black Sea.).” This state existed until 1795. Warsaw became its de facto capital since 1596.

In 1610, Russian boyars invited Wladyslaw, son of the King of Rzeczpospolita Sigismund III, to the Moscow throne. In 1612, the Poles were ousted from Moscow by a Russian volunteer corps led by Nizhny Novgorod merchant Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. As a result of  the Russian-Polish wars conducted with mixed success (1577-82, 1609-18, 1632-34, 1654-67), the Moscow State acquired the Smolensk Region and Left-Bank Ukraine.

Following the three partitions of Rzeczpospolita (1772, 1793 and 1795) between Austria, Prussia and Russia, the territory of today’s Belarus, Right-Bank Ukraine (without Galicia), Lithuania and parts of Latvia were added to the Russian Empire. After the Polish lands were redivided at the Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815, the Russian Empire acquired the bigger part of the Duchy of Warsaw (except for the Greater Poland with Poznan and Krakow), where it established the Kingdom of Poland that initially enjoyed considerable autonomy. A series of Polish national liberation uprisings in 1774 (led by Tadeusz Kosciuszko), 1830-1831, 1846, 1848 and 1863-1864 were crushed.

In August 1918, the Soviet leadership cancelled the tsarist government’s treaties on the partition of Poland. In November of the same year, Poland was granted independence and proclaimed a republic (II Rzeczpospolita or the Second Polish Republic). On March 18, 1921, Soviet Russia and Poland signed a peace treaty in Riga, Latvia, which fixed the results of the 1919-1920 Soviet-Polish war that ended unsuccessfully for Russia (the border between the two countries passed much farther to the east than the Curzon Line, the eastern brink of compact Polish settlement).

On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany attacked Poland, thereby unleashing World War II. Having quickly routed the Polish army, Germany occupied most of the country. On September 17, 1939, the Red Army entered Western Ukraine, Western Byelorussia, and the Vilnius Region, which were joined to the USSR.

Between July 1944 and May 1945, the Red Army fully liberated Poland with the assistance of the First Polish Army. Over 600,000 Soviet officers and men died in battles fought for the liberation of Poland. World War II cost Poland almost 40 percent of its national wealth and over six million people (one-fifth of its population). In the West, its border passed along the Oder–Neisse line and in the East along the Curzon Line, with some concessions in favour of Poland.

After the war, Poland proclaimed a course towards the construction of  socialist society under the leadership of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PUWP). The Polish People’s Republic was a member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance until their dissolution.

The abolition of the socialist system in Poland in the late 1980s was preceded by lengthy internal political struggles that became spearheaded, in 1980, by the Solidarity opposition movement. In December 1981, martial law was imposed and lasted until 1983. The first free elections were held in June 1989 after the round table talks between the main political forces. Since December 21, 1989, Poland has been officially titled the Republic of Poland (III Rzeczpospolita). Since that time, the internal political processes were accompanied by frequent changes of government and profound changes in the party landscape, which is now dominated by the national populist forces. The liberal conservative and centrist parties are in opposition, while the left-wing forces are weak and disunited.

Political system: Poland is a parliamentary-presidential republic. Legislative power is vested in parliament, the Sejm and the Senate. Executive power is exercised by the President of the Republic and the Council of Ministers. The judicial branch is represented by courts and tribunals. The head and supreme representative of the Polish state is President elected by nationwide ballot at general elections once every five years. No one can be elected to the office of President for more than two terms. Andrzej Duda, nominated by the nationalist clerical Law and Justice Party, was elected president in the second round of the presidential election on May 24, 2015 (assumed office on August 6, 2015).

Parliament has a lower house, the Sejm (400 deputies), and an upper house, the Senate (100 senators). Deputies and senators are elected simultaneously for four years in multi-mandate constituencies on the basis of the proportionate and majority voting systems, respectively. The latest parliamentary elections, held on October 25, 2015, were won by the Law and Justice party. Its representative Marek Kuchcinski was elected Marshal of the Sejm (in November 2015). Marshal of the Senate is Stanisław Karczewski (since November 2015), also a representative of the same party.

