Donald Tusk - President of the European Council: biography, family, career

Donald Tusk, who was born on April 22, 1957 in Gdansk, is a Polish politician who occupies the chair of the European Council, starting August 30, 2014. Prior to joining this post, he was from 2003 to 2014. Was chairman of the liberal-conservative party "Civil Platform" (Polish Platforma Obywatelska, abbreviated PO), and also from 2007 to 2014. - Prime Minister of Poland.

A family

The ancestors of Donald Tusk, both on the paternal and maternal lines, are Kashubians by nationality. This small people lives in the northern part of Poland along the coast of the Baltic Sea, including in the vicinity of the city of Gdansk. They survived World War II, during which they were sent to forced labor, and also held in custody in the Nazi concentration camps Stutthof and Neuengamme. On August 2, 1944, Józef Tusk, the grandfather of Donald Tusk, was drafted into the Wehrmacht, as he had German citizenship, which was automatically granted to the inhabitants of Danzig after the Nazi occupation. He probably deserted, because already three months later, on November 24, 1944, he was in the ranks of the Polish Corps, who fought against the fascists on the western front.

In 2005, during the presidential elections in Poland, political opponents from the Law and Justice Party tried to use Tusk's short stay in the ranks of the German army and, in connection with this fact, blamed himself for lack of patriotism.

Donald is married and together with his wife, Malgotzha, 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 one economic adventure. His daughter Katarzyna sometimes appears on television. She participated in the Polish version of the program "Dancing with the Stars", and also wrote articles for one of the fashion-related Internet sites. Currently, Tusk lives in the resort town of Sopot, located not far from 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 workers' demonstration in 1970 was a key moment in 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 at the Faculty of History of the University of Gdansk, in the late 1970s he became one of the founders of the local student committee of Solidarity. His creation was a response to the murder of a member of the working human rights organization responsible for which the opposition felt 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 his thesis, the theme of which was myths and legends concerning the personality of Józef Piłsudski.

Carier start

Donald Tusk, whose biography had not had particularly acute moments before, began to work as a journalist in the weekly Samorządność ("Self-organization") a few months after the August strike of 1980 and was elected chairman of the working committee of the Solidarity cell in his publishing house. After the introduction of the 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 cooperative "Svetlik" (Świetlik), created by Gdańsk oppositionists, where he performed hazardous high-altitude work under the leadership of Maciej Plazhinsky.

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 Seimas, the Polish parliament. In 1992, his party supported a no-confidence motion against then-Prime Minister Jan Olszewski, and then the minority government under Olszewski's successor, Hannah Sukhotsky. In 1993, the parliament was dissolved ahead of schedule, and during the subsequent elections, the "Liberal Democratic Congress" failed to overcome the five percent barrier. After the lost vote, a decision was made to merge with the "Democratic Union" party, similar to the political program, led by former Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki. The resulting political alliance was called the "Union of Freedom." After losing in 2000 the struggle for the presidency of the party Bronislava Geremek, Tusk left the Freedom Union and in early 2001, together with Andrzej Olechowski and Maciej Plazhinski, founded a new political association known as the Civic Platform party.

Tusk as far back as 1997 had more than 230,000 votes in elections to the Polish Senate from Gdansk. He was a deputy of the Sejm, he was his vice-chairman from 2001 to 2005, and before that (from 1997 to 2001) - deputy chairman. From 2003 to 2006, Tusk represented the "Civil Platform" in the parliament as the head of the faction. In addition, from 2003 to 2014, he also served as chairman of the party.

Presidential Election 2005

In the presidential election on 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 50% for the victory. On October 23, 2005, in the second round of elections, Donald Tusk fought against the mayor of Warsaw Lech Kaczynski, who previously received 33.1%. Kaczynski won with a ratio of 53.5% against 46.5.

Parliamentary elections in 2007

After the collapse of the former government coalition under the leadership of the "Law and Justice" party, it became necessary to hold early parliamentary elections on October 21, 2007. As a result, the Civic Platform Party won 41.51% of the vote, while Law and Justice, which was headed by the Prime Minister and the President's brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, managed to get only 32%. The "civil platform" in the Sejm merged with the moderately conservative "Polish People's Party", mainly representing the interests of farmers. The educated alliance received a parliamentary majority - 240 out of 460 deputies. The parties agreed to form a coalition immediately after winning the election.

Beginning on November 16, 2007, Tusk led the Polish government, while serving as prime minister. In his first speech as head of government, on November 23, 2007, he stated the need for early ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and the introduction of a single European currency in Poland. In addition, he advocated the improvement of relations with Germany, which under his predecessor Kaczynski were rather tense. Tusk called for 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 parliamentary elections of 2011

At the October 9, 2011 elections to the Seimas, the Civic Platform party received 39.2% of the vote. Thanks to this "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, who received one seat, 235 deputies out of 460 are obtained. For the first time since the formation of the so-called Third Polish Republic, the government has support in parliament.

September 9, 2014 in the European Council there were changes: his head Herman Van Rompuy left and Donald Tusk was appointed in his place. The President of the European Council assumed his new position on December 1, 2014. After that, Tusk served as prime minister until September 22, 2014, until he was replaced by Eva Kopach, former speaker of the Polish parliament.

Donald Tusk about Russia

To Russia as a whole it is as it is today accepted in the European Union. He is a supporter of sanctions against Russia, although he considers them ineffective. He stands for the creation of a European energy union to combat the monopoly of Russia in this sphere, but this initiative has not yet been approved. Like many European politicians, Tusk believes that Russian troops participate in the fighting on the territory of the Donbass and calls for resolute but reasonable counteraction.

Scandal with wiretapping

After sensational revelations, obtained as a result of illegal listening to the conversations of various members of the Cabinet, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski called on the government to resign. Tusk agreed to hold early elections, although at first he rejected the opposition's demands for resignation. On June 25, 2014, he put the issue of confidence in the government to vote in the Saeima. As a result, 237 out of 440 deputies voted for the government, 203 - against.