It is expected that Tusk will try to resolve the knot of problems that have recently accumulated in the relations between Kyiv and Warsaw.
There is a big change in neighboring Poland. The eight-year rule of the Law and Justice party has come to an end. The new government was formed by a coalition of the liberal Civic Platform, the right-wing Polish Peasant Party, the Poland 2050 Party, and the New Left.
The new Prime Minister of Poland is probably the most experienced and titled Polish politician, Donald Tusk, who promises fundamental changes in the country. What changes can Ukraine expect?
Big return
For five years, Tusk was the head of the European Council, a kind of president of Europe.
Tusk first became the Prime Minister of Poland in 2007. In 2010, he was considered the favorite in the presidential elections – in the Polish system of power, this position has more status, but is less influential than the chief minister A few months before the election, Tusk unexpectedly announced that he “does not want to participate in the race for the presidential palace and glory, but will focus on the battle for the development of civilization.” Those elections were won by Tusk’s fellow party member Bronislaw Komorowski.
In 2014, Tusk replaced Warsaw with Brussels: in the summer of that year he was elected President of the European Council. This decision surprised even many of his colleagues.
The leader’s departure has a negative impact on his party. Already in 2015, power changed in Poland: first, in the presidential election, contrary to many forecasts, Bronislaw Komorowski lost to the unknown member of the European Parliament from the Law and Justice party Andrzej Duda. Later that year, Law and Justice won the parliamentary elections. In Poland, a period has begun that is generally considered the decline of democracy.
European meaningtion
Donald Tusk’s victory in the parliamentary elections in Poland was a significant event not only on the scale of his country. This is best demonstrated by his nomination for the title of the most influential person of the year in Europe from the influential publication Politico.
In the last eight years, Poland has become a reserve of traditional values with authoritarian tendencies: just look at the actual ban on abortion initiated by the authorities or the judicial reform, which made the justice system directly dependent on vertical power. The public media system in Poland has become a propaganda mouthpiece for Law and Justice. In recent years, discussions among pro-government politicians about Poland’s possible exit from the European Union have become common place.
“The winds of change are blowing again… Tusk’s result in the EU’s fifth largest country… showed that even in a broken system, it is possible to push back against entrenched populists on a platform of return to normalcy ,” Politico said in an editorial on Tusk.
Importance for Ukraine
Ukraine occupies a special place in Tusk’s political legacy. There is an opinion that it was within the bowels of the Tusk government that the concept of the Eastern Partnership was born – a format for bringing Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia and Armenia closer to the European Union. Poland and Prime Minister Tusk personally unequivocally supported Euromaidan and Kyiv’s subsequent European aspirations.
After Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine, Tusk used old contacts to boost aid to Kyiv from European countries and criticized the West for being too passive about the conflict.
“Ukraine has a chance to win this war, but it needs more support from Europe, and especially from its biggest and richest country, like Germany. And we are talking about not only symbolic support, warm words and awards, but also about weapons, ammunition, aircraft, tanks. There is no single reason for Germany, France or Italy to help Ukraine less than the United States, Poland or the countries Baltic,” he said in September 2022.
The symbol of Ukrainian-Polish relations today is the border between the two states, which is partially blocked by Polish carriers. Tusk announced that he considered solving this problem as one of his priorities and, even before the approval of his government, convened an interdepartmental group to deal with it.
Another good news for Ukraine is that the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs in the new Tusk government will be occupied by Radoslav Sikorski, who has a reputation in Kyiv as one of the staunchest supporters of Ukraine, and in Moscow as an inveterate Russophobe .
Tusk’s first big challenge as prime minister is foreign policy. President Andrzej Duda is expected to swear in the new government on December 13.
Immediately after that, Donald Tusk will fly to Brussels for the summit of the European Union, which will discuss the issues of providing financial assistance to Kyiv and the beginning of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.