Germany, Poland Discuss Defense Cooperation and a Bigger NATO Presence on Eastern Flank | DW News

Jul 2, 2024 | Security and bolstering ties have topped the agenda of talks between German chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish prime minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw. Scholz travelled to Poland with 12 government ministers. Tusk said they discussed boosting defense cooperation including a stronger NATO presence on the eastern flank to deter the threat from Russia.

'Shame on You': Polish Prime Minister Hits Out at US Republicans

THE GUARDIAN: Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, has issued a sharp public rebuke to American Republicans.

In a post on social media this morning, the centre-right politician said:

“Dear Republican Senators of America. Ronald Reagan, who helped millions of us to win back our freedom and independence, must be turning in his grave today. Shame on you.” » | Lili Bayer in Brussels | Thursday, February 8, 2024

En direct, guerre en Ukraine : à Kiev, Donald Tusk martèle son soutien au pays dans son combat contre « le mal »

LE MONDE : Arrivé lundi dans la capitale ukrainienne, le premier ministre polonais « rencontrera le président ukrainien, Volodymyr Zelensky, et le premier ministre, Denys Chmyhal », selon un communiqué officiel. LIVE EN COURS » | lundi 22 janvier 2024

Can the New Polish Prime Minister Ease Strained Relations with Germany? | DW News

Dec 12, 2023 | Poland's new parliament elected centrist party leader Donald Tusk as prime minister on Monday. Tusk becomes prime minister nearly two months after national elections won by a coalition of parties ranging from left-wing to moderately conservative.

The alliance of pro-EU parties signed an agreement last month, paving the way for a coalition government. Earlier on Monday, the parliament rejected the proposed conservative government of acting Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, a widely expected outcome that paved the way for the rival alliance to form the next government.

Only 190 deputies voted in favor of the Morawiecki government, while 266 voted against it and there were no abstentions. Morawiecki's Law and Justice (PiS) party lost its majority but retained its status as the largest single party in October's elections.

Morawiecki's failure opens the door for former Polish Prime Minister and former European Council President Donald Tusk. Tusk led a broad pro-EU opposition coalition in a bid to unseat PiS after two terms in power.


This is indeed welcome news! Donald Tusk is a good man. He will be good for Poland and good for the EU. This is like a breath of fresh air. A favourable wind is blowing from the east, at last. – © Mark Alexander

The Guardian View on Poland’s Election: A Record Turnout Delivers a Landmark Result

GUARDIAN EUROPE – EDITORIAL: A mass mobilisation of voters appears to have ousted the radical right from power. That is good news for Polish democracy, and for Europe

Poland's main opposition leader, Donald Tusk, at an election rally in Pruszków, Poland, on 13 October 2023. Photograph: Petr David Josek/AP
Back in 2018, as Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) neared the end of its first term in office, its leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, told one newspaper that his radical right project had only just begun. “We are preparing a long march,” said Mr Kaczyński, “one needs, not two, but three terms.”

On Sunday, Poles turned out in extraordinary numbers determined to thwart that ambition, and they appear to have succeeded in remarkable fashion. Provisional results indicate that the highest election turnout since the fall of communism delivered a famous and unexpectedly clear victory for the opposition coalition of parties. Though PiS emerged once more as the largest electoral force, it lost its majority and seemingly has no viable route to constructing a new one. For Poland, and for the rest of Europe, this constitutes a hugely consequential result. For progressives, it is one to celebrate. » | Editorial | Monday, October 16, 2023

Fresh air has blown over Poland; hopefully, it will keep on blowing. Eastern Europe needs plenty more fresh air. Now, as a result of this great election result – a warm welcome back, Mr Tusk! – all of Europe will be able to breathe more easily again. The cobwebs are being blown away, slowly but surely. – © Mark Alexander

With Opposition Gains, Poland Looks to Unwind an ‘Illiberal Democracy’: With all of the votes counted, liberal parties have probably won by enough to assemble a new coalition. The governing party can still form its own, but the prospects look dim. »

Poland: Opposition Poised to Oust Ruling Nationalists | DW News

Oct 16, 2023 | After eight years and two consecutive terms in power, Poland's nationalist Law and Justice party may be on their way out. Exit polls suggest they secured around 36% of the votes - more than any other party, but not the majority they would need to govern again. The opposing Civic Coalition party - headed by former European Council President Donald Tusk - came in second place but may be able team up with two smaller parties to form a government and secure a majority of seats in Parliament.

