President Kwaśniewski visited Brussels Nov. 29 to receive an award from European Voice weekly and thanked representatives of the European Union, NATO and the Belgian government for many years of cooperation. "Both EU and NATO accession constitute milestones in my presidency," said Kwaśniewski, who met with President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Belgian President Guy Verhofstadt.

EV recognized Kwaśniewski as statesman of the year 2005, mainly for his contribution to the peaceful resolution of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. Accepting the award, Kwaśniewski stated that the revolution was a great victory first and foremost for the people of Ukraine, who struggled for dignity and freedom. He added that Ukraine still had a lot of work to do in meeting European standards. He stressed that Kiev needed European support.

Kwaśniewski was not the only representative of Poland awarded by EV. Anna Marszałek, investigating reporter for Rzeczpospolita, was honored for her work in uncovering corruption scandals in Poland with an award in the category "journalist of the year."