Poland has a new Prime Minister: Former EU Council President Tusk and his cabinet were sworn in by President Duda in Warsaw. Parliament had previously expressed its confidence in the pro-European government.
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda has sworn in the new head of government Donald Tusk. Both politicians signed a certificate of appointment for Tusk’s cabinet in the Warsaw Presidential Palace. “This is an important moment for Poland. I want to congratulate you on winning the political process,” Duda said after the ceremony. Almost two months after the parliamentary elections, the change of power has been completed.
On Tuesday evening, MPs expressed their confidence in Tusk’s government. The 66-year-old won a vote of confidence in parliament. He and his cabinet received 248 out of 449 votes, while 201 members of the Sejm voted against it.
Formation of government long delayed
The three-way alliance made up of Tusk’s liberal-conservative Citizens’ Coalition, the Christian-conservative Third Way and the left-wing alliance Lewica won a governing majority in the parliamentary elections on October 15th. However, the previous national-conservative PiS government had long delayed the change of power with the help of Duda.
The president, who himself comes from the ranks of the PiS, initially commissioned the former prime minister and PiS politician Mateusz Morawiecki to form a government, even though the party did not have a majority in parliament. As expected, Morawiecki failed in the confidence vote on Monday. Only then was the path clear for Tusk.
Pro-European course
In his government statement on Tuesday, Tusk called for adherence to the values of democracy and the rule of law and announced good cooperation between his country and the EU. “What really shapes a community is the rule of law, the constitution, the rules of democracy, secure borders and a safe territory – these are the things we cannot argue about,” he said. Poland must become a leader in the EU through good cooperation. “The stronger the European Community is, the stronger we are, the more sovereign we are.”
Tusk promised that he would ensure that the frozen billions from the Corona aid fund were released. He also emphasized that Poland would work within the EU and NATO to provide further support for Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia. Tusk was Prime Minister from 2007 to 2014 and President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019.