On the anniversary of the June 4, 1989 elections, Aleksander Kwaśniewski returned to the dispute over the Round Table and used the occasion to strike at President Karol Nawrocki. The former president described his December speech related to the removal of the Round Table from the Presidential Palace as “hooliganism”, while arguing that the 1989 agreement was… the foundation of the most important successes of the Third Polish Republic.
On December 18, 2025, an unusual briefing took place at the Presidential Palace with the participation of President Karol Nawrocki. In the background, one could see workers “dismantling” the Round Table. During his speech, the Polish head of state emphasized that “at the Round Table, which is being removed from the Presidential Palace, 36 years ago sat various individuals representing different interests.”
As we know, communist figures and post-1989 elites, including officers of the Security Service, played an important role. Paraphrasing the words of that actress from 1989, I would like to proudly say – and I hope not prematurely: today, post-communism in Poland has come to an end. Long live free Poland!
President Nawrocki’s decision was criticized both by politicians of the December 13 coalition and its broader circles, including media outlets. Numerous – often offensive – comments targeting Karol Nawrocki appeared almost immediately.
Kwaśniewski: A Hooligan Display
Yesterday, June 4 marked two anniversaries: the partially free elections of 1989, which followed the Round Table agreements, and the anniversary of the overthrow of Prime Minister Jan Olszewski’s government in 1992.
The events of 34 years ago were discussed yesterday on TV Republika by the station’s CEO, Tomasz Sakiewicz.
“At that time, we were in the process of dismantling the Soviet bloc. After the first democratic parliamentary elections and the first democratic presidential elections, Poland was only beginning its path toward democracy, and Soviet troops were still stationed on Polish territory. What we see – the main cause [of the ‘night shift’ – ed.] was Jan Olszewski’s refusal to allow Soviet bases to remain here, even if transformed into intelligence and economic outposts that would exert influence and control, leading to situations like in Ossetia, where specific enclaves were being created. Poland would never have joined NATO, would never have left the Soviet sphere. Lech Wałęsa insisted on this, and Donald Tusk supported it. This was a union of agents of post-Soviet and German services, who supported this arrangement for various reasons”, said Tomasz Sakiewicz.
Earlier, a TV Republika delegation commemorated Jan Olszewski by laying flowers at his monument in Warsaw.
Nevertheless, for supporters of the Round Table, June 4 is associated exclusively with those events. On this “occasion,” former Polish president Aleksander Kwaśniewski gave an interview to Gazeta Wyborcza, in which he condemned Karol Nawrocki’s move from December last year.
“Let’s separate two things. The decision to relocate the piece of furniture was made already during President Duda’s term. It was moved to the Citadel in Warsaw, to the new Museum of Polish History. The fact that this object is there is fine. It is an important part of Polish history and an interesting artifact. However, President Nawrocki’s speech was hooliganism. Because he wanted to tell us that with the dismantling of this piece of furniture, post-communism in Poland ends. He presented an ideological concept that is untrue and also distorts the history of the Round Table”, he stated.
He added that “the saddest thing about President Nawrocki’s speech is that by removing this object from the palace and speaking of the end of an era, he is not really defining what ideological era has ended, but in fact wants to close the period of the Round Table spirit. Because what was extremely important at the Round Table was a certain spirit of agreement, of seeking compromise, of listening to one another, of dialogue.”
In his view, “when I look at President Nawrocki and his actions, there is nothing of the Round Table spirit there. There is a concept of polarizing society.”
He then recalled the time when he and Adam Michnik “spent fascinating months at the Round Table.” “We did not have the imagination to foresee how much the world would change as a result of this beginning, which that Table represented. But it was precisely this that was incredible – that we created the possibility of acting together in the general interest, regardless of our differences. And this Round Table spirit later produced several very concrete outcomes. From this spirit came, of course, the June elections. But also the Balcerowicz reforms: in the contract Sejm it was possible to prepare an enormously complex package of laws that transformed the economy”, he added.
“From the spirit of the Round Table emerged the 1997 Constitution, because it gave us the ability to reach agreements, quite effectively, on many difficult issues. And the final act of this spirit was accession to the European Union in 2004 – it was then possible to unite forces far greater than party divisions to fight for membership. And somewhere around 2005 this spirit began to fade, and in President Nawrocki’s statements it has now disappeared entirely. Why does the Round Table bother part of our right wing so much – the populist, ultra-conservative part?”, he continued.
Two Anniversaries on One Day
June 4 remains one of the most symbolic and at the same time one of the most controversial dates in modern Polish history. It marks both the anniversary of the partially free elections of 1989, which followed the Round Table agreements, and the anniversary of the overthrow of Prime Minister Jan Olszewski’s government in 1992.
On the night of June 4 to 5, 1992, the Sejm dismissed Jan Olszewski’s government. This happened just hours after the launch of the lustration process, when the then Minister of Internal Affairs, Antoni Macierewicz, presented parliament with a list of individuals recorded in the archives of the communist Security Service.