Donald Tusk
Encyclopedia
Donald Franciszek Tusk AUD (born 22 April 1957) is a Polish
politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland
since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform
(Platforma Obywatelska) party.
Tusk was officially designated as Prime Minister on 9 November 2007 and took office on 16 November. His cabinet won a vote of confidence in the Sejm
on 24 November 2007. He is currently the longest serving prime minister of the Third Republic of Poland. In October 2011, Tusk's Civic Platform won a plurality of seats in the Polish parliamentary election
, meaning that Tusk became the first Prime Minister to be re-elected since the fall of communism in Poland.
Tusk began his public career as an activist in his home town of Gdansk, supporting Solidarity and organizing his fellow university students. With the exception of one four-year stretch, Tusk has served in the Third Republic parliament almost continuously since its first elections in 1991. He was Vice Marshal (deputy speaker) of the Senate
from 1997 to 2001 and Vice Marshal of the Sejm
from 2001 to 2005. He also served as Leader of the Opposition
from 2003 to 2007.
. Tusk's father, also named Donald Tusk (1930–1972), was a carpenter. Donald Tusk's mother, Ewa Tusk (1934–2009), was a nurse. His uncle, Bronisław Tusk (1935–2000), was a sculptor from Gdańsk. His grandfather Józef Tusk
(1907–1987) was a railway official who, as a former citizen of the Free City of Danzig
, was compulsorily drafted by German Nazi authorities into the Wehrmacht
on 2 August 1944. He deserted a few months later to join the Polish Army in the West
on 24 November 1944.
Donald Tusk belongs to the Kashubian
minority in Poland. In an interview with the Israel
i newspaper Haaretz
in December 2008, Tusk compared his own family history to the Jewish experience, describing the Kashubian minority as a people who, "like the Jews, are people who were born and live in border areas and were suspected by the Nazis
and by the Communists
of being disloyal".
Tusk graduated from the Mikołaj Kopernik (Nicolaus Copernicus
) High School in Gdańsk in 1976. He then enrolled as a student of history at the University of Gdańsk, from which he graduated in 1980 under professor Roman Wapiński
with an M.A. thesis on Józef Piłsudski.
Donald Tusk and his wife, Małgorzata, have two children: a son, Michał (b. 1982) and a daughter, Katarzyna (b. 1987). He also has one grandson, Mikołaj (b. 2009) by his son Michał. They reside in Sopot
near Gdańsk
.
era, Tusk was involved in student politics in Gdansk. He helped found the Solidarity Student Committee at the university, and later the local Independent Students Association. This positioned him at the forefront of student politics in 1980, and he was influential in founding the Independent Students Union (NZS), the Solidarity affiliate, that year. He became a journalist, involved with pro-Solidarity organs like Samorzadnosc, as well as and Kashubian
publications. He collaborated with the Free Trade Unions of the Coastal Region as well as Kashubian leader Lech Bądkowski. Tusk's activities blacklisted him from at employment at state-operated firms under the Communist government, so Tusk spent seven years working at the Swietlik co-operative.
(Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny), and become its president in 1991. In this party – which backed free markets, European integration, and privatization of state industry – one can see the consistency with the political platform Tusk backs today.
In the 1991 elections, the KLD won 8% of the vote and 37 seats in the Sejm with the slogan, "Neither the right nor the left, just straight to Europe." Tusk was one of the candidates, making him a member of the First Sejm of the Third Polish Republic. Conservative parties formed a loose coalition in the Sejm, and KLD member Jan Krzysztof Bielecki
became prime minister. Tusk did not enter the government. Tusk was involved in the so-called Nocna Zmiana
change of government during the night of 4–5 June 1992.
Bielecki's government soon fell, and KLD stayed in opposition until Hanna Suchocka
became prime minister in 1992. Suchocka's government quickly became unpopular, and KLD's popularity fell with it. In the 1993 elections, the party received only 4%, under the threshold and keeping it out of the Sejm for the next term. Tusk lost his seat as well and would be out of Parliament until 1997.
In 1994, the KLD merged with the Democratic Union (Unia Demokratyczna) to become the Freedom Union (Unia Wolności, UW). Tusk became vice-chairman of the new party. Tusk was elected to the Senate in the next election in 1997, with his UW party supporting the Solidarity (AWS) government of Jerzy Buzek
. He served as deputy speaker of the Senate in that term.
(PO), taking many party members with him. The party would win 65 seats in that year's election, becoming the largest single opposition party. Tusk became deputy speaker of the Sejm. While Plazynski was founding chairman of the party, Tusk took over in 2003, and has been leader every since. (The Freedom Union party won no seats. It later changed its name to the Democratic Party.)
Tusk was the party's official candidate for the 2005 presidential election
. He was defeated in the second round by a margin of 46:54 by Lech Kaczyński
. He represented the constituencies of Gdynia
-Słupsk (2001–2005) and Gdańsk
(2005–2007). Since 2007 he has been an MP for Warsaw
.
Tusk's political position emphasizes strong support for a free market economy
with minimal government interference and cooperative relationships with other EU members
.
Tusk and his Civic Platform party emerged victorious in the 2007 parliamentary election
, defeating incumbent Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński‘s Law and Justice
party. The Civic Platform’s electoral victory also pushed Law and Justice’s junior coalition partners, the League of Polish Families
and Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland
out of the Sejm altogether. Following the election, Tusk engaged in coalition talks with the Polish People's Party, emerging with a solid working parliamentary majority. On 9 November, President Lech Kaczyński
, who had defeated Tusk in 2005’s presidential election, asked Tusk to form a government. Tusk and his assembled cabinet were sworn in on 16 November, becoming the fourteenth prime minister of the Third Republic. Tusk and his newly-assembled cabinet survived a vote of confidence in the Sejm several days later on 24 November. In the 2011 parliamentary election
, Civic Platform retained its place as Poland's most popular party.
in preparation for the UEFA 2012 football championships has been a stated priority for the Tusk government.
On 27 October 2009, Tusk declared that he wants to partially outlaw gambling. There are some concerns on Internet censorship
, as Tusk wants to ban Internet gambling and monitor Internet connections and money transfers.
During the 2009 swine flu pandemic
, Tusk defended his government's decision not to purchase swine flu vaccine
, citing the lack of testing by pharmaceutical companies and its unavailability to be purchased freely through the market. Tusk criticized other nations' responses to the pandemic. "The eagerness of some countries seems to be excessive and disproportionate to the real epidemiological situation", Tusk stated, referring to the pandemic's relatively low fatality rate. The government's decision drew harsh responses from opposition members in the Sejm
.
, strongly backing the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, standing in stark contrast to President Lech Kaczyński's
vehement opposition. Tusk has repeatedly stated his government’s intention in bringing Poland into the Eurozone
. Originally wanting to introduce the euro by 2012, Tusk currently envisions 2015 as "a realistic and not overly-ambitious goal".
. While criticizing the words of German politician Erika Steinbach
with regard to her opinion over the expulsion of Germans from Poland
following World War II, Tusk has stressed the need for warm relations with Berlin. Tusk has also advocated a more realistic relationship with Moscow, especially in regards to energy policy. Under Tusk’s premiership, Russian bans on Polish meat and agricultural products have been lifted, while Poland reversed its official policy of disagreement on a European Union-Russian partnership agreement.
During a speech delivered to the Sejm in the first weeks of his premiership, Tusk outlined a proposal to withdraw military units from Iraq
, stating that "we will conduct this operation keeping in mind that our commitment to our ally, the United States, has been lived up to and exceeded". The last Polish military units completed their withdrawal in October 2008.
In regards to U.S. plans of hosting missile defense shield
bases in the country, Tusk hinted skepticism toward the project, saying that their presence could potentially increase security risks from Russia, and rejected U.S. offers in early July 2008. By August, however, Tusk relented, and supported the missile shield, declaring: "We have achieved the main goal. It means our countries, Poland and the United States will be more secure." Following President Barack Obama's
decision to scrap and revise missile defense strategy, Tusk described the move as "a chance to strengthen Polish-US co-operation in defense..." He said: "I took this declaration from President Obama very seriously and with great satisfaction." Tusk later supported a smaller and more mobile defense strategy equipped with short-range missiles and fewer personnel.
were often acrimonious due to different political ideologies and the constitutional role of the presidency. Using presidential veto powers, Kaczyński blocked legislation drafted by the Tusk government, including pension reform, agricultural and urban zoning plans, and restructuring state television. Tusk and Kaczyński repeatedly sparred over issues ranging from European integration, homosexuality, foreign policy, to constitutional issues, with Tusk taking more socially liberal opinions than the conservative Kaczyński.
