Donald Tusk: Polish Politician and Prime Minister

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

Early Political Career

• Tusk has been officially involved in Polish politics since 1989.
• He co-founded the Liberal Democratic Congress party (KLD), a free market-oriented party.
• In 1991, he entered the Sejm (lower house of Parliament) and lost his seat in 1993.
• The KLD merged with the Democratic Union in 1994 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), a centre-right liberal conservative party.

2005 Presidential Election

• He unsuccessfully ran for President of Poland in 2005.
• Tusk lost to Lech Kaczyński in the second round.
• A controversy arose during the election concerning Tusk's grandfather, Józef Tusk, who was accused of being a Nazi collaborator, negatively influencing some voters.

First Premiership (2007–2014) and Domestic Policy

• Civic Platform won the 2007 parliamentary election, defeating Law and Justice.
• Tusk was sworn in as prime minister on November 16, 2007.
• In the 2011 election, Civic Platform retained their majority, making Tusk the first Polish PM re-elected since the fall of communism in 1989.
• In September 2014, he resigned to become President of the European Council, succeeded by Ewa Kopacz.
• Initially promised free market policies but later raised VAT from 22% to 23% in 2011 and increased taxes on diesel, alcohol, tobacco, and coal.
• During his government, an austerity program was implemented.
• Focused on constructing a national road network for the UEFA 2012 football championships.
• Considered moderately conservative on social issues; he opposed legalizing abortion on demand and euthanasia, but changed his stance on abortion in June 2022, supporting legalization up to 12 weeks.

First Premiership (2007–2014) and Foreign Policy

• Tusk aimed to improve relations with Germany and Russia, which had been damaged during the previous government.
• He advocated a more realistic relationship with Moscow, particularly regarding energy policy.
• Polish military units were withdrawn from Iraq.
• Initially skeptical, Tusk later supported the U.S. missile defense shield in Poland.
• Polish soldiers did not take military action in Libya but offered logistical support for the 2011 intervention.
• He supported Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's controversial constitution, a move that aligned him with the opposition Law and Justice party.
• Tusk supported signing the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), leading to web attacks and mass protests despite government guarantees of internet freedom.

First Premiership (2007–2014) and European Policy

• Tusk backed greater political and economic integration within the EU and supported the Lisbon Treaty.
• He aimed to bring Poland into the Eurozone, initially targeting 2012, then 2015, but the European debt crisis diminished optimism.
• Poland, under Tusk, held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from July to December 2011.
• Showed displeasure over the dominating roles of Germany and France in eurozone negotiations.

Constitutional Reform

• Relations between Tusk and President Lech Kaczyński were strained due to differing ideologies.
• Kaczyński vetoed legislation drafted by Tusk's government, including pension reform and state television restructuring.
• Tusk proposed reforms to the constitution, including abolishing the presidential veto, reducing the Sejm membership, and eliminating or changing the Senate.

President of the European Council (2014–2019)

• Tusk succeeded Herman Van Rompuy as President of the European Council on December 1, 2014.
• He promoted 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 should the UK vote to leave.
• He pursued a hard line on the UK's withdrawal, stating that the only real alternative to a "hard Brexit" is "no Brexit."
• In 2018, he opposed the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.
• In 2017, Tusk wrote an open letter stating the Trump administration presented a threat to the EU.
• He was re-elected for a second term in March 2017, with Poland voting against him.
• In February 2018, Tusk urged Turkey to avoid threats against EU members.
• He expressed concern over the Turkish invasion of northern Syria in 2018.
• Tusk condemned the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria and reprimanded President Erdoğan.
• 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."

Second Premiership (2023–Present)

• In July 2021, he returned to Warsaw and became leader of Civic Platform.
• Tusk organized and led anti-government protests in Warsaw in 2023, some of the largest since 1989.
• During his campaign, Tusk advocated for enhanced LGBT rights.
• In the 2023 Polish parliamentary election, Civic Coalition became the second-largest bloc.
• Civic Coalition, Third Way, and New Left won enough seats to take power.
• On November 10, 2023, these parties signed an agreement to support Tusk as prime minister.
• On December 11, 2023, Morawiecki's cabinet lost a vote of confidence, and Tusk was nominated as prime minister.
• Tusk's cabinet was sworn in on December 13, 2023.

Second Premiership (2023–Present) and Domestic Policy

• Upon assuming office, Tusk dismissed the top executives from Telewizja Polska, the public service broadcaster, considered a propaganda machine for the PiS government.
• In February 2024, Tusk said he would push for changes to the European Green Deal.
• In April 2024, Tusk opposed the EU Migration Pact.
• 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.
• In February 2025, Tusk unveiled plans for economic deregulation to spur growth.
• Tusk’s administration oversaw the arrests of MPs Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik, both tried for exceeding authority since 2015.

Second Premiership (2023–Present) and Foreign Policy

• On January 22, 2024, Tusk met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
• He stated that those who chose neutrality in the Russo-Ukrainian War deserved "the darkest place in political hell".
• In May 2024, Tusk criticized the International Criminal Court's arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
• In August 2024, Tusk stated that Ukraine's EU membership would not be possible without resolving the question 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 concentration camp.
• 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, and they have two children.
• He belongs to the Kashubian minority in Poland and identifies as Polish, Kashubian, and European.
• Tusk speaks Polish, Kashubian, German, and English.
• He requested a Catholic marriage ceremony with his wife in 2005, after 27 years of civil marriage.
• Tusk published his memoir Szczerze (Honestly) in 2019.

Honours and awards

• Received the Charlemagne Prize of the city of Aachen in 2010, which he dedicated to the people killed in a plane crash of a Polish Air Force Tu-154 in April 2010.
• Received the Walther-Rathenau-Preis in May 2012 for his commitment to European integration.
• Awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Pécs, Hungary in December 2017.
• Awarded an honorary doctorate at the TU Dortmund University, Germany on 16 December 2018.
• Awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Lviv, Ukraine in 2019.
• Received the Grand Cross Order of the Sun (Peru, 2008).
• Received the Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit (Norway, 2012).
• Received the Presidential Order of Excellence (Georgia, 2013).
• Received the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana (Estonia, 2014).
• Received the First Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (Ukraine, 2019).
• Received the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (Japan, 2021).