As of July 19, 2017, the seats in the Sejm are held by the following parties:

1)      Law and Justice, 234 deputies;

2)      Civic Platform, 136 deputies;

3)      Kukiz’15, 32 deputies;

4)      Modern, 27 deputies;

5)      Polish Peasants’ Party, 15 deputies;

6)      Union of European Democrats, 4 deputies;

7)      Free and Solidary, 3 deputies;

8)      The “Republicans,” 3 deputies;

9)      German Minority, 1 deputy;

10)    Independents, 5 deputies.

In the Senate, 64 senators represent Law and Justice, 33 Civic Platform, and three are independents.

Government (Council of Ministers) is formed by the party winning the parliamentary election. It is sworn in by the President and is approved by the Sejm. The October 25, 2015, elections were won by the Law and Justice party. A new Cabinet of Ministers was appointed on November 16, 2015. It was headed by Beata Szydlo. Witold Waszczykowski has been Foreign Minister since November 16, 2015.

Main political parties and trade unions: Poland has over 60 parties and public and political associations. The two  most influential  trade unions  are the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (formed in 1989, includes over a hundred branch organistions and is headed by Jan Guz ) and the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity” (over 1.2 million members, the National Commission is chaired by Piotr  Duda).

Poland sees as its foreign policy priority the consolidation of its position on the international arena, especially in the European Union (EU) (joined 2004, chaired second half 2011) and NATO (member since 1999). Poland is part of Visegrad Four (along with Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia), the Central European Initiative (CEI) (18 countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe), the Council of the Baltic Sea States, and the Weimar Triangle (with Germany and France).

Warsaw is an active supporter of the strengthening of NATO’s eastern flank and deployment of its military units, arms and infrastructure on its own territory and in the Baltic countries. It is paying special attention to its strategic partnership with Washington. In this context, a US missile defence facility is under construction on Polish territory and Poland hosts an American armoured brigade and army air units. The military infrastructure is being upgraded as well. Poland is actively promoting the EU’s project of Eastern Partnership aimed at drawing Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia into the EU orbit.

Armed forces: (Unofficially called Wojsko Polskie) include land forces, a navy, an air force, an air defence force, special troops, and a territorial defence force.  President Andrzej Duda is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief; Antoni Macierewicz is the National Defence Minister; and Gen. Leszek Surawski is Chief of the General Staff (since May 2017). There are plans to bring the armed forces strength to 200,000 (including 130,000 professional military personnel and 53,000 territorial defence troops). Servicemen take part in peacekeeping operations, prioritising missions under NATO and EU auspices.

Economy: In general, Poland’s economic status remains stable. Between1990s and 2000s, it was developing at priority rates and avoided recession even during the 2008-2009 global crisis as well as the latest slump that hit certain EU states. In 2016, GDP grew by 2.8 percent to $467.4 billion, or $12,000 per capita. The average pay is $1,069. In 2016, unemployment was 8.3 percent and the national debt, 52.4 percent of GDP. Main trade partners are other EU states, primarily Germany.

Science and culture: Poland is a country with rich cultural and scientific traditions. It has world-renowned  scientists like Nicolaus Copernicus and Marie Sklodowska-Curie, composers Frederic Chopin and Henryk Wieniawski, writers Bolesław Prus and Henryk Sienkiewicz, poets Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Slowacki, and ilmmakers Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Zanussi and Krzysztof Kieslowski.

To date, there are about 500 research institutes and 131 higher educational institutions, including 38 universities (one of these is the ancient Jagiellonian University founded in 1364).The total student body is almost two million.  Poland has over a hundred drama, musical and puppet theatres, and numerous museums and art galleries, the most famous of which are the National Museum in Warsaw and the Museum of Modern Art in Lodz.

Media: The Polish Press Agency (PAP) is the main national news structure. There are also a number of private news agencies. The following publications have the biggest circulation: the newspapers Gazeta Wyborcza,  Rzeczpospolita,  Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, Nasz Dziennik, Super Express, Fakt and Puls Biznesu;  the magazines  Wprost, Przegląd, Przekroi, Polytika and Newsweek.  Apart from government-owned (TVP and Polish Radio) Poland has private TV and radio broadcasting companies (TVN, POLSAT and RMF FM, to name a few).