Donald Tusk

Donald Tusk
Tusk in 2024
Prime Minister of Poland
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 December 2023
President	Andrzej Duda
Deputy	Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz Krzysztof Gawkowski
Preceded by	Mateusz Morawiecki
In office 16 November 2007 – 22 September 2014
President	Lech Kaczyński (2007–2010) Bronisław Komorowski (2010–2014)
Deputy	Waldemar Pawlak Grzegorz Schetyna Janusz Piechociński Jacek Rostowski Elżbieta Bieńkowska
Preceded by	Jarosław Kaczyński
Succeeded by	Ewa Kopacz
President of the European Council
In office 1 December 2014 – 30 November 2019
Preceded by	Herman Van Rompuy
Succeeded by	Charles Michel
Leader of the Civic Platform
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 July 2021
Preceded by	Borys Budka
In office 1 June 2003 – 8 November 2014
Preceded by	Maciej Płażyński
Succeeded by	Ewa Kopacz
President of the European People's Party
In office 1 December 2019 – 1 June 2022
Preceded by	Joseph Daul
Succeeded by	Manfred Weber
Deputy Marshal of the Sejm
In office 18 October 2001 – 18 October 2005 Serving with others
Marshal	Marek Borowski Józef Oleksy Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz
Preceded by	Jan Król
Succeeded by	Bronisław Komorowski
Deputy Marshal of the Senate
In office 20 October 1997 – 18 October 2001 Serving with others
Marshal	Alicja Grześkowiak
Preceded by	Zofia Kuratowska
Succeeded by	Kazimierz Kutz
Parliamentary offices Member of the Sejm Incumbent Assumed office 13 November 2023 Constituency Warsaw I In office 18 October 2001 – 23 September 2014 Constituency Warsaw I (2007-2014) Gdańsk (2005-2007) Gdynia (2001-2005) In office 25 November 1991 – 31 May 1993 Constituency Gdańsk Member of the Senate In office 20 October 1997 – 18 October 2001 Constituency Pomerania
Personal details
Born	Donald Franciszek Tusk (1957-04-22) 22 April 1957 (age 67) Gdańsk, Poland
Political party	Civic Platform (since 2001) Freedom Union (1994–2001) Liberal Democratic Congress (1990–1994)
Other political affiliations	Poland: Civic Coalition (since 2018) European Union: European People's Party (2014–2022)
Spouse	Małgorzata Sochacka ​ (m. 1978)​
Children	2
Education	University of Gdańsk
Awards	See list Order of the Sun of Peru Royal Norwegian Order of Merit Charlemagne Prize Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana National Order of Merit (Malta) Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise Order of the Star of Romania Order of the Rising Sun Presidential Order of Excellence
Signature

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Donald Franciszek Tusk^[a] (born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician and historian who has served as the prime minister of Poland since 2023, previously holding the office from 2007 to 2014. From 2014 to 2019 Tusk was President of the European Council, and from 2019 to 2022 he was the president of the European People's Party (EPP). He co-founded the Civic Platform (PO) party in 2001 and has been its longtime leader, first from 2003 to 2014 and again since 2021.

Tusk has been officially involved in Polish politics since 1989, having co-founded multiple political parties, such as the free market–oriented Liberal Democratic Congress party (KLD), and has held elected office almost continuously since 1991. He entered the Sejm in 1991, but lost his seat in 1993. In 1994, the KLD merged with the Democratic Union to form the Freedom Union. In 1997, Tusk was elected to the Senate, and became its deputy marshal. In 2001, he co-founded another centre-right liberal conservative party, the PO, and was again elected to the Sejm, becoming its deputy marshal.^[1] Tusk stood unsuccessfully for President of Poland in the 2005 election and would also suffer defeat in the 2005 Polish parliamentary election.

Leading the PO to victory at the 2007 parliamentary election, he was appointed prime minister, and scored a second victory in the 2011 election, becoming the first Polish prime minister to be re-elected since the fall of communism in 1989.^[2] In 2014, he left Polish politics to accept appointment as president of the European Council. The Civic Platform would lose control of both the presidency and parliament to the rival Law and Justice (PiS) party in the 2015 Polish parliamentary election and 2015 Polish presidential election. Tusk was President of the European Council until 2019; although initially remaining in Brussels as leader of the EPP, he later returned to Polish politics in 2021, becoming leader of the Civic Platform again. In the 2023 election, his Civic Coalition won 157 seats in the Sejm to become the second-largest bloc in the chamber. Following the President-appointed Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's failure to secure a vote of confidence on 11 December, Tusk was elected by the Sejm to become prime minister for a third time. His cabinet was sworn in on 13 December, ending eight years of government by the PiS party.^[3]

Having been the longest-serving prime minister of the Third Polish Republic, Tusk has overseen the reduction and digitization of the public sector, wishing to present himself as a pragmatic liberal realist and technocrat. In his first term, in the lead up to Euro 2012 co-organized by Poland, he invested strongly in infrastructure, expanding the highway network at the cost of reducing rail, which helped the Polish economy uniquely avoid the Great Recession. In the second term, various scandals, unfulfilled electoral promises and a cooling of the economy in 2012-2014 as a result of his European debt crisis-related austerity policies led to a drop of public support.^[4] In the landscape dominated by the PiS after its electoral victories, as an influential holdout he opposed what he considered its democratic backsliding. On this platform, he eventually returned to power and since then has focused on improving the rule of law, warming up relations between Poland and the EU. Tusk has aided Ukraine after the Russian invasion. In 2024, public opinion was surprised with his appropriation of right-wing themes, such as opposition to illegal migration prioritizing border security, going as far as to suspend the right of asylum for those who cross the Belarus-Poland border illegally.^[5]

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