Józef Oleksy

Józef Oleksy
7th Prime Minister of Poland
In office 7 March 1995 – 7 February 1996
President	Lech Wałęsa, Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Deputy	Roman Jagieliński Grzegorz Kołodko Aleksander Łuczak
Preceded by	Waldemar Pawlak
Succeeded by	Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz
Marshal of the Sejm 2nd Marshal of the Sejm of The Third Republic of Poland
In office 14 October 1993 – 3 March 1995
President	Lech Wałęsa
Prime Minister	Hanna Suchocka Waldemar Pawlak
Preceded by	Wiesław Chrzanowski
Succeeded by	Józef Zych
Marshal of the Sejm 6th Marshal of the Sejm of The Third Republic of Poland
In office 21 April 2004 – 5 January 2005
President	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Prime Minister	Leszek Miller Marek Belka
Preceded by	Marek Borowski
Succeeded by	Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz
Member of the Sejm
In office 4 June 1989 – 18 October 2005
3rd Chairman of the Democratic Left Alliance
In office 18 December 2004 – 21 May 2005
Preceded by	Krzysztof Janik
Succeeded by	Wojciech Olejniczak
Personal details
Born	22 June 1946 (1946-06-22) Nowy Sącz, People's Republic of Poland
Political party	Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland, Democratic Left Alliance
Spouse(s)	Maria Oleksy
Profession	Economist

Józef Oleksy [ˈjuzɛf ɔˈlɛksɨ] ( listen) (born 22 June 1946 in Nowy Sącz) is a post-communist Polish politician, former chairman of Democratic Left Alliance (Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej, SLD).

From 1968 to 1990 he was a member of the communist Polish United Workers' Party. Between 21 April 2004 and 5 January 2005 he was the speaker (marszałek) of the Sejm, lower house of Polish parliament. He is also a former Minister of Internal Affairs, and was the Prime Minister of Poland from 1995 until 1996, when he resigned due to long-term connections to KGB officer Vladimir Alganov.

Oleksy admitted the relationship, but denied knowing about Alganov's KGB activities. Andrzej Milczanowski said that Oleksy had passed classified documents to Alganov from the 1980s (when Oleksy was Minister of Internal Affairs) until he became Prime Minister.

Oleksy tapes

The Oleksy tapes, revealing most uncomplimentary opinions of members of the post communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) by Poland's former Prime Minister and one of the leaders of the grouping may lead to general investigation. The tapes which "leaked" to the media on 22 March 2007 are a record of a private conversation Jozef Oleksy had with one of Poland's richest businessmen Aleksander Gudzowaty.

Some Polish analysts point that Gudzowaty staged meetings with leftists politicians to record their conversations. The tapes suggest corruption in the SLD party. Oleksy accused former president Aleksander Kwaśniewski of illegal financial procedures, spoke very harshly of then SLD leader Wojciech Olejniczak and several other members of the party.

Jozef Oleksy subsequently publicly apologised for his remarks in what he said was a strictly private conversation. SLD leaders and those mentioned in the tapes considered to take legal action against him, but eventually failed to do so. He remained outside of the politics and mainstream media coverage until early 2010, when he reconciled with his old party colleagues during a party conference and supported Jerzy Szmajdzinski's bid for the presidential election.

See also

• Politics of Poland
• List of political parties in Poland
• List of politicians in Poland

External links

• Official Website

Political offices
Preceded by Wiesław Chrzanowski	Sejm Marshal 1993–1995	Succeeded by Józef Zych
Preceded by Waldemar Pawlak	Prime Minister of Poland 1995–1996	Succeeded by Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz
Preceded by Marek Borowski	Sejm Marshal 2004–2005	Succeeded by Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz