Donald Tusk, who was born in Gdansk on April 22, 1957, is a Polish politician who has been chairing the European Council since August 30, 2014. Prior to joining this post, he was from 2003 to 2014. was chairman of the liberal-conservative party "Civic Platform" (Polish. Platforma Obywatelska, abbreviated PO), as well as from 2007 to 2014. - Prime Minister of Poland.
A family
The ancestors of Donald Tusk, both paternal and maternal, are kashubs. This small nation lives in the northern part of Poland along the Baltic Sea, including in the area of the city of Gdansk. They survived the Second World War, during which they were sent to forced labor, and were also imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camps Stutthof and Neuengamme. On August 2, 1944, Jozef Tusk, Donald Tusk’s grandfather, was called up to the Wehrmacht because he had German citizenship, which was automatically granted to the inhabitants of Danzig after Hitler’s occupation. He probably defected, since already three months later, on November 24, 1944, he was in the ranks of the Polish Corps, who fought against the Nazis on the western front.
In 2005, during the presidential election in Poland, political opponents from the Law and Justice party tried to use his grandfather’s short presence in the German army against Tusk and accused him of lack of patriotism in connection with this fact.
Donald is married and with his wife Malgozhata brings up a son and daughter. Mikhail Tusk, the son of Donald Tusk, among other things, worked as a journalist in the daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, and in 2012 was involved in an economic adventure. His daughter Katarzyna sometimes appears on television. She participated in the Polish version of the program "Dancing with the Stars", and also writes articles for one of the fashion websites. Currently, Tusk lives in the spa town of Sopot, located near Gdansk.
He is fluent in German and English.
Anti-communist activity
Donald Tusk's father was a carpenter and died in 1972. The dispersal of the 1970 workers’demonstration was the key to shaping Tusk’s political views. He began to actively participate in the activities of the opposition against the communist regime of Poland. As a student in the history department of the University of Gdansk, in the late 1970s he became one of the founders of the local student committee of Solidarity. Its creation was a response to the murder of a member of the labor human rights organization, for which the opposition considered the Polish state security service. In addition, Tusk took part in the activities of the opposition Free Trade Unions of the Coastal Region. In 1980, he also became one of the co-founders of the Independent Student Union. In 1980, Donald Tusk completed his studies, defending a thesis, the theme of which was myths and legends regarding the personality of Jozef Pilsudski.
Carier start
Donald Tusk, whose biography before had no particularly acute moments, a few months after the August 1980 strike, began working as a journalist in the weekly Samorządność ("Self-organization") and was elected chairman of the working committee of the Solidarity cell in his publishing house. After the introduction of martial law in 1981, he was dismissed from this publishing house and received a ban on professional activities because of his opposition views. From 1984 to 1989, the future head of the European Council was a simple worker in the Светwietlik cooperative created by the Gdansk opposition, where he performed dangerous high-altitude work under the leadership of Maciej Plazzynski.
Party affairs
After the fall of communism, Donald Tusk, Jan Krzysztof Beletsky and Janusz Lewandowski in 1989 became the founder of the Liberal Democratic Congress. In 1991, Tusk was elected chairman of the party and first came to the Sejm, the Polish parliament. In 1992, his party supported a vote of no confidence against then Prime Minister Jan Olszewski, and then a minority government under Olszewski’s successor Hannah Sukhotska. In 1993, the parliament was dissolved ahead of schedule, and the Liberal Democratic Congress could not overcome the five percent barrier in the ensuing elections. After the lost vote, it was decided to merge with the Democratic Union party, similar in political program, led by former Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki. The resulting political alliance was called the Freedom Union. Having lost the struggle for party presidency to Bronislaw Geremek in 2000, Tusk left the Union of Freedom and in early 2001, together with Andrzej Olechowski and Maciej Plazzynski, founded a new political association, known as the Civic Platform Party.
Back in 1997, Tusk gained more than 230, 000 votes in the Polish Senate elections from Gdansk. As a deputy of the Sejm, from 2001 to 2005 he was its vice-chairman, and before that (from 1997 to 2001) - deputy chairman. From 2003 to 2006, Tusk represented the Civic Platform in Parliament as the leader of the faction. In addition, from 2003 to 2014, he was also the party chairman.
2005 Presidential Election
In the presidential election of October 9, 2005, in the first round of voting, Tusk received 36.3% of the vote. This was the best result among the candidates, but he did not score the required 50% to win. On October 23, 2005, in the second round of elections, Donald Tusk fought against the mayor of Warsaw, Lech Kaczynski, who had previously received 33.1%. Kaczynski won with a ratio of 53.5% against 46.5.
Legislative Election 2007
After the collapse of the former government coalition led by the Law and Justice party, it became necessary to hold early parliamentary elections on October 21, 2007. As a result, the Civic Platform party gained 41.51% of the vote, while Law and Justice, which was led by Prime Minister and President’s brother Jaroslav Kaczynski, managed to get only 32%. The Civic Platform in the Sejm has teamed up with the moderately conservative Polish People's Party, which mainly represents the interests of farmers. The educated alliance received a parliamentary majority - 240 out of 460 deputies. The parties agreed to create a coalition immediately after winning the election.
Starting November 16, 2007, Tusk led the Polish government as Prime Minister. In his first speech as head of government on November 23, 2007, he announced the need for the speediest possible ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and the introduction of a single European currency in Poland. In addition, he advocated improving relations with Germany, which under his predecessor Kaczynski were quite tense. Tusk advocated the revival of the Weimar Triangle - a close relationship between Warsaw, Paris and Berlin. Even during the election campaign before the parliamentary elections, Tusk relied on international cooperation.
After the 2011 parliamentary elections
In the October 9, 2011 elections to the Sejm, the Civic Platform party received 39.2% of the vote. Thanks to this, the "Civil Platform" in the parliament was represented by 206 deputies and was the strongest faction. Together with the Polish People's Party, as well as with the traditionally pro-government representation of the German-speaking minority, which received one seat, 235 out of 460 deputies are obtained. For the first time since the formation of the so-called Third Polish Republic, the government has support in parliament.
On September 9, 2014, changes took place in the European Council: its head Herman Van Rompuy left and Donald Tusk was appointed in his place. The President of the European Council took office on December 1, 2014. After that, Tusk served as Prime Minister until September 22, 2014, until Eva Kopacz, former speaker of the Polish Parliament, was elected in his place.
Donald Tusk about Russia
It relates to Russia as a whole, as is customary today in the European Union. He is a supporter of sanctions against Russia, although he considers them ineffective. He advocates the creation of a European energy union to combat Russia's monopoly in this area, but this initiative has not yet been approved. Like many European politicians, Tusk believes that Russian troops are participating in battles in the territory of Donbass and calls for a decisive but reasonable opposition.