In his premiership, Tusk has proposed various reforms to the Polish constitution. In 2009, Tusk proposed changes to the power of the presidency, by abolishing the presidential veto. "The president should not have veto power. People make their decision in elections and then state institutions should not be in conflict", said Tusk. Tusk again reiterated his desire for constitutional reform in February 2010, proposing that the presidential veto be overridden by a simple parliamentary majority rather than through a three-fifths vote. "Presidential veto could not effectively block the will of the majority in parliament, which won elections and formed the government", stated Tusk. Further constitutional reforms proposed by Tusk include reducing the Sejm
from a membership of 460 to 300, "not only because of its savings, but also the excessive number of members' causes blurring certain plans and projects". Similarly, Tusk proposed radical changes to the Senate, preferring to abolish the upper house
altogether, yet due to constitutional concerns and demands from the junior coalition Polish People's Party partner, Tusk proposed reducing the Senate from 100 to 49, while including former presidents to sit in the Senate for political experience and expertise in state matters. Parliamentary immunity for all members of the Sejm and Senate would also be stripped, except for in special situations. In addition, Tusk proposed that the prime minister's role in foreign policy decisions would be greatly expanded. By decreasing the president's role in governance, executive power would further be concentrated in the prime minister, directly responsible to the cabinet
and Sejm, as well as avoiding confusion over Poland's representation at international or EU summits. The opposition conservative Law and Justice
party deeply criticized Tusk's constitutional reform proposals, opting in opposing legislation for the presidency to garner greater power over the prime minister.
In an interview with the Financial Times
in January 2010, Tusk was asked if he considered running again as Civic Platform's
candidate for that year's presidential election. Tusk replied that although the presidential election typically drew the most voters to the polls and remained Poland's most high-profiled race, the presidency had little political power outside of the veto, and preferred to remain as prime minister. While not formally excluding his candidacy, Tusk declared that "I would very much like to continue to work in the government and Civic Platform, because that seems to me to be the key element in ensuring success in the civilisational race in which we are engaged". A day after the interview, Tusk formally announced his intention of staying as prime minister, allowing his party to choose another candidate.
of the city of Aachen
was awarded to Tusk, who is fluent in German, on 13 May 2010 for his merits in the further unification of Europe and for his role as a "patriot and great European". He dedicated the prize to the people killed in a plane crash of a Polish Air Force Tu-154 in April 2010
including the Polish president Lech Kaczyński
. The eulogy was given by German chancellor Angela Merkel
.
Prime Minister of Poland (vote of confidence)
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland
Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland
The Prime Minister of Poland heads the Polish Council of Ministers and directs their work, supervises territorial self-government within the guidelines and in ways described in the Constitution and other legislation, and acts as the superior for all government administration workers...
since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform
Civic Platform
Civic Platform , abbreviated to PO, is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Poland. It has been the major coalition partner in Poland's government since the 2007 general election, with party leader Donald Tusk as Prime Minister of Poland and Bronisław Komorowski as President...
(Platforma Obywatelska) party.
Tusk was officially designated as Prime Minister on 9 November 2007 and took office on 16 November. His cabinet won a vote of confidence in the Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
on 24 November 2007. He is currently the longest serving prime minister of the Third Republic of Poland. In October 2011, Tusk's Civic Platform won a plurality of seats in the Polish parliamentary election
Polish parliamentary election, 2011
A parliamentary election to both the Senate and the Sejm was held in Poland on 9 October 2011. The previous election, in 2007, resulted in a Civic Platform–Polish People's Party government...
, meaning that Tusk became the first Prime Minister to be re-elected since the fall of communism in Poland.
