Sejm Marshal Józef Zych paid a visit to the United States from February 9 to 13, 1997. He was accompanied by Maciej Graniecki, head of the Sejm Chancellery.
This was the first visit of a Polish Sejm Marshal to US Congress in the history of Polish- American parliamentary contacts. Three topics predominated in the talks Zych held in Washington: problems related to the work of Poland's new constitution, the question of Poland's accession to the European Union and, most important of all, the plans for the enlargement of NATO.
On Capitol Hill, Marshal Zych met with House Speaker Newt Gingrich, one of the most influential US politicians. Referring to his talks with President Aleksander Kwaśniewski in Davos, Gingrich voiced firm support for the plan of enlarging the North Atlantic Alliance and for Poland's admission to it. The Speaker spoke with appreciation about Poland's transition and economic successes and pointed to the rationale of Polish aspirations regarding membership of the European Union. Zych thanked Gingrich for his support and invited him to pay a visit to Poland. The invitation was received with pleasure.
The Sejm Marshal next met with members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, led by its chairman Benjamin Gilman. Zych delivered a lecture presenting the Polish point of view on the enlargement of NATO and on Poland's efforts to obtain admission to the EU. He also spoke about work related to the drafting of Poland's new constitution. Gilman told the Marshal that the United States was supporting Poland's aspirations for NATO membership and would continue to cooperate with Poland in this respect. Members of the Committee were interested in Zych's view of Russia's attitude to NATO enlargement. Zych said that accession to NATO was Poland's premier foreign policy objective, which is supported by 80 per cent of the people; besides, Poland's alliance with NATO was not aimed against Russia.
The Sejm Marshal voiced the fear that the recent French initiative for a "4+1" meeting could result in a delay in inviting new countries to negotiations on the enlargement of the pact. Committee members assured him on their part that this will take place as originally planned, during the July 1997 summit in Madrid. As regards Poland's accession to the EU, House members said that they supported Poland's aspirations for membership because Poland's admission would be a guarantee of democratic transformations and of economic growth in Poland.
Zych also met with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, headed by Senator Gordon Smith. Its members were especially interested in the costs of NATO enlargement, civilian control over the armed forces in Poland as an indispensable condition of its admission to NATO, and Russia's reaction to the enlargement. Marshal Zych spoke about estimated costs of Poland's accession to NATO and legislative work dealing with civilian control over the armed forces. He emphasised again that Poland's admission to NATO was not directed against Russia.
The Sejm Marshal also delivered a lecture at Potomac Foundation and met with its experts and its director Douglas McDonald. The experts asked about the costs of NATO's enlargement, problems of civilian control over the armed forces, the Russian reaction to the enlargement and matters related to Poland's most important internal affairs over the next two years. The experts firmly supported the enlargement of the Alliance. Zych explained in depth the most important domestic policy problems faced by Poland, such as parliamentary elections, privatisation, economic reforms, the adoption of the new constitution, guarantees of internal security, health service and social security reform and the restructuring of agriculture.
At the National Security Council, Zych talked to Dan Fried. He also met with Professor Zbigniew Brzeziński. The Marshal later described the latter meeting as "excellent."
The Sejm Marshal met with members of the American-Polish Chamber of Commerce and its director Gary Litman. The representatives of US business circles, whose companies operate and invest in Poland, wanted to know about Polish-US economic relations, including the presence of US capital in Poland, the difficulties encountered by American investors, privatisation, banking reform, foreign investment, legislative work, social security reform and the list of priority economic bills that will be debated by the Sejm. Zych encouraged American businessmen to invest in Poland, stressing that Poland already had appropriate laws, but US investors at large were not aware of them for the time being.
The Sejm Marshal met with a group of 130 Congressional staffers. He briefed them on the main lines of Poland's internal policy and the priority foreign policy goals. Zych also held talks with Chairman of the Polish-American Congress Edward Moskal as well as with Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, Jan Karski and Paweł Zaleski, former long-time secretary to Stanislaw Mikołajczyk, with whom he discussed the problem of repatriation of Mikołajczyk's ashes, among other topics. The Marshal laid flowers on Mikołajczyk's tomb. He also held a meeting with representatives of Washington's Polish community.
During his stay in the District of Columbia, Marshal Zych visited the Holocaust museum and met with its director Miles Lerman, with whom he discussed the Auschwitz Programme, dealing with the plan for the preservation and development of the area surrounding the former Nazi concentration camp, a matter that has been followed with great interest by the Jewish Diaspora.
At the end of the visit, Józef Zych admitted at a news conference that he had been asked a number of tough questions during his meetings and talks. The senators and congressmen, he said, wanted to know if Polish society was prepared for NATO membership and if civilian control over the army has been ensured; there were also questions about the cost of the enlargement of the Alliance and Russia's reservations about these plans.
Asked if he came across fears about the continuation of the process of democratisation and reforms in Poland, Zych answered: "As regards Poland, no such fears were voiced; however, we were warned not to regard the question of the approval of US Congress for the enlargement of NATO as a foregone conclusion. We were told that it will be necessary to win over the US people and the senators to the cause of enlargement."
The Marshal pointed out that since 1989 there have been no direct contacts between the Sejm and US Congress but blamed this on the fact that US Congress does not contact foreign parliaments as often as European parliaments. "The fact of inviting the speakers of the House of Representatives to Poland and the promise of continued exchanges was the crucial point in out meetings," he said, adding that this could help to orchestrate support for Poland's admission to NATO. "Members of Congress will be able to see for themselves how well we are prepared for admission."
In New York, Marshal Zych met with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. During the meeting, the Marshal congratulated the new Secretary on his election and invited him to pay a visit to Poland. He also informed him about Poland's priority foreign policy goals and mentioned the question of the participation of Polish soldiers in peacekeeping missions. Kofi Annan told Zych about his observations from his recent meetings with Russian politicians and highly assessed Poland's participation in the work of the UN Security Council.
During his US trip, the Marshal gave many interviews, e.g. to the Voice of America, "Nowy Dziennik" and the Chicago-based "Dziennik Zwiazkowy." The two papers ran extensive accounts of Zych's visit.
On February 14, after returning to Poland, Zych held another news conference, at which he enumerated the main problems that were raised during his talks in the United States. He voiced the view that the visit to US Congress was very important. As for the talks on NATO enlargement, he said that they were difficult and that he met many US personalities who oppose the process.
French Justice Minister Jacques Toubon visited Sejm Marshal Józef Zych at the Sejm on February 14. 1997.
The meeting was attended by Minister of Justice Leszek Kubicki.
Toubon said that the aim of his visit was to determine the principles of cooperation between the legal milieux of France and Poland. He also informed the Marshal about the plan to provide training in EU legal norms for 3,500 Polish judges over the next two years.
Another topic raised during the meeting was the role of the parliament in informing the society about the consequences of accession to the European community.
Jacques Toubon and Józef Zych agreed that the European Union should not merely be a zone of free trade and economic cooperation but also an area of shared values and principles.
On February 17, 1997, the visiting chairman of the Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee, Karl-Heinz Hornhues, met with Józef Oleksy, chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SdRP). He also talked with Freedom Union (UW) chairman Leszek Balcerowicz. Poland's efforts to accede to NATO and the European Union were the subject of both meetings.
The German visitor assured the leaders of the Polish parties about Germany's full and consistent support for Poland's aspirations.