Related article here.

Poland election: Law and Justice party on course to be ousted from power: Former PM Donald Tusk hails ‘the end of evil times’ as early results suggest opposition parties will be able to form governing coalition »

Poland Exit Polls: Donald Tusk Claims Victory Based on Coalition Hopes

GUARDIAN EUROPE: Civic Coalition expected to have got fewer votes than ruling Law and Justice party but is likely to ally with other parties

Donald Tusk and supporters of the largest opposition grouping, Civic Coalition, react to exit polls. Photograph: Kacper Pempel/Reuters
Donald Tusk, the former Polish prime minister and European Council president, claimed victory in Poland’s parliamentary election on Sunday, making the announcement just minutes after the polls closed, based on the results of an exit poll.

The poll suggested the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party had won the most votes but appeared to show a route to government for a combined opposition coalition led by Tusk.

PiS, which has governed Poland for eight years, has turned public television into a propaganda arm of the government, restricted abortion rights and demonised LGBTQ+ people, migrants and refugees. It has also put Poland on a collision course with Brussels over rule of law issues, which has led to tens of billions of euros in European funding being frozen.

Tusk appeared on stage at the Civic Coalition election headquarters at Warsaw’s Ethnographical Museum to declare victory.

“It’s the end of the evil times, it’s the end of the PiS rule, we made it,” said Tusk, to cheers from assembled supporters. » | Shaun Walker in Warsaw | Sunday, October 15, 2023

Poland election: opposition claims win after strong exit poll result – as it happened »

EU Veteran Tusk Heads into Final Week of Battle to Steer Poland from Populism

GUARDIAN EUROPE: Election is contest between Law and Justice party and politician it claims represents malevolent foreign forces

Donald Tusk speaks to residents of Rzeszów. Photograph: Darek Delmanowicz/EPA
“I want this message to reach everybody in Poland,” said Donald Tusk, speaking to a rally of supporters, gathered in a cavernous indoor sports arena in the city of Bydgoszcz. “This is really the last chance.”

As a vicious, bruising campaign comes to its climax ahead of parliamentary elections on 15 October, Tusk, a veteran of Polish and European politics, has sought to make this point with increasing urgency.

The rally was just one stop on a busy campaign trail for Tusk, whose Civic Coalition is seeking to prevent the nationalist, populist Law and Justice (PiS) government from winning a third term. » | Shaun Walker in Bydgoszcz | Saturday, October 7, 2023

Polish elections: who are the key players and what is at stake?: Tusk-led Civic Platform aims to unseat nationalist Law and Justice party in bitterly contested ballot »

Donald Tusk wirft Polens Regierung „katastrophale“ Wirtschaftspolitik vor

Der Vorwahlkampf ist eröffnet: Donald Tusk am 2. Juli 2022 in Radom. | Bild: IMAGO
VORWAHLKAMPF IN POLEN
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: In Polen ist der Vorwahlkampf eröffnet und Donald Tusk zu alter Form aufgelaufen. Der PiS-Regierung wirft er vor, die Verarmung breiter Schichten zu riskieren.

Die nagelneue Sporthalle in der polnischen Stadt Radom war voll. Polens größte Oppositionskraft, die liberale Bürgerplattform (PO), hatte am Samstag zu einem Konvent geladen, der das „größte Event“ der Partei seit Jahren werden sollte. 5000 Teilnehmer waren aus dem ganzen Land gekommen und richteten ihre Blicke auf die Saalmitte, wo der Parteisprecher das Ereignis im Stil eines Boxkampfmoderators eröffnete, „von dem ihr noch euren Kindern und Enkeln erzählen werdet“. Dann war die Bühne frei für den Hauptredner.

