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Freedom Union (Poland)

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Freedom Union
Unia Wolności
ChairmanTadeusz Mazowiecki (1994–1995)
Leszek Balcerowicz (1995–2000)
Bronisław Geremek (2000–2001)
Władysław Frasyniuk (2001–2005)
Founded20 March 1994
Dissolved9 May 2005; 19 years ago (2005-05-09)[a]
Merger ofDemocratic Union
Liberal Democratic Congress
Splitting off the Alliance of Democrats
Succeeded byDemocratic Party[a]
IdeologyNeoliberalism[1][2]
Political positionCentre-right[3][4][5]
European affiliationEuropean Democrat Union/European People's Party (1996-2002)
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group (2002-2005)
European Parliament groupEuropean Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (2002-2005)
^ a: In 24 January 2001, KLD faction split from this party to form Civic Platform.

The Freedom Union (Polish: Unia Wolności, UW) was a liberal[6] democratic political party in Poland.

History

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It was founded on 20 March 1994 out of the merger of the Democratic Union (Unia Demokratyczna, UD) and the Liberal Democratic Congress (Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny, KLD). Both of these parties had roots in the Solidarity trade union movement. It represented European democratic and liberal tradition, i.e., it advocated free market economy and individual liberty, rejected extremism and fanaticism, favoured European integration (in the form of European Union membership), rapid privatisation of the enterprises still owned by the Polish state and decentralisation of the government.

Timeline of Polish liberal parties after 1989
• Citizens' Movement for Democratic Action /ROAD (1990–1991)
• Liberal Democratic Congress /KLD (1990–1994)
• Democratic Union /UD (1991–1994)
• Freedom Union /UW (1994–2005)
• Democratic Party /PD (2005– )
• Palikot's Movement /RP (2011–2013)
• Your Movement /TR (2013– )
• Modern/.N (2015– )

In the 1991 general elections, the KLD received 7.5% of the vote and 37 seats in the Sejm (out of 460 seats) and the UD got 12.3% of the votes and 62 seats. In 1993 the KLD got 4.0% of the votes and was left without seats; the UD got 10.6% of the votes and 74 seats. In 1997 the UW got 13.4% of the votes and 60 seats.

In January 2001 some members of the FU (mostly from centre-right and KLD factions) decided to move to join the new Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska), which got 12.7% of the votes and 65 seats in the September 2001 general elections whilst the FU failed to cross the 5% threshold required to gain entry to the lower house of Parliament, receiving only 3.1%. Surprisingly, the FU managed to cross the required 5% threshold in the 2004 European Parliament elections, receiving 7% of votes and 4 of 54 seats reserved for Poland in the European Parliament as part of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party, of which it was a member.

The initiative by the FU leadership to found the centre/social-liberal Democratic Party (Partia Demokratyczna – demokraci.pl) attracted a lot of attention. It was cofounded by Władysław Frasyniuk and economy minister Jerzy Hausner, joined by prime minister Marek Belka. Former FU member Tadeusz Mazowiecki also joined the initiative. Legally the centrist Democratic Party, founded 9 May 2005, is the successor of the FU.

Election results

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Sejm

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Election year # of
votes 		% of
vote 		# of
overall seats won 		+/– Government
1997 1,749,518 13.4 (#3)
60 / 460
 Decrease 14 AWS-UW (1997-2000)
Opposition (2000-2001)
2001 404,074 3.1 (#9)
0 / 460
 Decrease 60 Extra-parliamentary

Senate

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Election year # of
overall seats won 		+/–
1997
8 / 100
2001
5 / 100
 Decrease 3
As part of the Senate 2001 coalition, which won 15 seats.

Presidential

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Election year Candidate 1st round 2nd round
# of overall votes % of overall vote # of overall votes % of overall vote
1995 Jacek Kuroń 1,646,946 9.2 (#3)

Regional assemblies

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Election year % of
vote 		# of
overall seats won 		+/–
1998 10.3 (#4)
76 / 855
2002 2.3 (#7)
3 / 561
 Decrease 73

European Parliament

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Election year # of
votes 		% of
vote 		# of
overall seats won 		+/–
2004 446,549 7.3 (#6)
4 / 54

Former leader

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Members of Polish Parliament (Sejm)

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  • None since 2001

Former Members of Polish Senate

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Members of the European Parliament of the former Freedom Union

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Other prominent members

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Kamiński, Paweł; Rozbicka, Patrycja (2016). "Political Parties and Trade Unions in the Post-Communist Poland:: Class Politics that Have Never a Chance to Happen". Polish Political Science Yearbook. 45 (1). Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek: 197. AWS formed a coalition with the Freedom Union (UW). Both parties had their roots in the pre-1989 anticommunist movements, however, UW was also clearly neoliberal.
  2. ^ Kołodko, Grzegorz (2009). "A two-thirds of success. Poland's post-communist transformation" (PDF). Communist and Post-Communist Studies. 42. TIGER - Globalization, Transformation and Integration Economic Research: 330. As for the political consequences, two parties of the coalition government, neither the neoliberal Freedom Union, UW, nor the populist Solidarity Election Action, AWS, were able in the election of 2001 to receive a minimum 5 percent of votes required to get to the parliament.
  3. ^ Arthur S. Banks; Thomas C. Muller; William R. Overstreet; Judith F. Isacoff, eds. (2009). Political Handbook of the World 2009. CQ Press. p. 1071. ISBN 978-0-87289-559-1. ISSN 0193-175X. His main opponents among 17 other registered candidates were Aleksander KWAŚNIEWSKI of the SLD/SdRP, Jacek KUROŃ of the center-right Freedom Union (Unia Wolnósci—UW), and former prime ministers Olszewski and Pawlak.
  4. ^ Popić, Tamara (24 November 2014). Policy Learning, Fast and Slow: Market-Oriented Reforms of Czech and Polish Healthcare Policy, 1989-2009 (PDF) (Doctor of Political and Social Sciences thesis). Florence: European University Institute. p. 88. The Freedom Union (Unia Wolnosci - UW) emerged as one of the strongest parties, defining itself ideologically as a centre-right party and presenting liberal views on both economic and social reforms.
  5. ^ Green, Peter S. (3 October 1997). "Differences in New Coalition Appear Not to Run Deep : Poland Agrees on Free Market". New York Times. Officials from Solidarity Election Action, which won 201 seats in the 460-seat Sejm, or lower house of the National Assembly, and the center-right Freedom Union, which has 60 seats, say they see nearly eye-to-eye.
  6. ^ Paul G. Lewis (2000). Political Parties in Post-Communist Eastern Europe. Routledge. pp. 51–. ISBN 978-0-415-20182-7. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
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