| |
| 1991, Jan. 11 |
| |
| The issuing of shares for five showcase state-owned enterprises was finalized. Investment was sluggish, and the government began to rethink its approach to privatization. | 1 |
| |
| Jan. 21 |
| |
| Poland decided to cease all cooperation with the Warsaw Treaty Organization on July 1, 1991. | 2 |
| |
| Feb. 23 |
| |
| Marian Krzaklewski replaced Lech Walesa as chairman of the Solidarity trade union. | 3 |
| |
| April 18 |
| |
| The IMF approved additional loans for Poland in support of its economic program. | 4 |
| |
| June |
| |
| Government-union talks throughout June failed to reach a settlement on union demands for higher wages, outstanding overtime pay, reform of the wage tax, and compensation for the 140 percent and 110 percent increases, respectively, in gas and electricity costs. | 5 |
| |
| June 27 |
| |
| The government announced plans to privatize 400 state-owned companies by the end of the year. | 6 |
| |
| July |
| |
| Presidential aide Maciej Zalewski secretly visited the United States to win IMF approval for the introduction of a state of emergency so that the economy could be run by decree. | 7 |
| |
| Aug. 5 |
| |
| Finance Minister Leszek Balcerowicz, author of Poland's “shock therapy” introduction to a market economy, announced he would resign in October. Tension between Balcerowicz and Walesa had been building throughout the summer, due to Poland's severe economic difficulties. | 8 |
| |
| Sept. 23 |
| |
| The former president of the National Bank of Poland, Grzegorz Wojtowicz, was arrested and charged with gross mismanagement. | 9 |
| |
| Oct. 4 |
| |
| The Sejm voted to abolish the state farms and allow farmworkers to organize themselves as trading companies and rent the land as individuals. | 10 |
| |
| Oct.–1992, April |
| |
| Tense relations between the president and the National Assembly. After the elections on Oct. 27, Mazowiecki, who had disagreements with Walesa, was authorized by the winning Democratic Union to start talks on forming a coalition government. On Oct. 29, President Walesa (who had the right to nominate the prime minister) proposed that he be the prime minister for a guaranteed two years, to provide stability in the government. His government failed to broaden its coalition negotiations in April 1992, and Walesa considered forming a nonparty government with greater presidential powers, along the lines of the French system. | 11 |
| |
| Nov. 26 |
| |
| Poland became a member of the Council of Europe. | 12 |
| |
| |
