[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[July 7, 1994]
[Pages 1208-1210]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Address to the Polish Parliament in Warsaw
July 7, 1994

    Thank you very much. Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, Marshal 
Oleksy, Mr. Speakers, and representatives of the people of Poland: I am 
honored to stand before you today in this chamber, at the heart of 
Poland's democracy. I know that you have extended your session in order 
to hear me today, and I am very grateful for your hospitality.
    We gather today to honor a friendship that is as old as my Nation. 
And we honor ties that grow stronger every day. We admire the 
contributions that Polish-Americans, millions of them, have made and are 
making to our Nation's strength. And we celebrate the cultural ties that 
bind our peoples. But at this moment of decision in history, in this 
time of renewal for Poland and for the United States, Poland has come to 
mean something even greater, for your success is crucial to democracy's 
future in Central and Eastern Europe, and indeed, all across the globe.
    It has been said that if it were not for the people of Poland, 
democracy might have perished on the continent of Europe a half-century 
ago. For it was the Polish mathematicians from the laboratories of 
Poznan who broke the secrets of the Enigma Code, what Winston Churchill 
called the most important weapon against Hitler and his armies. It was 
these code-breakers who made possible the great Allied landings at 
Normandy, when American, English, French, Canadian, and yes, Free Polish 
forces joined together to liberate this continent, to destroy one 
terrible tyranny that darkened our century.
    Yet, alone among the great Allied armies who fought in Normandy, the 
Poles did not return to a liberated land. Your fathers instead returned 
to a nation that had been laid waste by its invaders. Then one would-be 
conqueror gave way to another, and an Iron Curtain fell across your 
borders, a second foreign tyranny gripped your people and your land.
    It was here in Poland that all those who believe communism could not 
stand, first found their hopes fulfilled; here that you began to hammer 
on the Iron Curtain and force the first signs of rust to appear; here 
that brave men and women, workers and citizens, led by Solidarnosc, 
understood that neither consciousness nor economics can be ordered from 
above; here that you showed the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe 
that with hearts and hands alone, democracy could triumph.
    But I come here today not simply to recall the events of 50 years 
past or even to rejoice at those of 5 years ago, for others have done 
that and done it very well. Instead, I come to the heart of a new, 
democratic Central Europe to look ahead, to speak of how we can reverse 
the legacies of stagnation and oppression, of fear and division; how we 
can eradicate the artificial lines through Europe's heartland imposed by 
half a century of division, and how we can help chart a course toward an 
integrated Europe of sovereign free nations.
    The challenges our generation faces are different from those our 
parents faced. They are problems that in many cases lack pressing drama. 
They require quiet and careful solutions. They will not yield easily. 
And if we meet them well, our reward will not be stunning moments of 
glory but gradual and real improvement in the lives of our people.

[[Page 1209]]

    We must find the will to unite around these opportunities of peace 
as previous generations have united against war's life-or-death threats 
and oppression's fatal grip. To the courage that enables men and women 
to drop behind enemy lines, face down rumbling tanks, or advance 
freedom's cause underground, we must add a new civil courage: the energy 
and optimism and patience to move forward through peaceful but hard and 
rapidly changing times.
    Our course must be guided by three principles: supporting democracy, 
advancing free markets, and meeting new security challenges. Half a 
century after our fathers beat tyranny into submission and half a decade 
after the Soviet empire collapsed, the voices of violence and militant 
nationalism can once again be heard. Would-be dictators and fiery 
demagogs live among us in the East and in the West, promoting ethnic and 
racial hatred, promoting religious divisions and anti-Semitism and 
aggressive nationalism. To be sure, they are weak imitators of Hitler 
and Stalin, yet we dare not underestimate the danger they pose. For they 
feed on fear, despair, and confusion. They darken our road and challenge 
our achievements.
    In this fight, democracy remains our indispensable ally. For 
democracy checks the ambitions of would-be tyrants and aggressors. It 
nurtures civil society and respect for human rights and the habits of 
simple tolerance. Its progress is slow and uneven, and as you doubtless 
know in this chamber, occasionally frustrating. But it cements economic 
reforms and security cooperation. And it offers once-captive peoples the 
opportunity to shape their own future.
    Five years ago, your nation seized that opportunity. Discarding 
dictatorship and a failed command economy that was imposed upon your 
nation, you stepped into the unknown and started to build a free market 
economy. Doubters said that it couldn't be done, but the Polish people 
have proved those naysayers wrong. Poland's reforms are working. You are 
beginning to win the struggle for economic transformation. You have 
ended hyperinflation, stabilized your currency, privatized enterprises 
that drive growth, and doubled your exports. You have proved that free 
people need not wait for the state to tell them what to do. You have 
demonstrated an entrepreneurial talent that generates one of Europe's 
highest growth rates.
    But we must be sober and honest in our judgment. When you began this 
process the old Communist economic system was already collapsing. You 
knew then your journey would be difficult at best. And although many 
Poles are prospering today, many others have lost their jobs through no 
fault of their own, and their hardships abound. In a time like this it 
is easy to focus on that pain, not on the promise of reform.
    My message today to the people of Poland and to all the people of 
Central and Eastern Europe is simple and direct: Free markets and 
democracy remain the only proven path to prosperity and to peace. You 
must hold hard to those tracks. Sustain the civil courage that has 
brought you so far so fast, and do not give up or turn back. You will 
not be alone.
    The United States has stood with you since you began to build the 
modern economy, and we stand with you now. America is the number one 
investor in Poland, with $1.2 billion already in place and much more on 
the way. The American people are proud to have supported Poland as you 
have put tens of thousands of your people to work, created thousands of 
new enterprises, and begun to free your economy from its inherited 
burden of debt.
    Today we are announcing new initiatives that will pump hundreds of 
millions of dollars into the Polish economy. For example, our 
Government, along with some of our Nation's largest labor unions, has 
established a $65 million Polish Partners Fund to promote new 
investments in business. We are also working to quicken the speed of 
privatization, to assist people in finding new jobs and housing, to help 
protect your citizens from the economic pirates of organized crime.
    Taken together, these goals--hopeful citizens, thriving 
entrepreneurs, new investments and expanded trade--are the future 
pillars of a prosperous, reformed Poland. Economic reform and democracy, 
though important, however, will only flourish if the free peoples of 
Central and Eastern Europe are also secure.
    In moving to guarantee its own security, Poland has indeed become a 
model for the other nations of Central and Eastern Europe. Your 
decisions to establish good relations with Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and 
Lithuania are shining examples of the potential for peace that the new 
Europe provides. At this moment, in fact, Poland faces what may fairly 
be described as its best prospects for peace and security in 350 years. 
And yet, as you have taught us, we must

