Donald Tusk: Polish Politician and Prime Minister

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

Early Political Career

• Tusk officially entered Polish politics in 1989.
• He co-founded the Liberal Democratic Congress party (KLD).
• He was first elected to the Sejm in 1991.
• Tusk lost his Sejm seat in 1993.
• In 1994, the KLD merged with the Democratic Union to form the Freedom Union.
• In 1997, Tusk was elected to the Senate and became its deputy marshal.
• In 2001, he co-founded Civic Platform (PO) and was re-elected to the Sejm and became its deputy marshal.

2005 Presidential Election

• Tusk unsuccessfully ran for President of Poland in 2005.
• He was defeated by Lech Kaczyński.
• A controversy during the election was the accusation that his grandfather had been a Nazi collaborator, which negatively influenced some voters.

First Premiership (2007-2014)

• Civic Platform won the 2007 parliamentary election, making Tusk Prime Minister.
• He was sworn in as the fourteenth prime minister of the Third Polish Republic on November 16.
• Civic Platform won the 2011 parliamentary election, marking the first time a Polish PM was re-elected since the fall of communism.
• In September 2014, he was selected as President of the European Council, the first Polish leader to hold a European leadership position since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
• He resigned as prime minister and was succeeded by Ewa Kopacz.

Domestic Policy (First Term)

• Tusk initially promised free market policies, streamlined bureaucracy, stable governance, and tax cuts.
• He also aimed to attract foreign business and encourage Polish citizens abroad to return.
• Later in office, the government raised VAT, increased taxes on certain goods, and eliminated tax exemptions.
• The number of public administration employees grew.
• Foreign investments did not match pre-office levels and the number of Poles living abroad remained similar to 2007 levels.

Austerity and Infrastructure

• Tusk oversaw an austerity program.
• His government prioritized the construction of a national road network for the UEFA 2012 football championships, expanding highways at the expense of the rail sector.

Social Issues

• Tusk is moderately conservative on social issues.
• He opposed legalizing abortion on demand and supported the existing Polish abortion laws.
• Initially, Tusk opposed euthanasia.
• As of June 2022, Tusk supports legalizing abortion up to 12 weeks.

Foreign Policy (First Term)

• Tusk sought to improve relations with Germany and Russia.
• He advocated for a more realistic relationship with Moscow, particularly on energy policy.
• The Russian ban on Polish meat and agricultural products was lifted.
• Poland reversed its disagreement on a European Union-Russian partnership agreement.
• Tusk withdrew military units from Iraq, completing the withdrawal in October 2008.
• He initially hinted skepticism towards the U.S. missile defense shield plan but later supported it.
• Polish soldiers did not take military action in Libya but offered logistical support.
• Tusk supported Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's controversial constitution.

European Policy (First Term)

• Tusk supported greater EU integration and backed the Lisbon Treaty.
• He initially wanted to introduce the euro by 2012, later aiming for 2015.
• During the European sovereign debt crisis, his government was less optimistic about joining the Eurozone.
• Poland pushed to be included in future euro financial negotiations despite not being a member.
• Under Tusk's government, Poland held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
• Poland supported Croatia's entry into the EU.
• Tusk expressed displeasure over the dominating roles of Germany and France in eurozone negotiations.

Constitutional Reform (First Term)

• Relations between Tusk and President Lech Kaczyński were strained due to different ideologies.
• Kaczyński blocked Tusk's legislation using presidential veto powers.
• Tusk proposed abolishing the presidential veto.
• He suggested overriding the veto with a simple parliamentary majority.
• Other proposals included reducing the Sejm from 460 to 300 members and potentially abolishing the Senate.
• He also aimed to strip parliamentary immunity and expand the prime minister's role in foreign policy.

2010 Presidential Election

• Despite speculation, Tusk chose not to run in the 2010 presidential election.
• He preferred to remain as prime minister.

President of the European Council (2014-2019)

• Tusk succeeded Herman Van Rompuy as President of the European Council on December 1, 2014.
• He worked to promote a unified European response to Russia's military intervention in Ukraine.
• Tusk attempted to coordinate the EU's response to the European migrant crisis and warned economic migrants against coming to Europe.
• He warned of dire consequences should the UK vote to leave the EU.
• After the UK voted to leave, he pursued a hard line on Brexit.
• In 2018, Tusk opposed the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
• In January 2017, Tusk stated that the Trump administration presented a threat to the EU.
• On March 9, 2017, Tusk was re-elected for a second term with 27 of 28 votes, with Poland voting against him.
• Tusk maintained in February 2018 there would be no winners from Brexit, and the following two years would be a time of damage limitation.
• In September 2019, Tusk said the EU should open accession talks with both Albania and North Macedonia.
• Hagemann said Tusk "set the tone for a liberal and progressive agenda at a time of significant threat from populist and pro-Russian voices in Europe".

Second Premiership (2023-Present)

• In July 2021, Donald Tusk returned to Polish politics as leader of Civic Platform.

Anti-Government Protests

• He organized anti-government protests in Warsaw in 2023.
• A demonstration opposing democratic backsliding occurred on June 4, with a turnout of 300,000-500,000.
• A subsequent protest, the “March of a Million Hearts,” took place on October 1 to galvanize opposition support.

2023 Parliamentary Election

• Civic Coalition finished as the second-largest bloc in the Sejm.
• Civic Coalition, Third Way, and New Left took 54% of the vote, establishing the ability to take power.
• On November 10, an agreement was signed to support Tusk as prime minister.
• On December 11, Morawiecki lost a vote of confidence and Tusk was nominated as prime minister.
• Tusk's cabinet was sworn in on December 13, 2023.

Domestic Policy (Second Term)

• Tusk dismissed top executives from Telewizja Polska to turn Polish state media into a source of reliable information.
• In February 2024, he responded to European farmers' protests by pushing for changes to the European Green Deal.
• In March 2024, Poland was said to go its own way "without European coercion".
• Tusk's administration oversaw the arrests of MPs Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik.
• He opposed the EU Migration Pact in April 2024.
• In October 2024, Tusk announced plans to temporarily suspend the right of migrants to seek asylum in Poland.

Foreign Policy (Second Term)

• On January 22, 2024, Tusk visited Kyiv and met with President Zelenskyy.
• Tusk supported efforts to strengthen Europe in the face of Russia.
• In May 2024, Tusk criticized ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas leaders.
• In August 2024, Ukraine's EU membership included resolving the Volhynian Genocide.
• In February 2025, Poland was Europe's leading defence spender, and Tusk emphasised maintaining strong U.S.-European relations.
• In March 2025, Tusk proposed the creation of a European “Defense Bank” to finance military investments.

Personal Life

• Donald Tusk married Małgorzata Sochacka in 1978.
• They have two children, Michał and Katarzyna, and five grandchildren.
• Tusk belongs to the Kashubian minority in Poland.
• Tusk speaks Polish, Kashubian, German, and English.
• In 2014, Tusk was criticized for his poor English but rapidly mastered it.
• He had a Catholic marriage ceremony with his wife in 2005.
• Tusk published his memoir Szczerze (Honestly) in 2019.

Honours and Awards

• Charlemagne Prize in 2010.
• Walther-Rathenau-Preis in 2012.
• Honorary doctorate at the University of Pécs, Hungary, in 2017.
• Honorary doctorate at the TU Dortmund University, Germany, in 2018.
• Honorary doctorate at the University of Lviv, Ukraine, in 2019.
• 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).