Donald Tusk eröffnete eine Art Vorwahlkampf; von 2007 bis 2014 war er Polens Ministerpräsident und damit der am längsten amtierende Regierungschef nach dem Ende der Diktatur. Anschließend war Tusk EU-Ratspräsident und EVP-Chef. Parlamentswahlen sind zwar erst im Herbst nächsten Jahres. Aber die Parteien trommeln bereits, als werde in drei Monaten gewählt. Außerdem weiß man bei der rechten PiS, der von Tusks Intimfeind Jarosław Kaczyński geführten Regierungspartei, nie so genau, ob sie nicht doch vorzeitige Wahlen aus dem Hut zaubert. » | Gerhard Gnauck, Politischer Korrespondent für Polen, die Ukraine, Estland, Lettland und Litauen mit Sitz in Warschau. | Sonntag, 3. Juli 2022

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Tusk ruft zu Protest in Warschau auf

NACH UMSTRITTENEM URTEIL
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Nachdem das polnische Verfassungsgericht nationalem Recht den Vorrang vor EU-Recht gegeben hat, ruft Oppositionsführer Donald Tusk zum Protest auf. „Nur gemeinsam können wir sie stoppen“, schreibt Tusk auf Twitter.

Der frühere EU-Ratspräsident und polnische Oppositionsführer Donald Tusk hat zu Protesten gegen ein umstrittenes Urteil des Verfassungsgerichts seines Landes aufgerufen. „Ich rufe alle, die ein europäisches Polen verteidigen wollen, dazu auf, am Sonntag um 18 Uhr auf den Schlossplatz in Warschau zu kommen“, schrieb er am Donnerstagabend auf Twitter. „Nur gemeinsam können wir sie stoppen.“ Tusk ist kommissarischer Vorsitzender von Polens größter Oppositionspartei, der liberalkonservativen Bürgerplattform. » | Quelle: dpa | Freitag, 8. Oktober 2021

Former EU Chief Donald Tusk Stages Comeback in Poland | DW News

Jul 3, 2021 • The former resident of the European Council, Donald Tusk, is staging a political comeback in his homeland Poland.

Tusk is taking over as leader of the main opposition party, the liberal Civic Platform. He wants to challenge Jaroslaw Kaczynski of the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party, in elections in two years' time. The government has clashed with Brussels over law reforms, and LGBTQ and women's rights.

Pologne : l’ancien président du Conseil européen Donald Tusk prend la tête du principal parti d’opposition

LE MONDE : Agé de 64 ans, Donald Tusk reprend les rênes du parti de centre droit qu’il avait cofondé en 2001, après avoir été premier ministre de son pays entre 2007 et 2014.

Donald Tusk est de retour sur le devant de la scène politique polonaise. L’ex-président du Conseil européen est devenu, samedi 3 juillet, le chef du parti d’opposition Plate-forme civique (PO) en Pologne. Après la démission du président du parti, Borys Budka, « les tâches de président de la PO sont assumées par Donald Tusk », a déclaré le porte-parole Jan Grabiec, à l’issue d’une réunion du conseil national du parti. M. Tusk élu vice-président du parti, ce qui signifie qu’il assume les fonctions de président jusqu’à une élection formelle à ce poste prévue plus tard cette année.

Agé de 64 ans, Donald Tusk reprend les rênes du parti de centre droit qu’il avait cofondé en 2001, après avoir été premier ministre de son pays entre 2007 et 2014 et président du Conseil européen entre 2014 et 2019. Durant cette dernière période, il a dû participer à la gestion de la crise des migrants, de la situation économique de la Grèce et des difficiles négociations du Brexit. » | Le Monde avec AFP | samedi 3 juillet 2021

Nicola Sturgeon: Independence Best for Scotland Post-Brexit

Scotland's first minister urges supporters of Scottish independence to build and win the political case for it rather than rushing to hold a referendum.

Boris Johnson recently rejected Sturgeon’s request for the legal powers to hold a second referendum, but the Scottish National party leader said independence was the only way for the country to maintain its parliamentary sovereignty and connection to the EU Sturgeon calls for unity and focus in push for Scottish independence

'Empathy' for Independent Scotland Joining the EU Says Tusk

Former European Council president Donald Tusk says Brussels feels "empathy" towards an independent Scotland joining the European Union.

Tusk: EU would be enthusiastic if Scotland applied to rejoin »

Brexit Is One of Most Spectacular Mistakes in EU History, Says Tusk

THE GUARDIAN: Exclusive: Donald Tusk says it would still be better for both sides if UK stayed in EU

Brexit has been “one of the most spectacular mistakes” in the history of the EU and followed a campaign marked by “an unprecedented readiness to lie”, Donald Tusk has said.

