Cabinet of Jan Olszewski was the government of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

from 23 December 1991 to 5 June 1992, sitting in the

Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

during the 1st legislature of the

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

. Led by lawyer Jan Olszewski, it was supported by the coalition of the Centre Agreement and the Christian National Union as well as the Party of Christian Democrats in the beginning and the Peasants' Agreement at the end.

Government formation

In autumn, first fully free elections were held. President

Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 Polish presidential election, 1990 election, Wałę ...

invited Jan Olszewski to form a government, when formation of government by

Bronisław Geremek Bronisław Geremek (; born Benjamin Lewertow;

and attempts to keep

Jan Krzysztof Bielecki Jan Krzysztof Bielecki (born 3 May 1951) is a Polish liberal politician and economist. A leading figure of the Gdańsk-based Liberal Democratic Congress in the early 1990s, Bielecki served as Prime Minister of Poland for most of 1991. In his p ...

in office were unsuccessful. The

appointed Olszewski Prime Minister on 6 December. Issues with forming a

coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

discouraged Olszewski, who announced his resignation, which was not accepted. Olszewski was supported by

Polish People's Party The Polish People's Party (, PSL) is a conservative political party in Poland. It is currently led by Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Its history traces back to 1895, when it held the name People's Party, although its name was changed to the pre ...

(in exchange for few deputy ministers), whom

Jarosław Kaczyński Jarosław Aleksander Kaczyński (born 18 June 1949) is a Polish politician. He co-founded the Law and Justice (PiS) party in 2001 with his twin brother, Lech Kaczyński, and has served as its leader since 2003. He served as Prime Minister of Pola ...

loudly thanked after the voting. After long period of negotiations, on 23 December the government was formed thanks to support of

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

and PSL. The government was made up of 4 parties - Centre Agreement and the Christian National Union as well as the Party of Christian Democrats. Olszewski cabinet worked under new international conditions. At the end of December 1991, the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

was dissolved. This motivated the government to start integration with

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

and

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

. For the first time, in official documents, it was mentioned that membership in

is part of Polish defence strategies. Negotiations to withdraw Russian armies from Poland started at the end of October 1990, we speeded up. In March 1992, period of confusion occurred when president

presented his conception of new economic and military alliance with former

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...

during his visit to Germany, which went against the euroatlantic direction of the government. Olszewski government changed the concept of privatization of national corporations. Total stop of privatization led to open conflict with liberal groups in the parliament. On 22 May 1992, Jan Olszewski opposed signing of a clause in Polish-Russian Treaty of Friendly and Neighbourly Cooperation, which handed over former Russian military bases to international Polish-Russian corporations. The Prime Minister sent a telegram to Moscow to president

informing of government opposition to the clause. Wałęsa, after conversation with

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

changed the controversial clause. However, this did not stop further clashes with the president.

Dissolution

Jan Olszewski cabinet did not hold permanent parliamentary majority. Attempts to extend the coalition, first to Democratic Union, Liberal Democratic Congress and Polish Economic Programme, and then to

Confederation of Independent Poland Confederation of Independent Poland (KPN, ) was a Polish nationalist political party founded on 1 September 1979 by Leszek Moczulski and others declaring support for the pre-war traditions of Sanacja and Józef Piłsudski. It was the first ind ...

, were unsuccessful. On 24 May 1992, the council of the Democratic Union wrote a report calling the government to resign. On 26 May, Wałęsa sent a formal note to the

Marshal of the Sejm The Marshal of the Sejm (, ) is the speaker (chair) of the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish Parliament. The office traces its origins to the 15th century. In modern Poland, the full title is Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (). ...

, informing of withdrawal of support for the government. On 27 May, the four parties prepared for the

vote of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

against the government. The following day, the Sejm passed a resolution obligating the Minister of Interior (at the time

Antoni Macierewicz Antoni Macierewicz (; born 3 August 1948) is a Polish politician and the former Minister of National Defence. He previously served as the Minister of Internal Affairs, Head of the Military Counterintelligence Service, and Minister of State in ...

), to publish the list of communist secret police collaborators. On 29 May, representative of the Democratic Union,

Jan Maria Rokita Jan Władysław Maria Rokita (, born 18 June 1959) is a Polish liberal conservative politician, a member of the Sejm, the lower chamber of the Parliament of Poland, Polish parliament. He was chairman of the parliamentary club of the Civic Platfor ...

, presented a

request on the behalf of 65 members of the parliament of the 3 parties. On 2 June, the final day of coalition negotiations with the

, Macierewicz met with deputy Marshal of that party, informing him that its leader,

Leszek Moczulski Robert Leszek Moczulski (, 7 June 1930 – 10 October 2024) was a Polish historian and politician, a member of various organizations, first supporting then supposedly opposing the communist regime in the People's Republic of Poland while divid ...

, was on the list of collaborators which will be presented to the Sejm the following day. The cabinet was recalled by the Sejm in a voting after the midnight of 5 June 1992, few hours after publishing the list. The Prime Minister supported the decision of Macierewicz, proposing to establish an independent commission to verify the validity of the published documents. The Sejm did not debate this proposal. Wałęsa pressured on the Sejm to speed up the vote of no confidence, sending his own request.

References

{{Polish Cabinets Olszewski, Jan Cabinet of Jan Olszewski 1991 establishments in Poland 1992 disestablishments in Poland Cabinets established in 1991 Cabinets disestablished in 1992