Tusk began his public career as an activist in his home town of Gdansk, supporting Solidarity and organizing his fellow university students. With the exception of one four-year stretch, Tusk has served in the Third Republic parliament almost continuously since its first elections in 1991. He was Vice Marshal (deputy speaker) of the Senate
Vice-Marshal of the Senate of the Republic of Poland
Deputy Marshal of the Senate of the Republic of Poland is one of the Polish Senators in the upper house of the Polish parliament who serves as the deputy of the Senate Marshal...
from 1997 to 2001 and Vice Marshal of the Sejm
Vice-Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland
Deputy Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland is a person elected to preside over Sejm sessions when the Sejm Marshal is not presiding...
from 2001 to 2005. He also served as Leader of the Opposition
Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest party not in government in a Westminster System of parliamentary government...
from 2003 to 2007.
Studies and personal life
Tusk was born in GdańskGdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
. Tusk's father, also named Donald Tusk (1930–1972), was a carpenter. Donald Tusk's mother, Ewa Tusk (1934–2009), was a nurse. His uncle, Bronisław Tusk (1935–2000), was a sculptor from Gdańsk. His grandfather Józef Tusk
Józef Tusk
Józef Tusk was the grandfather of the current Prime Minister, Donald Tusk. During World War II, he served as a forced laborer in Germany, and was imprisoned in a concentration camp...
(1907–1987) was a railway official who, as a former citizen of the Free City of Danzig
Free City of Danzig
The Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig and surrounding areas....
, was compulsorily drafted by German Nazi authorities into the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
on 2 August 1944. He deserted a few months later to join the Polish Army in the West
Polish Armed Forces in the West
Polish Armed Forces in the West refers to the Polish military formations formed to fight alongside the Western Allies against Nazi Germany and its allies...
on 24 November 1944.
Donald Tusk belongs to the Kashubian
Kashubians
Kashubians/Kaszubians , also called Kashubs, Kashubes, Kaszubians, Kassubians or Cassubians, are a West Slavic ethnic group in Pomerelia, north-central Poland. Their settlement area is referred to as Kashubia ....
minority in Poland. In an interview with the Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i newspaper Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
in December 2008, Tusk compared his own family history to the Jewish experience, describing the Kashubian minority as a people who, "like the Jews, are people who were born and live in border areas and were suspected by the Nazis
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and by the Communists
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
of being disloyal".
Tusk graduated from the Mikołaj Kopernik (Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
) High School in Gdańsk in 1976. He then enrolled as a student of history at the University of Gdańsk, from which he graduated in 1980 under professor Roman Wapiński
Roman Wapinski
Prof. dr hab. Roman Wapiński was a Polish historian, lecturer at the University of Gdańsk. He specialized in the history of the Second Polish Republic and right-wing National Democracy political camp, being the foremost historian of National Democracy...
with an M.A. thesis on Józef Piłsudski.
Donald Tusk and his wife, Małgorzata, have two children: a son, Michał (b. 1982) and a daughter, Katarzyna (b. 1987). He also has one grandson, Mikołaj (b. 2009) by his son Michał. They reside in Sopot
Sopot
Sopot is a seaside town in Eastern Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000....
near Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
.
Student activism and Solidarity in Gdansk
At the beginning of the SolidaritySolidarity
Solidarity is a Polish trade union federation that emerged on August 31, 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa. It was the first non-communist party-controlled trade union in a Warsaw Pact country. Solidarity reached 9.5 million members before its September 1981 congress...
era, Tusk was involved in student politics in Gdansk. He helped found the Solidarity Student Committee at the university, and later the local Independent Students Association. This positioned him at the forefront of student politics in 1980, and he was influential in founding the Independent Students Union (NZS), the Solidarity affiliate, that year. He became a journalist, involved with pro-Solidarity organs like Samorzadnosc, as well as and Kashubian
Kashubian
Kashubian can refer to:* Pertaining to Kashubia, a region of north-central Poland* Kashubians, an ethnic group of north-central Poland* Kashubian language-See also:*Kashubian alphabet*Kashubian Landscape Park*Kashubian studies...
publications. He collaborated with the Free Trade Unions of the Coastal Region as well as Kashubian leader Lech Bądkowski. Tusk's activities blacklisted him from at employment at state-operated firms under the Communist government, so Tusk spent seven years working at the Swietlik co-operative.
