The former president of the European Council Donald Tusk could announce this Saturday his candidacy as head of the Polish opposition party Civic Platform (PO), which would mark his return to politics in his country.
The 64-year-old politician co-founded the PO twenty years ago and was his country’s prime minister between 2007 and 2014.
He currently holds the presidency of the European People’s Party (EPP) and frequently acts as a commentator on Polish politics.
“Donald Tusk will return,” Tomasz Siemoniak, vice president of the PO, declared on the eve of the party congress on Friday.
Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska, another deputy of the PO and vice-president of the Parliament, considered that the return of Tusk “would solve many of our problems” and was “the way that we all hope”.
Tusk, very fond of football and in his younger years almost a “fan”, in his words, grew up in the port city of Gdansk (north), where the Solidarity movement arose that faced the communist regime.
When he was President of the European Council, between 2014 and 2019, he managed crises such as that of migration and the economic situation in Greece, or the difficult Brexit negotiations.
Uncertainty reigned since the mayor of Warsaw, Rafal Trzaskowski, a finalist in last year’s presidential elections, declared that he was ready to assume the leadership of the party.
According to the media, Trzaskowski has backed down and will not oppose Tusk’s candidacy.
The PO ranks third in voting intention polls, behind the ruling Conservative Nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS) and the centrist opposition party Poland 2050.
The PiS has lost its narrow majority in Parliament and relations with the EU are deteriorating due to various issues, such as controversial judicial reforms.
Elections in Poland are scheduled for 2023, but commentators estimate that the ruling party could push them forward to avoid a vote of no confidence in parliament.
PiS also holds its congress on Saturday, which should confirm Jaroslaw Kaczynski at the helm.
The party is expected to approve the appointment of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, 53, as deputy leader, making him a likely heir to Kaczynski, 72.
A poll this week shows the PiS-dominated right-wing coalition leading with 34% support, followed by Poland 2050 with 17.1% and the PO with 16.9%.
dt / mas / sw / erl / dg
–
