Around 100,000 crammed into Plac Konstytucji as 2011 turned to 2012: photo: PAP/Gregorz Jakubowski
President Komorowski said, during the traditional New Year's Eve speech on public TV and radio, that it was an honour to lead the nation, “when the past, symbolically, meets the future, when the old meets the new and when memory recalls what has remained in our hearts and minds, as we think about the new year”.
Komorowski recalled the beatification of John Paul II in 2011 as one of his, “and millions of Poles” highlights.
The president said that the relative strength of the economy has helped grow Poland's stature in the eyes of the international community.
"We can be proud that today, in addition to the traditional Polish courage and love of freedom, in the eyes of the world, our good work and professional organization is the source of our prosperity," President Komorowski said.
He finished by wishing the nation “peace to our families, love and happiness”.
Party
Huge street parties were held in many cities throughout the country. In Warsaw, at plac Konstytucji, thousands attended a free concert featuring Polish bands Golec Orchestra, De Mono, Big Cyc and Maryla Rodowicz.
At midnight, fireworks spread across the sky to the sound of Queen's We Are The Champions.
Similar open-air gigs took place in Lodz, Poznan, Wroclaw, Gdansk, Krakow and elsewhere.
Party politics
Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose party was re-elected this year to lead the coalition government, earlier wished Poles personal success in 2012 and Poland success in the economy and in the organisation and participation of Euro 2012, which the country is co-hosting with Ukraine.
Looking back on 2011, PM Tusk writes, in a letter to the nation: “It was a year of changes in the global economy, with dramatic twists and turns in European and world politics. 2011 left its successor many questions.”
But Poland, throughout the year, “confirmed its unique economy, energy and resilience,” he said.
When Jaroslaw Kaczynski - leader of Poland's largest opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS) – was asked by journalists what he was hoping for in 2012, he said: “I hope that this will be the year in which truth will prevail in Poland.
“The truth in the broadest sense, but also the truth about an event, which, for me, is, and probably will be for the rest of my life, the most important - the Smolensk disaster,” Kaczynski said, referring to the air disaster in western Russia in 2010 which killed his twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski: the causes of which the Law and Justice leader believes have yet to be fully revealed. (pg)