The Freedom Union (, UW) was a liberal democratic political party in Poland.

History

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 European integration is the process of industrial, economic, political, legal, social, and cultural integration of states wholly or partially in Europe or nearby. European integration has primarily come about through the European Union and its ...

(in the form of

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

membership), rapid

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of the enterprises still owned by the Polish state and decentralisation of the government. In the 1991 general elections, the KLD received 7.5% of the vote and 37 seats in the

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

(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 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 The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

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

Sejm

Senate

Presidential

Regional assemblies

European Parliament

Former leader

* Władysław Frasyniuk – Party chairman

Members of Polish Parliament (Sejm)

* None since 2001

Former Members of Polish Senate

* Olga Teresa Krzyżanowska – caucus vice-chairperson *

Dorota Simonides Dorota Elżbieta Simonides (born 1928 Janów) - Polish folklorist and politician. Professor emerita of the Faculty of Philology, Opole University. She lost her library (5 000 volumes) during the 1997 Central European flood The 1997 Central Euro ...

* Kazimierz Kutz * Andrzej Jan Wielowieyski – caucus chairman * Grażyna Staniszewska (until 13 June 2004, elected to the European Parliament)

Members of the European Parliament of the former Freedom Union

Bronisław Geremek Bronisław Geremek (; born Benjamin Lewertow;

, historian and politician, ex-minister of foreign affairs * Jan Kułakowski, journalist, ex-Poland-EU negotiator *

Janusz Onyszkiewicz Janusz Adam Onyszkiewicz (, born 18 December 1937) is a Polish mathematician, alpinist, politicianEuropa Publications, "The International Who's Who 2004", Routledge, 2003pg. 1258/ref> and was a vice-president of the European Parliament's Foreign ...

, mathematician and politician, vice-president of the

* Grażyna Staniszewska, politician, senator

Other prominent members

* Jan Rokita – now Civic Platform * Donald Tusk – now Civic Platform * Janusz Lewandowski – now Civic Platform *

Jacek Kuroń Jacek Jan Kuroń (; 3 March 1934 – 17 June 2004) was one of the democratic leaders of opposition in the People's Republic of Poland. He was widely known as the "godfather of the Polish opposition," not unlike Václav Havel in Czechoslovakia. K ...

– died 17 June 2004

References

{{UWHeads 1994 establishments in Poland 2005 disestablishments in Poland Centrist parties in Poland Christian democratic parties in Europe Defunct liberal political parties Defunct political parties in Poland International Republican Institute Liberal parties in Poland Political parties disestablished in 2005 Political parties established in 1994 Social liberal parties