Donald Tusk

Donald Tusk
Prime Minister of Poland
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 November 2007
President	Lech Kaczyński Bronisław Komorowski (Acting)
Deputy	Waldemar Pawlak
Preceded by	Jarosław Kaczyński
Vice Marshal of the Sejm
In office 19 October 2001 – 18 October 2005 Serving with Andrzej Lepper Tomasz Nałęcz Kazimierz Michał Ujazdowski Janusz Wojciechowski Józef Zych
Preceded by	Marek Borowski Jan Król Franciszek Stefaniuk Stanisław Zając
Succeeded by	Janusz Dobrosz Jarosław Kalinowski Bronisław Komorowski Wojciech Olejniczak Andrzej Lepper Genowefa Wiśniowska Marek Kotlinowski
Vice Marshal of the Senate
In office 21 October 1997 – 18 October 2001 Serving with Andrzej Chronowski Tadeusz Rzemykowski Marcin Tyrna
Preceded by	Ryszard Czarny Stefan Jurczak Zofia Kuratowska Grzegorz Kurczuk
Succeeded by	Jolanta Danielak Ryszard Jarzembowski Kazimierz Kutz
Personal details
Born	(1957-04-22) 22 April 1957 Gdańsk, Poland
Political party	Civic Platform
Spouse	Małgorzata Tusk
Alma mater	University of Gdańsk
Profession	Historian
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Donald Franciszek Tusk [ˈdɔnalt franˈt͡ɕiʂɛk ˈtusk] (born April 22, 1957, Gdańsk) is a centre-right Polish politician, co-founder and chairman of the Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska), and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland.

Tusk was officially designated as Prime Minister on November 9, 2007 and took office on November 16. His cabinet won the vote of confidence in the Sejm on November 24, 2007.

Politics

Tusk was one of several vice-speakers of the Sejm (2001-2005), the lower house of the Polish parliament. Prior to co-founding Civic Platform in 2001, he was a prominent member of the Liberal Democratic Congress (Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny) and the Freedom Union (Unia Wolności). He quit the Freedom Union after he failed to win the party's chairmanship in a race against Bronisław Geremek.

Tusk's political position combines strong support of a free market economy with little government interference. Tusk has been a member of the Sejm since 2004.

Tusk represented the constituencies of Gdynia-Słupsk (2001-2005) and Gdańsk (2005-2007). As of 2007 he is MP for Warsaw. The Civic Platform nominated him as their candidate for the Polish presidential election, 2005. He was defeated in the second round by a margin of 46:54 by Lech Kaczyński.

Prime Minister

Donald Tusk (right) being appointed as Prime Minister by the late President Lech Kaczyński on November 9, 2007

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, appointed 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.

Domestic, European and foreign 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, and luring foreign-working Poles back to Poland. The construction of a more adequate and larger national road network in preparation for the UEFA 2012 football championships has been a stated priority for the Tusk government. In continental policy, Tusk has strongly supported greater political and economic integration within the European Union, 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."

In foreign policy, Tusk has sought to improve relations damaged during the previous Kaczyński government, particularly with Germany and Russia. While criticizing the words of German politician Erika Steinbach in regards 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.

In the first weeks of his premiership in November 2007, Tusk outlined in a speech to the Sejm the withdraw of Polish Army 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 withdraw in October 2008.

In regards to U.S. plans of hosting missile defense shield bases in the country, Tusk hinted skepticism in the project, saying that their presence could potentially increase security risks from Russia, rejecting 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…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

The Civic Platform (PO) and Polish People's Party (PSL) coalition cabinet of Prime Minister Tusk

Since being elected prime minister, relations between Tusk and President Lech Kaczyński have often been acrimonious due to different political ideologies and the constitutional role of the presidency. Using presidential veto powers, Kaczyński has blocked legislation drafted by the Tusk government, including pension reform, agricultural and urban zoning plans, and restructuring state television. Tusk and Kaczyński have 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 oppositon 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.

Controversies

On 27th October 2009, Tusk declared that he wants to partially delegalize 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 to not 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 oppostion members in the Sejm.

Awards

The Karlspreis of the city of Aachen will be awarded to Tusk on 13 May 2010 for his merits in the further unification of Europe.

Education

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 a MA thesis on Józef Piłsudski.

Family

Donald Tusk and his wife, Małgorzata, have two children, a son, Michał (b. 1982) and a daughter, Katarzyna (b. 1987). They reside in Sopot near Gdańsk.

Donald 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 was a Gdańsk sculptor, Bronisław Tusk (1935-2000). His grandfather Józef Tusk (1907-1987) was a railway official who (due to his Kashubian heritage) was compulsorily drafted by German Nazi authorities into the Wehrmacht on August 2, 1944. He deserted only a few months later to join the Polish Army in the West on November 24, 1944. Donald Tusk belongs to the Kashubian minority in Poland. In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in December 2008, Tusk compared his own family history with 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."

Electoral history

Polish presidential election, 2005 Template:Polish presidential election, 2005

Prime Minister of Poland (vote of confidence)

• Yes - 238
• No - 204
• Abstain - 2

See also

• Cabinet of Donald Tusk
• List of political parties in Poland
• List of politicians in Poland
• Politics of Poland
• Polish parliamentary election, 2005
• Polish parliamentary election, 2007

External links

• Civic Platform
• Template:Pl icon Prime Minister | Council of Ministers | The Chancellery of the Prime Minister
• Donald Tusk – the Implementation of the Polish dream