[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 27 (Friday, March 11, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 11, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                       POLAND'S GREAT EXPERIMENT

 Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to 
salute the great Polish experiment that is currently taking place. 
Unlike other former Communist countries, Poland has taken the path of 
economic shock therapy. Poland's leaders, including President Lech 
Walesa, adopted sweeping market reforms to create a Western economy as 
quickly as possible, even though they knew that the policy would entail 
hardship and political risk.
  The experiment is paying off. The Polish economy, which grew at a 
rate of 5 percent last year, is the fastest growing economy in Europe. 
Germany, France, and Britain have all been outdistanced by Poland.
  Some have argued that the elections last September were a major 
setback to reform since the former Communist Party and its ally won the 
largest block of votes. These results, however, were misleading. 
Because the initial non-Communist Polish governments were plagued by 
too many parties, the electoral laws were changed to give the leading 
parties, bonus seats. As a result, the two leading ex-Communist 
parties, the Democratic Left Alliance and the Polish Peasants' Party, 
got 66 percent of the seats in the Sejm, the parliament, although they 
won only 36 percent of the vote. Yet even the former Communists, who 
benefited from a protest vote against the hardships of economic 
reforms, do not appear to want to roll back the economic and political 
reforms of the previous governments.
  How can we help Poland continue its courageous experiment? First, we 
can encourage lower tariffs for Polish goods in Western Europe, its 
largest market. The European Community still maintains trade barriers 
against agricultural, steel, and textile products. Poland should be 
allowed to sell freely in Western Europe, which must not be allowed to 
be a rich man's club.
  The United States can also do its part. Poland has been asking to 
become a full-fledged member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 
[NATO]. Poland is still afraid of the rebirth of an Imperial Russia, 
particularly after the electoral success of the Russian extremist, 
Vladimir Zhirinovsky. The West should be sensitive to Poland's fears. 
Whether it was czars or commissars, Poland has often been a victim of 
its more powerful neighbor. Given Poland's history and Russia's 
unstable present, Poland has the right to belong to NATO. This would 
discourage Russian nationalists from trying to reimpose their will in 
all of Central Europe.
  Mr. President, Poland's great experiment is the key to success for 
the entire former Soviet bloc. If Poland can show that economic reforms 
can work, other former Communist countries, including Russia, will 
follow its example. As Poland continues to lead the way, the least the 
West can do is to provide military security and an even economic 
playing field. Poland helped to break the back of Communist governments 
in 1989. We have to help it bury the remains of the Communist economic 
system in 1994.

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