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Poland: 30 yrs after the first free elections

June 4, 1989, marked the fall of communism

03 June, 20:43
(ANSA) - ROME, JUNE 3 - Gary Cooper dressed as a sheriff in front of the red writing 'Solidarnosc' is the historic poster, designed by Tomasz Sarnecki, issued for the elections that on June 4, 1989 marked the fall of communism, allowed Poland to turn page and paved the way for the process of change in central and eastern Europe. The 30 years since those important elections are an anniversary that the Polish Embassy in Italy intends to remember.

In Poland, 2019 is a year full of important anniversaries for free Poland, 20 years of Nato membership, 15 years of EU membership, 100 years of diplomatic relations between Italy and Poland. Undoubtedly the most important anniversary is June 4, 1989, when thanks to the Solidarnosc trade union led by Lech Wałęsa, after years of activities, strikes, and negotiations, "the first partially free elections" took place, the Embassy of Poland remarked, a step which paved the way for the birth of Tadeusz Mazowiecki's first non-communist government.

Thanks to the reforms implemented by the new government in the autumn of 1989, the process of change in central-eastern Europe began.

Since the country became an EU member in 2004, per capita GDP, the Embassy underlined, grew by over 20%. The Polish economy is the sixth biggest economy in terms of GDP in the European Union. Italy is an important trading partner of Poland and enjoys a good position in the domestic market. In 2018, with trade amounting to 21,500m euros, Italy became Poland's third-largest trading partner in Europe, after Germany and the Czech Republic and the fifth-largest partner in the world (after Germany, China, Russia, and the Czech Republic).

(ANSA).

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