[[Page 1210]]

not forget the lessons of history. There appears to be no immediate or 
short-term threat to Polish sovereignty, but history and geography 
caution us not to take this moment for granted.
    When my administration began, I stressed that Poland's security and 
the security of all democratic nations in the region is important to the 
United States. In January of last year, when I visited Prague and met 
with the heads of the Visegrad nations, I learned a Polish phrase: Nic o 
nas bez nas, nothing about us without us. That phrase echoes in my mind 
today as we solidify and search for a new security arrangement in 
Europe. Because the simple fact is that Poland should never again have 
its fate decided for it by others. No democracy in the region should 
ever be consigned to a gray area or a buffer zone. And no country should 
have the right to veto, compromise, or threaten democratic Poland's or 
any other democracy's integration into Western institutions, including 
those that ensure security.
    I know that these are ambitious goals, but history has given us a 
rare opportunity, the opportunity to join together and to form a new, 
integrated Europe of sovereign nations, a continent where democracy and 
free markets know no borders, but where nations can rest easy that their 
own borders will always be secure. This is the vision behind the 
Partnership For Peace.
    Twenty-one nations have now jointed that Partnership since we began 
it, and they are already moving to fulfill the dream of a unified and 
peaceful Europe. They have sworn not only to pursue democracy but also 
to respect each other's sovereignty and borders. They are moving along a 
course that is both visionary and realistic, working for the best while 
always preparing for the worst.
    Poland, as all of you know, has taken a leading role in the 
Partnership For Peace, and I am proud and pleased that some 2 months 
from now your nation will host the first Partnership exercise on the 
territory of a former Warsaw Pact state. For the first time since 1945 
Polish and American troops, troops that once faced each other across the 
Iron Curtain, will train together on the plains of Europe.
    The United States recognizes that full participation in the 
Partnership requires resources. And I am pleased to announce today that 
I will ask our Congress to designate $100 million, effective in the fall 
of next year, to help America's new democratic partners work with us to 
advance the Partnership For Peace's goals. In response to your nation's 
demonstrated commitment to security and democracy, I will ask that fully 
one-fourth of that money, $25 million, be directed to Poland.
    But the Partnership For Peace is only a beginning. Bringing new 
members into NATO, as I have said many times, is no longer a question of 
whether, but when and how. And that expansion will not depend upon the 
appearance of a new threat in Europe. It will be an instrument to 
advance security and stability for the entire region. We are working 
with you in the Partnership For Peace in part because the United States 
believes that when NATO does expand, as it will, a democratic Poland 
will have placed itself among those ready and able to join. The 
Partnership For Peace and planning for NATO's future mean that we will 
not let the Iron Curtain be replaced with a veil of indifference.
    I have learned another Polish phrase which, even in my tortured 
accent, well describes our goal for a more secure, democratic, and 
prosperous Poland: Rowni z rownymi, wolni z wolnymi, ``Equal among 
equals, free with the free.'' It is time to bring that phrase to life.
    Here in the middle of the rebuilt city of Warsaw, we are reminded 
that the Polish people have always fought for that right. Fifty years 
ago this month, the Polish home army was planning the greatest urban 
uprising of this century. On August 1st, Polish heroes seized much of 
their city preparing for liberation. The uprising ended in ruin. Some of 
the heroes perished; others escaped. Yet amidst the flame and the 
rubble, a lone radio signal could be heard in the West: ``Immortal is 
the nation that can muster such universal heroism,'' came the broadcast 
from Warsaw, ``for those who have died have conquered, and those who 
live on with fight on, will conquer and again bear witness that Poland 
lives while the Poles live.''
    Here in the heart of a free Poland, you can hear the echoes of that 
broadcast today. So now let us summon the civil courage that will keep 
your nation forever free.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 2:35 p.m. at the Parliament Building. In 
his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak of Poland; 
Jozef Oleksy, Marshal of the Sejm; and Adam Strujik, Speaker of the 
Senate.