Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz

Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz
Prime Minister of Poland 8th Prime Minister of the Third Republic of Poland
In office 7 February 1996 – 31 October 1997
President	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Deputy	Roman Jagieliński Grzegorz Kołodko Mirosław Pietrewicz Jarosław Kalinowski
Preceded by	Józef Oleksy
Succeeded by	Jerzy Buzek
Marshal of the Sejm 7th Marshal of the Sejm of The Third Republic of Poland
In office 5 January 2005 – 18 October 2005
President	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Prime Minister	Marek Belka
Preceded by	Józef Oleksy
Succeeded by	Marek Jurek
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland 7th Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Third Republic of Poland
In office 19 October 2001 – 5 January 2005
President	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Prime Minister	Leszek Miller, Marek Belka
Preceded by	Władysław Bartoszewski
Succeeded by	Adam Daniel Rotfeld
Minister of Justice of the Republic of Poland
In office 26 October 1993 – 1 March 1995
President	Lech Wałęsa
Prime Minister	Waldemar Pawlak
Preceded by	Jan Piątkowski
Succeeded by	Jerzy Jaskiernia
Personal details
Born	13 September 1950 (1950-09-13) (age 61) Warsaw, People's Republic of Poland
Political party	Independent
Spouse(s)	Barbara Cimoszewicz
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Atheist

Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz (Polish pronunciation: [vwɔˈd͡ʑimʲɛʂ t͡ɕimɔˈʂɛvʲit͡ʂ] ( listen), born 13 September 1950 in Warsaw, Poland) is a Polish politician.^[1][2][3] He was a member of the left-wing Democratic Left Alliance, the Prime Minister of Poland from 1996 to Autumn 1997, the Foreign Minister of Poland in the governments of Leszek Miller (2001–2004) and Marek Belka (2004–2005), the speaker of the Sejm (lower chamber of the Polish parliament) in January – October 2005 and the leftist candidate in the Polish presidential election of 1990 (received 9% of the votes) and of 2005 (withdrew before the elections and promised to abandon politics).

Along with Leszek Miller, he signed the Accession Treaty that paved way to Polish membership in the European Union.

Cimoszewicz returned to politics during 2007 parliamentary election, when he won Senate seat as an independent candidate.

Presidential bid

On 28 June 2005, Cimoszewicz declared his intent to run for Polish President (see: Election 2005). He instantly became a leader in the polls. He ran previously in 1990 and received 9.21% vote. In 1990, Lech Wałęsa and Stan Tymiński went on to the second round. Cimoszewicz did not run in the years 1995 and 2000 giving way to his close colleague Aleksander Kwaśniewski who twice became president. His election committee was chaired by the wife of President Kwaśniewski, Jolanta Kwaśniewska.

On 9 July 2005, Cimoszewicz caused a major political uproar by refusing to testify in front of the Orlen commission. He accused 7 of its 8 members of being politically motivated, partial and bent on undermining his presidential bid. Constitutional experts are split on whether his move was constitutional or if Cimoszewicz broke the law. 58% of the Poles disapproved of Cimoszewicz's behavior before the commission.

According to a poll by Rzeczpospolita, Cimoszewicz was a "hands down" leader on 5 July 2005:

• Cimoszewicz: 28% vote
• Kaczyński: 19%
• Lepper: 17%
• Religa: 15%
• Tusk: 11%
• Borowski: 5%

He was predicted to win the second round, independent of who was going to reach it from the second place. In the event the election was won by Lech Kaczyński.

In 2009, he was one of two candidates to replace Terry Davis as Secretary General of the Council of Europe. However, in September 2009, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe elected other candidate Thorbjørn Jagland as the new secretary general.

References

1. ^ http://www.economist.com/node/842406?story_id=E1_RQNQDG
2. ^ http://www.strasbourgre.polemb.net/index.php?document=191
3. ^ http://www.msz.gov.pl/index.php?document=2681

Political offices
Preceded by Józef Oleksy	Prime Minister of Poland 1996–1997	Succeeded by Jerzy Buzek
Preceded by Wladyslaw Bartoszewski	Minister of Foreign Affairs 2001–2005	Succeeded by Adam Daniel Rotfeld
Preceded by Józef Oleksy	Sejm Marshal 2005	Succeeded by Marek Jurek

Persondata
Name	Cimoszewicz, Wlodzimierz
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	13 September 1950
Place of birth	Warsaw, People's Republic of Poland
Date of death
Place of death