Donald Tusk: Polish Politician and Prime Minister

• Donald Franciszek Tusk was born in Gdańsk, Poland, on April 22, 1957.
• Tusk is a Polish politician and historian who has served as the Prime Minister of Poland since December 13, 2023.
• He also held the position of Prime Minister from 2007 to 2014.

Previous Roles

• President of the European Council (2014-2019)
• Leader of the European People's Party (2019-2022)
• Co-founder and longtime leader of Civic Platform (PO), from 2003 to 2014 and again since 2021.
• He is the longest-serving prime minister of the Third Polish Republic.

Early Political Involvement

• Tusk has been involved in Polish politics since 1989.
• He co-founded the Liberal Democratic Congress party (KLD).
• He entered the Sejm in 1991 but lost his seat in 1993.
• In 1994, the KLD merged 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 and became deputy speaker in parliament.

2005 Presidential Election

• Tusk unsuccessfully ran for President of Poland in 2005.
• He also suffered defeat in the 2005 Polish parliamentary election.

First Premiership (2007-2014)

• Civic Platform, led by Tusk, won the 2007 parliamentary election.
• He was appointed prime minister on November 16, becoming the fourteenth prime minister of the Third Polish Republic.
• In the 2011 election, Civic Platform retained their majority, giving Tusk a second term.
• He was the first Polish prime minister to be re-elected since 1989.
• In 2014, he resigned to become President of the European Council.

Political Landscape Changes

• Civic Platform lost control of the presidency and parliament to Law and Justice (PiS) in 2015.

Return to Polish Politics

• Tusk returned to Polish politics in 2021, becoming leader of Civic Platform again.
• In the 2023 election, his Civic Coalition won 157 seats in the Sejm.
• After Mateusz Morawiecki failed to gain a vote of confidence, Tusk was elected prime minister for a third time.
• His cabinet was sworn in on December 13, ending eight years of PiS government.

Policies and Views

• In his first term, Tusk oversaw the reduction and digitization of the public sector.
• He presented himself as a pragmatic liberal realist and technocrat.
• He invested in infrastructure for Euro 2012, expanding highways but impacting the rail sector.
• In his second term, scandals and a cooling economy led to a drop in public support.
• He opposed what he considered democratic backsliding by PiS.
• Returning to power in 2023, he prioritized the rule of law and improved EU relations.
• As PM, Tusk continued aid to Ukraine.
• In 2024, he adopted right-wing themes, such as opposition to illegal migration and prioritizing border security.

Early Life and Education

• Tusk was raised in Gdańsk.
• He has Polish, German, and Kashubian heritage, identifying as Polish, Kashubian, and European.
• His father was a carpenter, and his mother was a nurse.
• His paternal grandfather was imprisoned in the Neuengamme concentration camp and forcibly conscripted into the Wehrmacht.
• Tusk studied history at the University of Gdańsk, graduating in 1980.
• He was active in the Student Committee of Solidarity, opposing the communist regime.

Early Political Career

• Tusk co-founded the Liberal Democratic Congress (KLD).
• He was elected to the Senate in 1997 and became its deputy marshal.
• In 2001, he co-founded Civic Platform and became deputy speaker in parliament.

2005 Presidential Election Details

• Tusk and Lech Kaczyński were the leading candidates.
• Differences between Tusk and Kaczyński included views on church and state, European integration, and the economy.
• Tusk's campaign motto was "President Tusk – A man with principles; We will be proud of Poland."
• Tusk received 36.6% of votes in the first round.
• He was defeated by Kaczyński in the second round.
• Accusations about Tusk's grandfather's service in the German Wehrmacht during WWII influenced some voters.

Domestic Policy (2007-2014)

• Tusk promised to continue free market policies, streamline bureaucracy, and cut taxes.
• His government raised VAT from 22% to 23% in 2011 and increased taxes on various goods.
• The number of people employed in public administration grew.
• Foreign investments did not match peak levels.
• The number of Poles living abroad remained high.
• Tusk oversaw an austerity program.
• His government prioritized the construction of a national road network for the UEFA 2012 championships.
• He wanted to ban gambling partially.
• During the 2009 swine flu pandemic, Tusk defended his government's decision not to purchase vaccines.
• He viewed the response of some countries as "excessive and disproportionate."
• Socially, Tusk had moderately conservative views.
• He opposed legalizing abortion on demand but later changed his stance in June 2022, supporting legalization up to 12 weeks.
• He publicly stated his opposition to euthanasia.