In his first interview since standing down as European council president last week, Tusk said Brexit was “the most painful and saddest experience” of his five years in office, a tumultuous period marked by the Greek eurozone crisis, bitter rows over migration and the election of Donald Trump.

He also criticised the French president, Emmanuel Macron, for branding Nato “brain-dead” and refusing to open EU membership talks with North Macedonia and Albania. » | Jennifer Rankin in Brussels | Thursday, December 5, 2019

Donald Tusk Urges British Voters Not to 'Give Up' on Stopping Brexit

Outgoing European Council President Donald Tusk has urged British voters not to "give up" on stopping Brexit.

As campaigning ramps up ahead of next month's general election, he warned that leaving the EU would leave the UK a "second-rate player".

In a speech, he also said Brexit would likely mark the "real end of the British Empire".


Read the Telegraph article here »[£]

Hear! Hear! – Mark

'Reckless, Dangerous, Pathetic': Key Players React to No 10 Briefing

THE GUARDIAN: Leaders on both sides of Channel react angrily to suggestion Brexit deal looks impossible

A No 10 source who said the German chancellor Angela Merkel’s demands for Northern Ireland after Brexit had made a deal “essentially impossible” has sparked furious exchanges on social media between prominent politicians.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, criticised Johnson directly, tweeting it was not about “winning some stupid blame game”. » | Martin Belam | Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Donald Tusk Rejects Boris Johnson Request to Remove Backstop

THE GUARDIAN: European council president says call for removal without alternative proposal signals support for hard border

Donald Tusk has rejected Boris Johnson’s request to strip the backstop out of the Brexit deal, with a thinly-veiled message that the British government was refusing to admit the lack of realistic alternatives.

Tusk, the president of the European council, issued the EU’s first official response, after Johnson published his letter on Monday night, calling for the “undemocratic” backstop to be scrapped.

The EU response underscores the stalemate over the backstop, a policy intended to avoid the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland. The UK government agreed the backstop under Theresa May, but hardline Brexiters have long called for it to be scrapped or subject to a time limit.

Tusk wrote: “The backstop is an insurance to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland unless and until an alternative is found. Those against the backstop and not proposing realistic alternatives in fact support re-establishing a border. Even if they do not admit it.” » | Jennifer Rankin in Brussels | Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Donald Tusk: Johnson May Make Brexit More Exciting, But We Won't Budge

THE GUARDIAN: EU chief says member states are united in rejecting further talks on the withdrawal deal

Brexit may become “even more exciting” when Boris Johnson is in Downing Street but the deal will not change, Donald Tusk has said, as the EU readied itself for a new British prime minister.

An offer to listen to the ideas of whoever replaces Theresa May came with a warning from the European council president and fellow leaders that the withdrawal agreement was final.

“Maybe the process of Brexit will be even more exciting than before because of some personnel decisions in London, but nothing has changed when it comes to our position,” he said. » | Daniel Boffey and Jennifer Rankin in Brussels | Friday, June 21, 2019

Donald Tusk: Chance of Brexit Being Cancelled Could Be 30%

THE GUARDIAN: EU chief says good reason to believe leave vote could be reversed in second referendum

The chances of the UK staying in the EU are as high as 30% as the country would be likely to reject Brexit in a second referendum, the president of the European council, Donald Tusk, has said.

The bloc’s most senior official claimed the British public had only truly debated Brexit after the 2016 referendum and there was significant reason to believe the leave vote could be reversed.

Describing the decision by the former British prime minister, David Cameron, to call the vote as a political miscalculation, Tusk said he would expect a different result in a vote today given what had been learned about the consequences of leaving.

“The referendum was at the worst possible moment, it is the result of a wrong political calculation,” Tusk said in an interview with the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza (GW) that was shared with the Guardian as part of the Europa collaboration of six European newspapers.

“A real debate about the consequences of Brexit wasn’t had during the referendum campaign, but only after the vote. Today the result would probably look different. Paradoxically, Brexit awoke in Great Britain a pro-European movement.” » | Daniel Boffey in Brussels | Friday, May 10, 2019