PRESIDENT Alexsander Kwasniewski of Poland, who starts a two day state visit to Ireland later today, is one of a new breed of politicians who have come to leadership in eastern Europe in the last few years.
In spite of deep suspicion from the intellectuals, the Catholic Church and a wide spectrum of other interests, Mr Kwasniewski, who had a relatively minor role in the Polish Communist Party before the changes, managed to defeat President Lech Walesa, a spent force, in the run off presidential election in November 1995.
The right wing was deeply divided, but Mr Walesa still succeeded in focusing apprehension over a complete post communist takeover of the main state institutions - they already had control of parliament (the Sejm) and the government.
Mr Kwasniewski's narrow victory was one for pragmatism and a rejection of the posturing and political in fighting that had characterised the Walesa years. He promised no change in Poland's basic domestic and foreign policies - the commitment to market and political reforms, the drive towards EU and NATO membership and Poles, by and large, have got what he promised. Allowing for obvious differences, it calls up images of a Blair revolution over Majorism.
He was lucky enough to inherit one of the most dynamic economies in Europe. Polish success has been fuelled by the opening up of markets and native entrepreneurial ability, a mixture which has developed its own momentum, largely independent of the policy makers in Warsaw. Inevitably this is likely to produce social tensions, and the underlying fear of politicians is that a delay in EU membership could weaken the current widespread support for joining.
At 42, Mr Kwasniewski is one of Europe's youngest political leaders. After various posts in the Socialist Union of Polish Students, he served as minister for youth and physical culture in successive communist governments in the mid 1980s, and as chairman of the Social and Political Committee of the Council of, Ministers, he took part in round table talks to liberalise trade unionism. He was a founder member of the Social Democratic Party (post communist) in 1990, and a member of the Sejm until becoming president.
The following are responses to some questions submitted by The Irish Times.
Do you see Ireland as a competitor, or do you think we see Poland as one, on CAP and cohesion funds?
Competition is an inherent part of the contemporary world. However, the question itself is premature. We heave not yet started talks on accession, we do not know what the Union will be like, following enlargement, or what form its agricultural or industrial policy will take. Today the topical issue is that of developing Polish Irish co operation. We are impressed by the momentum of your countrys development.
We are carefully watching the success of Ireland in restructuring the agricultural sector. You have managed to put the European Union's structural funds to good use. We hope to benefit from your experience. In Poland we are still searching for an effective way to boost social and economic changes in agriculture. In the rural areas, we must create new jobs outside the agricultural sector.
This requires the activation of new sources of entrepeneurial initiative in the countryside as well as large investments. Frankly speaking, I am afraid, that by the time Poland becomes a member of the Union, the agricultural policy of Brussels will have changed considerably, leaving us to deal with all of those problems with much less assistance than the "elder" members had enjoyed.
Early in your presidency you said that it would take a year or so for Poland and Russia to overcome their mutual misunderstanding and expand bilateral relations. Patience is of the essence, but with Poland's admission to NATO now a matter of months away, can you say that your ambition for Poland to be on friendly terms with its eastern neighbour, and not "a front line nation", is realistic?
I am convinced that the Polish Russian relations will develop favourably. Today, at a time preceding the July summit in Madrid, the issue of NATO enlargement has been given particularly large publicity. And yet there is a whole range of day today economic, cultural, scientific, and tourist contacts between Poland and Russia. We evaluate them as positive.
Please note the friendly gestures on the Polish side, such as the proposal to lift the visa requirement, for Russian citizens, or the liberalisation of trade exchange conditions with Russia. Russians are pragmatic people, and I doubt whether they are interested in raising a new iron curtain on the border with Poland. Neither a new cold war, nor a new armaments race would be in their interest. I therefore believe that they will come to terms with the enlargement of NATO.
NATO is no threat to Russia, and its relations with the most important countries of NATO are quite exemplary. Even less can Poland be considered a threat to Russia, nor does Poland feel threatened by Russia.
Do you see scope for Poland to increase its exports to Ireland and narrow the trade gap?
In the past year there was a further growth in Poland's foreign trade. For the first time its value exceeded $60 billion. Poland's main trade partners today are countries. However, we are concerned about the rapidly increasing negative trade balance. TIBET's exiled spiritual leader yesterday preached Buddhism to 40,000 people packed into a sports stadium in Taiwan, the first nominally Chinese territory to be visited by the Dalai Lama since he fled his homeland for India in 1959.
He played down angry public condemnation of his trip by Beijing and said Chinese authorities had responded far less harshly during private contacts with his government in exile.
In a stadium named after Taiwan's late dictator, Chiang Kai shek, in the port city of Kaohsiung, the exiled God King preached yesterday on Buddhist theology.
Mother Teresa and the television talk show host Oprah Winfrey head the list of the 15 people most likely to go to heaven, according to a new survey by US News and World Report.
The ailing Mother Teresa scored 79 per cent among the 1,000 respondents as someone "very likely" or "somewhat likely" to go to heaven, followed by Winfrey at 66 per cent with basketball star Michael Jordan close behind her at 65 per cent.
Former football legend O.J. Simpson scored 19 per cent despite two trials for the murder of his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. The highest score went to the respondents themselves, as more than 87 per cent belie themselves, likely to go to heaven.
Hillary Rodham Clinton and daughter Chelsea savoured the surging splendour of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe yesterday and got wet from the spray that shot high overhead.
"Wow, great, it's great," President Clinton's wife said as she stood on a cliff overlook spot and watched the Zambezi River tumbling 300 feet into a gorge hidden by a thick cloud of roaring spray.
The Clintons chose to do some sightseeing on Palm Sunday during their two week tour of Africa.