Early years of the Third Republic
Tusk was one of the founders of the Liberal Democratic CongressLiberal Democratic Congress
The Liberal Democratic Congress was a centrist-conservative, liberal-Catholic party in Poland. The party, led by Donald Tusk, had roots in the Solidarity movement...
(Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny), and become its president in 1991. In this party – which backed free markets, European integration, and privatization of state industry – one can see the consistency with the political platform Tusk backs today.
In the 1991 elections, the KLD won 8% of the vote and 37 seats in the Sejm with the slogan, "Neither the right nor the left, just straight to Europe." Tusk was one of the candidates, making him a member of the First Sejm of the Third Polish Republic. Conservative parties formed a loose coalition in the Sejm, and KLD member Jan Krzysztof Bielecki
Jan Krzysztof Bielecki
Jan Krzysztof Bielecki is a Polish centre politician. He served as Prime Minister of Poland for most of 1991. He is a member of Civic Platform. Chairman of the Council of the Polish Institute of International Affairs....
became prime minister. Tusk did not enter the government. Tusk was involved in the so-called Nocna Zmiana
Nocna zmiana
Nocna zmiana is a 1995 Polish documentary film about dismissal of Olszewski's government. It was directed by Michał Balcerzak.- Featuring :*Maciej Jankowski*Piotr Semka*Jacek Kurski*Marian Krzaklewski*Krzysztof Wyszkowski*Mieczysław Wachowski...
change of government during the night of 4–5 June 1992.
Bielecki's government soon fell, and KLD stayed in opposition until Hanna Suchocka
Hanna Suchocka
Hanna Suchocka is a Polish political figure. She served as the prime minister of Poland between 11 July 1992 and 26 October 1993 under the presidency of Lech Wałęsa. She is the first woman to hold this post in Poland and 19th in the world.Suchocka is a specialist in Constitutional Law...
became prime minister in 1992. Suchocka's government quickly became unpopular, and KLD's popularity fell with it. In the 1993 elections, the party received only 4%, under the threshold and keeping it out of the Sejm for the next term. Tusk lost his seat as well and would be out of Parliament until 1997.
In 1994, the KLD merged with the Democratic Union (Unia Demokratyczna) to become the Freedom Union (Unia Wolności, UW). Tusk became vice-chairman of the new party. Tusk was elected to the Senate in the next election in 1997, with his UW party supporting the Solidarity (AWS) government of Jerzy Buzek
Jerzy Buzek
Jerzy Karol Buzek is a Polish engineer, academic lecturer and politician who was the ninth post-Cold War Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001...
. He served as deputy speaker of the Senate in that term.
Civic Platform and the 21st century
In the run-up to the 2001 elections, Tusk lost a leadership campaign in the UW party to Bronislaw Geremek. With the party in disarray and the previous parliament's AWS/Solidarity coalition breaking apart, Tusk, Andrzej Olechowski, and Maciej Plazynski founded Civic PlatformCivic Platform
Civic Platform , abbreviated to PO, is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Poland. It has been the major coalition partner in Poland's government since the 2007 general election, with party leader Donald Tusk as Prime Minister of Poland and Bronisław Komorowski as President...
(PO), taking many party members with him. The party would win 65 seats in that year's election, becoming the largest single opposition party. Tusk became deputy speaker of the Sejm. While Plazynski was founding chairman of the party, Tusk took over in 2003, and has been leader every since. (The Freedom Union party won no seats. It later changed its name to the Democratic Party.)
Tusk was the party's official candidate for the 2005 presidential election
Polish presidential election, 2005
-External links:**] ]**...
. He was defeated in the second round by a margin of 46:54 by Lech Kaczyński
Lech Kaczynski
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
. He represented the constituencies of Gdynia
Gdynia
Gdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport of Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdańsk and suburban communities, which together...
-Słupsk (2001–2005) and Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
(2005–2007). Since 2007 he has been an MP for Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
.