Foreign Policy (2007-2014)

• Tusk sought to improve relations with Germany and Russia.
• He advocated a more realistic relationship with Moscow on energy policy.
• Russian bans on Polish meat and agricultural products were lifted.
• Poland reversed its disagreement on an EU-Russian partnership agreement.
• Tusk proposed withdrawing military units from Iraq.
• The last Polish military units completed their withdrawal in October 2008.
• Tusk initially showed skepticism toward U.S. plans for hosting missile defense shield bases.
• He eventually supported the missile shield after security assurances.
• Following President Obama's revised missile defense strategy, Tusk saw a chance to strengthen Polish-U.S. cooperation.
• Polish soldiers did not take military action in Libya but offered logistical support.
• He supported Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's controversial constitution.
• In early 2012, Tusk supported committing Poland to signing the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), leading to web attacks and mass protests.

European Policy (2007-2014)

• Tusk supported greater political and economic integration within the EU.
• He strongly backed the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty.
• Tusk stated his government's intention to bring Poland into the Eurozone.
• He initially aimed for 2012 but later revised it to 2015.
• He displayed less optimism during the European sovereign debt crisis.
• Poland, under Tusk, presided over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union between July and December 2011.
• Poland supported Croatia's entry into the European Union through the Treaty of Accession 2011.
• Tusk showed displeasure over German Chancellor Angela Merkel's and French President Nicolas Sarkozy's dominating roles in eurozone negotiations.

Constitutional Reform (2007-2014)

• Relations between Tusk and President Lech Kaczyński were acrimonious.
• Kaczyński blocked legislation from the Tusk government using presidential veto powers.
• Tusk proposed abolishing the presidential veto.
• He proposed that the presidential veto be overridden by a simple parliamentary majority.
• Tusk proposed reducing the Sejm from 460 to 300 and the Senate from 100 to 49. Parliamentary immunity for all members of the Sejm and Senate would also be stripped, except for in special situations.
• He proposed expanding the prime minister's role in foreign policy decisions.
• The opposition Law and Justice party criticized Tusk's constitutional reform proposals.

2010 Presidential Election

• Tusk preferred to remain as prime minister, not running as Civic Platform's candidate.
• He allowed his party to choose Bronisław Komorowski, who eventually won.

President of the European Council (2014-2019)

• Tusk succeeded Herman Van Rompuy on December 1, 2014.
• He promoted 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 illegal economic migrants not to come to Europe.
• He warned of dire consequences ahead of the UK's EU membership referendum.
• After the UK voted to leave, he pursued a hard line on the UK's withdrawal.
• Donald Tusk opposed the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.
• On January 31, 2017, Tusk wrote an open letter to 27 EU heads of state or government, stating that the Trump administration presented a threat to the EU.
• On March 9, 2017, Tusk was re-elected for a second term until November 30, 2019.
• His centrist government was criticized for its investigation into the 2010 plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczyński.
• In February 2018, Tusk urged Turkey to avoid actions against any EU member.
• In response to Liu Xiaobo's death, Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker expressed "deep sadness."
• On February 6, 2019, Tusk stated 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."
• On August 24, 2019, Tusk stated "one thing I will not cooperate on is no deal" regarding Brexit.
• 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.

Return to Polish Politics (2023-present)

• In July 2021, Donald Tusk returned to Warsaw as leader of Civic Platform
• In 2023, Organized anti-government protests in Warsaw against democratic backsliding, with turnout ranging from 300,000 to 500,000 on June 4th.
• Another significant protest took place on October 1, called the "March of a Million Hearts."
• During his campaign, Tusk advocated for enhanced LGBT rights, including introducing same-sex civil unions.
• In the 2023 Polish parliamentary election, Tusk's Civic Coalition finished as the second-largest bloc in the Sejm.
• 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.
• Morawiecki's cabinet lost a vote of confidence in the Sejm on December 11, leading to Tusk being nominated as prime minister.
• Tusk's cabinet was sworn in on December 13.

Domestic Policy (2023-present)

• Upon assuming office, Tusk dismissed the 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, both tried 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 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, supporting Ukraine in the Russian conflict and calling for the "full mobilization" of the West.
• May 2024, Tusk criticized the ICC's arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alongside Hamas leaders.
• August 2024, Tusk stated that Ukraine's EU membership would not be possible without resolving the question of Polish victims of the Volhynian Genocide.
• February 2025, Poland was Europe's leading defence spender, allocating 4.7% of its GDP to military expenditure.

Personal Life

• Donald Tusk married Małgorzata Sochacka in 1978, and they have two children.
• Tusk belongs to the Kashubian minority in Poland.
• He speaks Polish, Kashubian, German, and English.
• Tusk requested a Catholic marriage ceremony with his wife Małgorzata shortly before the 2005 election.
• On 12 December 2019, Tusk published his memoir Szczerze (Honestly).

Honors and Awards

• The Charlemagne Prize of the city of Aachen (2010)
• Walther-Rathenau-Preis (2012)
• European Prize for Political Culture (2012)
• Honorary doctorate at the University of Pécs, Hungary (2017)
• Honorary doctorate at the TU Dortmund University, Germany (2018)
• Honorary doctorate at the University of Lviv, Ukraine (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)