2019-05-03 13:27 update: 2019-05-08, 10:57
From the left: Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, MEP Karol Karski, Speaker of the Senate Stanisław Karczewski, MEP Ryszard Czarnecki, President Andrzej Duda, Minister Joachim Brudziński, first lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda, head of the Chancellery KPRP Halina Szymańska and State Secretary KPRP Adam Kwiatkowski during the ceremony on the Square Castle in Warsaw, organized on the occasion of the Constitution Day. Photo PAP / Rafał Guz
Poles are a nation that not have only created its own history, but also influenced the history of Europe and the world and thus shaped this world, President Andrzej Duda said on Zamkowy Square in Warsaw on Friday, Poland's Constitution Day.
Speaking during observances marking the 228th anniversary of the Constitution of May 3rd, 1791, adopted by the then Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Andrzej Duda said in every nation's history there are moments that constitute fundamental points which have shaped a given nation, its identity, culture, way of looking at the world, the most important values, the way of governing and mentality.
"But there are also such nations, for which these points were not only their own personal historical moments, but they also influenced the course of world history, the formation of political systems in the European space, that is much wider outside the domain of a given state or nation," the Polish president pointed out, adding that Poles are such a nation.
The May 3 Constitution was passed on May 3, 1791, by the Great Sejm (grand parliament) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and was Europe's first document of its kind, predating the famous French Constitution and following the American one by only four years.
It introduced a hereditary constitutional monarchy (in place of the free election of kings), religious tolerance and the division of power into the legislative, executive and judicial branches, among other provisions. (PAP)
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