Tusk's political position emphasizes strong support for a free market economy
Market economy
A market economy is an economy in which the prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system. This is often contrasted with a state-directed or planned economy. Market economies can range from hypothetically pure laissez-faire variants to an assortment of real-world mixed...
with minimal government interference and cooperative relationships with other EU members
Member State of the European Union
A member state of the European Union is a state that is party to treaties of the European Union and has thereby undertaken the privileges and obligations that EU membership entails. Unlike membership of an international organisation, being an EU member state places a country under binding laws in...
.
Prime minister
Polish parliamentary election, 2007
Early parliamentary elections for both houses of parliament were held in Poland on 21 October 2007 after the Sejm voted for its own dissolution on 7 September 2007. The election took place two years before the maximum tenure of four years, with the previous elections having been in September 2005...
, defeating incumbent Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński‘s Law and Justice
Law and Justice
Law and Justice , abbreviated to PiS, is a right-wing, conservative political party in Poland. With 147 seats in the Sejm and 38 in the Senate, it is the second-largest party in the Polish parliament....
party. The Civic Platform’s electoral victory also pushed Law and Justice’s junior coalition partners, the League of Polish Families
League of Polish Families
The League of Polish Families is a right-wing political party in Poland. It was represented in the Polish parliament, forming part of the cabinet of Jarosław Kaczyński, until the latter dissolved in September 2007....
and Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland
Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland
Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland , abbreviated to SRP, is an agrarian political party and trade union in Poland led by Andrzej Lepper. Its platform combines left-wing populist economic policies with religious conservative social policies....
out of the Sejm altogether. Following the election, Tusk engaged in coalition talks with the Polish People's Party, emerging with a solid working parliamentary majority. On 9 November, President Lech Kaczyński
Lech Kaczynski
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
, who had defeated Tusk in 2005’s presidential election, asked Tusk to form a government. Tusk and his assembled cabinet were sworn in on 16 November, becoming the fourteenth prime minister of the Third Republic. Tusk and his newly-assembled cabinet survived a vote of confidence in the Sejm several days later on 24 November. In the 2011 parliamentary election
Polish parliamentary election, 2011
A parliamentary election to both the Senate and the Sejm was held in Poland on 9 October 2011. The previous election, in 2007, resulted in a Civic Platform–Polish People's Party government...
, Civic Platform retained its place as Poland's most popular party.
Domestic policy
In his government’s domestic policy, Tusk has pursued the continuation of free-market policies, streamlining the bureaucracy, enacting long-term stable governance, cutting taxes to attract greater foreign business ventures, luring foreign-working Poles back to Poland, and privatizing state-owned companies. The construction of a more adequate and larger national road networkRoads and expressways in Poland
The highways in Poland are divided into motorways and expressways. As of November 2011, there are of motorways and of expressways ....
in preparation for the UEFA 2012 football championships has been a stated priority for the Tusk government.
On 27 October 2009, Tusk declared that he wants to partially outlaw gambling. There are some concerns on Internet censorship
Internet censorship
Internet censorship is the control or suppression of the publishing of, or access to information on the Internet. It may be carried out by governments or by private organizations either at the behest of government or on their own initiative...
, as Tusk wants to ban Internet gambling and monitor Internet connections and money transfers.
During the 2009 swine flu pandemic
2009 flu pandemic
The 2009 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the second of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus , albeit in a new version...
, Tusk defended his government's decision not to purchase swine flu vaccine
2009 flu pandemic vaccine
The 2009 flu pandemic vaccines are the set of influenza vaccines that have been developed to protect against the pandemic H1N1/09 virus. These vaccines either contain inactivated influenza virus, or weakened live virus that cannot cause influenza. The killed vaccine is injected, while the live...
, citing the lack of testing by pharmaceutical companies and its unavailability to be purchased freely through the market. Tusk criticized other nations' responses to the pandemic. "The eagerness of some countries seems to be excessive and disproportionate to the real epidemiological situation", Tusk stated, referring to the pandemic's relatively low fatality rate. The government's decision drew harsh responses from opposition members in the Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
.
European policy
In continental policy, Tusk has strongly supported greater political and economic integration within the European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, strongly backing the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, standing in stark contrast to President Lech Kaczyński's
Lech Kaczynski
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
vehement opposition. Tusk has repeatedly stated his government’s intention in bringing Poland into the Eurozone
Eurozone
The eurozone , officially called the euro area, is an economic and monetary union of seventeen European Union member states that have adopted the euro as their common currency and sole legal tender...
