The Freedom Union (, UW) was a liberal democratic political party in Poland that was active from 1994 to 2005, when it rebranded and became the Democratic Party.

History

It was founded on 20 March 1994 out of the merger of the Democratic Union (''Unia Demokratyczna'', UD) and the

Liberal Democratic Congress The Liberal Democratic Congress (, KLD) was a conservative-liberal political party in Poland. The party, led by Donald Tusk, had roots in the Solidarity movement. It advocated free market economy, individual liberty, European integration in the ...

(''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 A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a market ...

and individual liberty, rejected extremism and fanaticism, favoured

European integration European integration is the process of political, legal, social, regional and economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe, or nearby. European integration has primarily but not exclusively come about through the European Union ...

(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 Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

membership), rapid

privatisation Privatization (rendered 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 w ...

of the enterprises still owned by the Polish state and decentralisation of the government. In the 1991

general elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

, the KLD received 7.5% of the vote and 37 seats in 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' ...

(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 The Civic Platform (, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a Centre-right politics, centre-right liberal conservative political party in Poland. Since ...

(''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 The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but elect ...

, receiving 7% of votes and 4 of 54 seats reserved for Poland in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

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 Tadeusz Mazowiecki (; 18 April 1927 – 28 October 2013) was a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist Polish prime minister since 1946, hav ...

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 Olga may refer to: People and fictional characters * Olga (name), a given name, including a list of people and fictional characters named Olga or Olha * Michael Algar (born 1962), English singer also known as "Olga" Places Russia * Olga, Russia ...

– caucus vice-chairperson * Dorota Simonides *

Kazimierz Kutz Kazimierz Julian Kutz (16 February 1929 – 18 December 2018) was a Polish film director, author, journalist and politician, one of the representatives of the Polish Film School and a deputy speaker of the Senate of Poland. Biography Kazimie ...

* 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 and politician,Europa Publications, "The International Who's Who 2004", Routledge, 2003pg. 1258/ref> who served as Minister of Defence twice, in the cabinets ...

, mathematician and politician, vice-president of the

* Grażyna Staniszewska, politician, senator

Other prominent members

* Jan Rokita – now

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk (born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician and historian who has served as the prime minister of Poland since 2023, previously holding the office from 2007 to 2014. Tusk served as the president of the European Council (20 ...

– now

Janusz Lewandowski Janusz Antoni Lewandowski (; born 13 June 1951) is a Polish politician and economist belonging to the Gdańsk liberals group, and a former member of the European Parliament (elected on 13 June 2004), Chairman of the Committee on Budgets. On 27 ...