Donald Tusk: Biography and Political Career

• Donald Franciszek Tusk was born on April 22, 1957, in Gdańsk, Poland.
• Tusk has served as the Prime Minister of Poland since December 13, 2023.
• He previously held the office of Prime Minister from 2007 to 2014.
• He served as the President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019.
• He was the leader of the European People's Party (EPP) from 2019 to 2022.
• Tusk co-founded Civic Platform (PO), a major Polish political party.
• He was the leader of Civic Platform from 2003 to 2014 and again from 2021.
• He is the longest-serving prime minister of the Third Polish Republic.

Early Political Career

• Tusk became involved in Polish politics in 1989.
• He co-founded the Liberal Democratic Congress (KLD).
• He entered the Sejm in 1991 but lost his seat in 1993.
• In 1994, the KLD merged with the Democratic Union to form the Freedom Union (UW).
• He was elected to the Senate in 1997 and became its deputy marshal.
• In 2001, he co-founded Civic Platform (PO) and was elected to the Sejm, becoming its deputy marshal.
• Tusk unsuccessfully ran for President of Poland in 2005.

First Premiership (2007–2014)

• Civic Platform won the 2007 parliamentary election, making Tusk Prime Minister.
• He secured a second victory in the 2011 election, the first Polish PM re-elected since the end of communism in 1989.
• In 2014, he resigned as Prime Minister to become President of the European Council, succeeded by Ewa Kopacz.

Domestic Policy (2007-2014)

• Tusk initially promised to continue free market policies and cut taxes.
• His government later raised the VAT from 22% to 23% in 2011.
• The number of people employed in public administration grew.
• He oversaw an austerity program.
• The construction of a larger national road network for the UEFA 2012 football championships was a priority.
• Tusk's government decided against purchasing swine flu vaccine during the 2009 pandemic.
• He was moderately conservative on social issues and opposed legalizing abortion on demand.
• In June 2022, Tusk changed his stance on abortion, supporting legalization up to 12 weeks.

Foreign Policy (2007-2014)

• Tusk improved relations with Germany and Russia, which were damaged during the previous Kaczyński government.
• Polish military units were withdrawn from Iraq.
• He initially expressed skepticism toward U.S. plans to host missile defense shield bases in Poland but later supported the project.
• Tusk supported Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's controversial constitution.
• He supported committing Poland to signing the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

European Policy (2007-2014)

• Tusk supported greater political and economic integration within the EU.
• He backed the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty.
• He originally wanted to introduce the euro by 2012, but later envisaged 2015 as a realistic target.
• Poland held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from July to December 2011.

Constitutional Reform (2007-2014)

• Relations between Tusk and President Lech Kaczyński were strained due to differing political ideologies.
• Tusk proposed abolishing the presidential veto.
• He proposed reducing the Sejm from 460 to 300 members.
• Similarly, Tusk proposed radical changes to the Senate, preferring to abolish it, instead reducing the seats from 100 to 49.

President of the European Council (2014–2019)

• Donald Tusk worked to promote a unified European response to Russia's military intervention in Ukraine.
• He coordinated the EU's response to the European migrant crisis.
• Ahead of the UK's EU membership referendum, Tusk warned of dire consequences if the UK voted to leave.
• After the UK voted to leave, he pursued a hard line on the UK's withdrawal from the European Union.
• In 2018, Tusk opposed the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.
• In January 2017, Tusk wrote an open letter stating the Trump administration presented a threat to the EU.
• On March 9, 2017, Tusk was re-elected for a second term, with Poland voting against him.
• In February 2018, Tusk urged Turkey to avoid threats against any EU member.
• In February 2019, Tusk said there was a "special place in Hell for those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely."
• In September 2019, Tusk said that the EU should open accession talks with both Albania and North Macedonia.
• Tusk condemned the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria.

Second Premiership (2023–present)

• In July 2021, Donald Tusk returned to Warsaw as leader of Civic Platform.
• He organized significant anti-government protests in Warsaw in 2023.
• The Civic Coalition finished as the second-largest bloc in the Sejm in the 2023 Polish parliamentary election.
• Civic Coalition and two other opposition parties, Third Way and New Left, reached a coalition government.
• On November 10, Civic Coalition, New Left, the Polish People's Party and Poland 2050 signed an agreement to support Tusk as their candidate for prime minister.
• On December 11, Morawiecki's cabinet failed to win a vote of confidence, and the Sejm nominated Tusk as prime minister.
• Tusk's cabinet was sworn in on December 13.

Domestic Policy (2023-Present)

• Upon assuming office, Tusk dismissed top executives from Telewizja Polska.
• In February 2024, Tusk said he would push for changes to the European Green Deal.
• Tusk’s administration oversaw the arrests of MPs Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik for exceeding authority since 2015.
• In April 2024, Tusk opposed the EU Migration Pact, stating "we will protect Poland from the relocation mechanism".
• In October 2024, Tusk announced plans to temporarily suspend the right of migrants to seek asylum in Poland.
• In January 2025, Tusk supported proposals to reduce benefits paid by Poland to Ukrainian refugees, limiting eligibilty to those actually living in the country.
• In February 2025, Tusk unveiled plans for economic deregulation to spur growth, appointing InPost CEO Rafał Brzoska to lead the advisory team.

Foreign Policy (2023-Present)

• On 22 January 2024, Tusk met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and called for the "full mobilization" of the West.
• In May 2024, Tusk criticized the International Criminal Court's arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alongside Hamas leaders.
• In August 2024, Tusk stated that Ukraine's EU membership would require resolving the issue of Polish victims of the Volhynian Genocide.
• In January 2025, Tusk guaranteed safe passage for senior Israeli officials to an event marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
• In February 2025, Poland was Europe's leading defence spender, allocating 4.7% of its GDP to military expenditure.
• In March 2025, Tusk emphasized the need for a united and well-armed Europe, proposing the creation of a European “Defense Bank”.

Personal Life

• Donald Tusk married Małgorzata Sochacka in 1978.
• They have two children: Michał (born 1982) and Katarzyna (born 1987).
• Tusk belongs to the Kashubian minority in Poland.
• He speaks Polish, Kashubian, German, and English.
• In 2019, Tusk gave a seven-minute speech only in Romanian in Bucharest.

Honours and Awards

• 2010: Charlemagne Prize of the city of Aachen.
• 2012: Walther-Rathenau-Preis.
• 2012: European Prize for Political Culture.
• 2017: Honorary doctorate at the University of Pécs, Hungary.
• 2018: Honorary doctorate at the TU Dortmund University, Germany.
• 2019: Honorary doctorate at the University of Lviv, Ukraine.
• Grand Cross Order of the Sun (2008, Peru)
• Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit (2012, Norway)
• Presidential Order of Excellence (Georgia, 2013)
• Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana (2014, Estonia)
• The First Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (2019, Ukraine)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (2021, Japan)