. Originally wanting to introduce the euro by 2012, Tusk currently envisions 2015 as "a realistic and not overly-ambitious goal".
Foreign policy
In foreign policy, Tusk has sought to improve relations severely damaged during the previous Kaczyński government, particularly with Germany and RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. While criticizing the words of German politician Erika Steinbach
Erika Steinbach
' is a German conservative politician and president of the Federation of Expellees. She has been representing the Christian Democratic Union and the state of Hesse as a member of the Parliament of Germany, the Bundestag, since 1990...
with regard to her opinion over the expulsion of Germans from Poland
Expulsion of Germans after World War II
The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
following World War II, Tusk has stressed the need for warm relations with Berlin. Tusk has also advocated a more realistic relationship with Moscow, especially in regards to energy policy. Under Tusk’s premiership, Russian bans on Polish meat and agricultural products have been lifted, while Poland reversed its official policy of disagreement on a European Union-Russian partnership agreement.
During a speech delivered to the Sejm in the first weeks of his premiership, Tusk outlined a proposal to withdraw military units from Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, stating that "we will conduct this operation keeping in mind that our commitment to our ally, the United States, has been lived up to and exceeded". The last Polish military units completed their withdrawal in October 2008.
In regards to U.S. plans of hosting missile defense shield
National Missile Defense
National missile defense is a generic term for a type of missile defense intended to shield an entire country against incoming missiles, such as intercontinental ballistic missile or other ballistic missiles. Interception might be by anti-ballistic missiles or directed-energy weapons such as lasers...
bases in the country, Tusk hinted skepticism toward the project, saying that their presence could potentially increase security risks from Russia, and rejected U.S. offers in early July 2008. By August, however, Tusk relented, and supported the missile shield, declaring: "We have achieved the main goal. It means our countries, Poland and the United States will be more secure." Following President Barack Obama's
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
decision to scrap and revise missile defense strategy, Tusk described the move as "a chance to strengthen Polish-US co-operation in defense..." He said: "I took this declaration from President Obama very seriously and with great satisfaction." Tusk later supported a smaller and more mobile defense strategy equipped with short-range missiles and fewer personnel.
Constitutional reform
After being elected prime minister, relations between Tusk and President Lech KaczyńskiLech Kaczynski
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
were often acrimonious due to different political ideologies and the constitutional role of the presidency. Using presidential veto powers, Kaczyński blocked legislation drafted by the Tusk government, including pension reform, agricultural and urban zoning plans, and restructuring state television. Tusk and Kaczyński repeatedly sparred over issues ranging from European integration, homosexuality, foreign policy, to constitutional issues, with Tusk taking more socially liberal opinions than the conservative Kaczyński.
In his premiership, Tusk has proposed various reforms to the Polish constitution. In 2009, Tusk proposed changes to the power of the presidency, by abolishing the presidential veto. "The president should not have veto power. People make their decision in elections and then state institutions should not be in conflict", said Tusk. Tusk again reiterated his desire for constitutional reform in February 2010, proposing that the presidential veto be overridden by a simple parliamentary majority rather than through a three-fifths vote. "Presidential veto could not effectively block the will of the majority in parliament, which won elections and formed the government", stated Tusk. Further constitutional reforms proposed by Tusk include reducing the Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
from a membership of 460 to 300, "not only because of its savings, but also the excessive number of members' causes blurring certain plans and projects". Similarly, Tusk proposed radical changes to the Senate, preferring to abolish the upper house
Upper house
An upper house, often called a senate, is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house; a legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral.- Possible specific characteristics :...
altogether, yet due to constitutional concerns and demands from the junior coalition Polish People's Party partner, Tusk proposed reducing the Senate from 100 to 49, while including former presidents to sit in the Senate for political experience and expertise in state matters. Parliamentary immunity for all members of the Sejm and Senate would also be stripped, except for in special situations. In addition, Tusk proposed that the prime minister's role in foreign policy decisions would be greatly expanded. By decreasing the president's role in governance, executive power would further be concentrated in the prime minister, directly responsible to the cabinet
Cabinet of Donald Tusk
The First Cabinet of Donald Tusk was the government of Poland from November 16, 2007 to November 18, 2011, during the 6th legislature of the Sejm and the 7th legislature of the Senate. It was appointed by President Lech Kaczyński on November 16, 2007, and passed the vote of confidence in Sejm on...
