Poland: Donald Tusk elected prime minister by parliament
Tusk had previously presented his coalition's government programme in the Sejm in Warsaw and emphasized the importance of a strong EU for his country. "We are all the stronger, all the more sovereign, not only when Poland is stronger - but also when the European Union is stronger," Tusk told the MPs. Tusk also called for resolute support for Ukraine against the Russian war of aggression.
In the Polish parliamentary elections in October, the right-wing nationalist PiS party under Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki received the most votes, but was unable to gain partners for a government majority. Tusk's liberal-conservative Civic Coalition and its two coalition partners, on the other hand, have a clear parliamentary majority.
Shortly after the vote, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) congratulated her new Polish colleague Radoslaw Sikorski on his election. "I look forward to working closely with you and to a new beginning in German-Polish relations," Baerbock wrote on the online service X, formerly Twitter. Sikorski had already been Foreign Minister in Tusk's first government.
Tusk was already Polish head of government from 2007 to 2014 and EU Council President from 2014 to 2019. Tusk's pro-European rhetoric clearly distinguishes him from the previous PiS government, which has been at loggerheads with Brussels for years.
In his speech on Tuesday, Tusk called for a "full mobilization" of the "free world and the West" for Ukraine in its war against the Russian invasion. "There is no alternative", said Tusk.
Tusk also promised a solution to the truck dispute on the Polish-Ukrainian border. His coalition had "found a way to meet the needs of Polish truck drivers as quickly as possible and to open the border immediately", said Tusk.
Polish transport companies have been blocking several important border crossings to Ukraine since the beginning of November. The hauliers are complaining of "unfair competition" from Ukrainian companies after the EU suspended a number of conditions for border transportation due to the Russian attack on Ukraine. The blockade brought freight traffic between the two countries to a temporary standstill.
Despite the opposition's electoral success, President Duda, who is close to the PiS, initially tasked Morawiecki with forming the government, thus securing the PiS two more months in power. Among other things, the party used this time to appoint two of its former ministers to head state financial institutions and to appoint new public prosecutors.
Since the election on October 15, President Duda has also appointed around 150 new judges, who were selected by a committee that the EU criticizes for its dependence on the PiS. The PiS's influence on the state media, which has become the mouthpiece of the government in recent years, will also continue to have an impact for a long time to come.
Read also:
- This will change in December
- German activists speak out in Dubai on suffering in Israel and the Gaza Strip
- Nuclear fusion - hype or solution to energy problems?
- Budget crisis fuels debate on citizen's income - Bas warns against populism
Source: www.stern.de
