Donald Tusk returned to Polish politics promising to defeat the “evil” ruling party

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Former prime minister Donald Tusk has announced his return to domestic Polish politics, seven years after leaving to become president of the European Council.

Tusk has now taken over as acting leader of the centrist Civic Platform (PO), the party he founded 20 years ago but since he left for Brussels in 2014, has lost six consecutive elections to the ruling national -conservative Law and Justice (PiS) led by Jarosaw Kaczyski.

Speaking at a PO national council meeting today, Tusk confirmed recent speculation about his imminent return, declaring that he would “return 100%” and intend to “win the battle for the future against PiS” .

“Now, the bad rules in Poland, and we will go out to the farm to fight this evil,” the 64-year-old declared. “The evil that PiS has done is apparent, shameless and permanent. It happens every day in every thing.”

At the meeting, the former party leader, Borys Budka, who held the position for just 17 months, submitted his resignation. He said that “he puts the future of the country and the future of the PO beyond my own ambitions”, telling Tusk: “I want you to lead us to success.”

The council elected both Tusk and Budka as deputy party leaders, but in the former held the role as the corresponding leader. PO spokesman Jan Grabiec said 201 council members voted for Tusk to become deputy leader, with no vote against.

Katarzyna Lubnauer – leader of the liberal Modern (Nowoczesna) party, who is a junior partner in the PO -led Civic Coalition (KO) caucus – welcomed Tusk’s return, saying she was “good at mobilizing elections seeing the destructive behavior of PiS ”.

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Amid PO’s struggles in recent years, the potential return of Tusk – who served as prime minister from 2007 to 2014 – has been regularly mooted. In 2019, he was rumored to be standing as PO’s candidate in the 2020 presidential election.

But, in polls indicating that Tusk was unpopular with a large section of the public, he later announced that he was “burdened with [too much] baggage will be returned ”. Instead, PO settled with Warsaw mayor Rafa Trzaskowski as its candidate. He finished a close second in the election to PiS backed by incumbent Andrzej Duda.

A number of recent media reports have indicated that Trzaskowski is opposed to Tusk’s return, and he owns ambitions to take over from Budka. After today’s council meeting, Trzaskowski refused to answer reporters ’questions, but later tweeted a greeting to Tusk.

. @donaldtusk chairman @Platforma_org congratulations!

– Rafa Trzaskowski (@trzaskowski_) July 3, 2021

Top figures from PiS reacted with mixed rejection and contempt at the return of their former rival. “Who is Tusk?” joke by Ryszard Terlecki, the head of PiS’s parliamentary caucus, when asked about today’s developments. “He’s a serious rival, but much less so [now]. “

“Mr. Tusk’s emotional state is quite disturbing,” tweeted deputy prime minister Piotr Gliski. “The person who fled to Poland, who was stolen by the VAT mafia [under his rule], to earn 70,000 zlotys a month [in Brussels] talking now about theft [by PiS]. “

Kaczyski himself, in an interview with Gazeta Polska published yesterday, claimed that Tusk would return only because he had no “other choice” given to his struggles in his current role as president of the European People’s Party (EPP), the largest grouping in the European Parliament.

The PiS chairman suggested that Tusk’s position as EPP president was undermined by his “known lack of interest in hard work” and by his “German cent”. PiS has often accused Tusk and PO of caring more about Germany’s interests than Poland’s.

‘Does Gdask want to be part of Germany?’ asked the weekly Sieci who linked PiS to a cover featuring the city’s mayor, his murdered predecessor and @donaldtusk with the Nazi image.

The city, a stronghold of the opposition, is said to be ‘fighting Poland’ and ‘cultivating’ German roots pic.twitter.com/OsMivlkwcZ

– Notes from Poland (@notesfrompoland) June 30, 2019

Tusk’s return comes amid a period of turmoil in both the ruling PiS coalition and the opposition. PO’s ambition to form a united opposition with the parties from left to right is fading. It reached the polls as the most popular opposition party of a newly formed centrist rival, Poland 2050 (Polska 2050).

Meanwhile, PiS recently lost a majority in parliament following the resignation of three MPs. While in practice it can still garner the majority in the support of MPs from outside its caucus, PiS has also faced growing tension with its junior coalition partners, the Treaty (Porozumienie) and United Poland (Solidarna Polska).

Kaczyski himself spoke recently about the possible need for early elections. Some rumors have also suggested that opposition parties, perhaps in support of the Agreement, may seek to form an alternate government.

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A number of commentators and figures from other opposition parties noted that the tone and content of Tusk’s speech today – which focused on the PiS attack and contained little through an alternative vision – suggested that the PO will continue on the same path that has not been successfully pursued since 2015.

“As we know from the experience of the past five elections, [being only] The anti-PiS did not win against the PiS, “tweeted Anna-Maria ukowska, a senior MP from The Left (Lewica), the second largest opposition group.” Tusk’s return wastes any chance of defeating the PiS. “

“Tusk’s speech suggests maintaining the current PO line,” tweeted Tomasz Sawczuk of Liberal Culture weekly. “[But] changes the dominant emotion: the main message [is that] more strength and self -confidence are needed. ”

“Tusk’s speech was the greatest scene of hatred in Polish history, and perhaps in European, politics,” Stanisaw Janecki wrote for the PiS -linked news website wPolityce. “No suggestions for the future, nothing positive, just 100% hate.”

. @St_Janecki: The @donaldtusk exhibition is the biggest hate show in Polish history, and perhaps in European politics https://t.co/In5edVwkmt

– wPolityce.pl (@wPolityce_pl) July 3, 2021

Main image credit: Slawomir Kaminski / Agencja Gazeta

Daniel Tilles is a chief editor of Notes from Poland. He writes about matters in Poland for a wide range of publications, including Policy Abroad, POLITICO Europe, EUobserverandDziennik Gazeta Prawna.

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