and Sejm, as well as avoiding confusion over Poland's representation at international or EU summits. The opposition conservative Law and Justice
Law and Justice
Law and Justice , abbreviated to PiS, is a right-wing, conservative political party in Poland. With 147 seats in the Sejm and 38 in the Senate, it is the second-largest party in the Polish parliament....
party deeply criticized Tusk's constitutional reform proposals, opting in opposing legislation for the presidency to garner greater power over the prime minister.
In an interview with the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
in January 2010, Tusk was asked if he considered running again as Civic Platform's
Civic Platform
Civic Platform , abbreviated to PO, is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Poland. It has been the major coalition partner in Poland's government since the 2007 general election, with party leader Donald Tusk as Prime Minister of Poland and Bronisław Komorowski as President...
candidate for that year's presidential election. Tusk replied that although the presidential election typically drew the most voters to the polls and remained Poland's most high-profiled race, the presidency had little political power outside of the veto, and preferred to remain as prime minister. While not formally excluding his candidacy, Tusk declared that "I would very much like to continue to work in the government and Civic Platform, because that seems to me to be the key element in ensuring success in the civilisational race in which we are engaged". A day after the interview, Tusk formally announced his intention of staying as prime minister, allowing his party to choose another candidate.
Awards
The KarlspreisKarlspreis
- See also :*Charlemagne*European integration*Leipzig Human Rights Award, originally called the "Alternative Charlemagne Award", formed in opposition to Clinton's recognition with the award- External links :* http://www.karlspreis.de/ *...
of the city of Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
was awarded to Tusk, who is fluent in German, on 13 May 2010 for his merits in the further unification of Europe and for his role as a "patriot and great European". He dedicated the prize to the people killed in a plane crash of a Polish Air Force Tu-154 in April 2010
2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash
The 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash occurred on 10 April 2010, when a Tupolev Tu-154M aircraft of the Polish Air Force crashed near the city of Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people on board...
including the Polish president Lech Kaczyński
Lech Kaczynski
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
. The eulogy was given by German chancellor Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany . Merkel, elected to the Bundestag from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000, and chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.From 2005 to 2009 she led a...
.
Electoral history
Polish presidential election, 2005Polish presidential election, 2005
-External links:**] ]**...
- 1st round : 5,429,666 (36,3%) – head of the first round
- 2nd round : 7,022,319 (45.96) – defeated in the second round round against Lech KaczynskiLech KaczynskiLech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
Prime Minister of Poland (vote of confidence)
- Yes – 238
- No – 204
- Abstain – 2
See also
- Cabinet of Donald TuskCabinet of Donald TuskThe First Cabinet of Donald Tusk was the government of Poland from November 16, 2007 to November 18, 2011, during the 6th legislature of the Sejm and the 7th legislature of the Senate. It was appointed by President Lech Kaczyński on November 16, 2007, and passed the vote of confidence in Sejm on...
- List of political parties in Poland
- List of politicians in Poland
- Politics of PolandPolitics of PolandThe politics of Poland take place in the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government of a multi-party system and the President is the head of state....
- Polish parliamentary election, 2005Polish parliamentary election, 2005Parliamentary elections for both houses of the Parliament of Poland were held on September 25, 2005. Thirty million voters were eligible to vote for all 460 members of the lower house, the Assembly of the Republic of Poland , and all 100 members of the upper house, the Senate of the Republic of...
- Polish parliamentary election, 2007Polish parliamentary election, 2007Early parliamentary elections for both houses of parliament were held in Poland on 21 October 2007 after the Sejm voted for its own dissolution on 7 September 2007. The election took place two years before the maximum tenure of four years, with the previous elections having been in September 2005...
- Polish parliamentary election, 2011Polish parliamentary election, 2011A parliamentary election to both the Senate and the Sejm was held in Poland on 9 October 2011. The previous election, in 2007, resulted in a Civic Platform–Polish People's Party government...