Donald Tusk
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| Donald Franciszek Tusk | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 16 November 2007 |
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| President | Lech Kaczyński |
| Deputy | Waldemar Pawlak Grzegorz Schetyna |
| Preceded by | Jarosław Kaczyński |
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| In office 21 October 1997 – 18 October 2001 Served alongside: Tadeusz Rzemykowski Marcin Tyrna Andrzej Chronowski |
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| Preceded by | Ryszard Czarny Stefan Jurczak Zofia Kuratowska Grzegorz Kurczuk |
| Succeeded by | Jolanta Danielak Ryszard Jarzembowski Kazimierz Kutz |
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| In office 19 October 2001 – 18 October 2005 Served Alongside: Andrzej Lepper Tomasz Nałęcz Kazimierz Ujazdowski Janusz Wojciechowski Józef Zych |
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| Preceded by | Marek Borowski Jan Król Franciszek Stefaniuk Stanisław Zając |
| Succeeded by | Janusz Dobrosz Jarosław Kalinowski Bronisław Komorowski Wojciech Olejniczak Andrzej Lepper Genowefa Wiśniowska Marek Kotlinowski |
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| Born | 22 April 1957 Gdańsk, Poland |
| Political party | PO |
| Spouse | Małgorzata Tusk |
| Profession | Historian |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Donald Franciszek Tusk (pronounced [ˈdɔnalt franˈtɕiʃɛk ˈtusk], born 22 April 1957, Gdańsk) is a conservative-liberal Polish politician, co-founder and chairman of the Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska), and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland.
Tusk was officially designated the Prime Minister on November 9 and took office on November 16. He couldn't be certified as Prime Minister as soon as possible, since the brother of leader of the opposition, President Lech Kaczyński, couldn't agree with his brother's loss. His cabinet won the vote of confidence in the Sejm on November 24, 2007.
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[edit] Politics
Tusk was one of several vice-speakers of the Sejm (2001-2005), the lower house of the Polish parliament. Prior to co-founding Civic Platform in 2001, he was a prominent member of the Liberal Democratic Congress (Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny) and the Freedom Union (Unia Wolności). He quit the Freedom Union after he failed to win the party's chairmanship in a race against Bronisław Geremek.
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Tusk's political position combines strong support of a free market economy with little government interference, with conservatism. Tusk has been a member of the Sejm since 2004.
Tusk represented the constituencies of Gdynia-Słupsk (2001-2005) and Gdańsk (2005-2007). As of 2007 he is MP for Warsaw. In 2005, the Civic Platform nominated him as their candidate for the 2005 presidential election. He was defeated in the second round by a margin of 46:54 by Lech Kaczyński.
[edit] Biography
[edit] Education
Tusk graduated from the Mikołaj Kopernik (Nicolaus Copernicus) High School in Gdansk in 1976. He then enrolled as a student of history at the University of Gdansk, from which he graduated in 1980 with an MA thesis on Józef Piłsudski.
[edit] Oppositional activity in the People's Republic of Poland (PRL)
Early on he engaged in oppositional activity against the communist regime. As a student of history at the University of Gdansk he participated in creating the Student Committee of Solidarity, which was founded in reaction to the murder of Stanislaw Pyjas by the Security Service (communist secret police) in Krakow. He also cooperated with Bogdan Borusewicz, one of the leaders of Polish Solidarity. He was the originator and one of the first leaders of the Independent Polish Students' Association (laster NZS). Several months later he became the head of "Solidarity" at Sea Publishing House. He was thrown out of the state firm due to his oppositional activity. Tusk engaged in collaborative efforts for seven years with Maciej Plazynski.
[edit] Political activity after the fall of communism
Donald Tusk was one of the founders of Liberal Democratic Congress (Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny). In 1991 he became the chairman of the KLD, which in the autumn elections won 37 mandates in the lower house. Tusk became one of the members of the Polish Parliament.
During a government crisis in 1992, when the Minister of Internal Matters Antoni Macierewicz unveiled secret collaborators of communist Służba Bezpieczeństwa, Tusk supported a vote of no-confidence against the Olszewski's government. His, and seven other parties appointed Hanna Suchocka as prime minister of Poland.
After the fall of Hanna Suchocka's government in 1993, his party did not cross the 5 percent threshold necessary to enter parliament. In April 1994 Tusk became one of the vice-chairmen of the Freedom Union (Unia Wolnosci), formed by a merger of the KLD with the Democratic Union. He became a senator in 1997 and supported Jerzy Buzek's coalition. In 2000, after losing the chairmanship of the Union of Freedom to Bronisław Geremek, he resigned from the party.
On January 24, 2001, together with Andrzej Olechowski and Maciej Płażyński, he founded the Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska). Plazynski became the party chairman. In 2001 PO received 65 mandates in the lower house, becoming the largest oppositional party. On June 1, 2003 Tusk assumed the position of party chairman, which he holds presently.
Donald Tusk lost the presidential elections in 2005 to Lech Kaczyński. After the elections he remained chairman of his party.
In the 2007 parliamentary elections, he got more than 534,000 votes, which is the best individual result in the electoral history of the Third Polish Republic. His Civic Platform won the elections with 41% of the votes. Tusk was officially designated Prime Minister on November 9 and took office on November 16. His cabinet won the vote of confidence in the Sejm on November 24, 2007.
[edit] Family
Donald Tusk and his wife, Małgorzata, have two children, a son, Michał (b. 1982) and a daughter, Katarzyna (b. 1987). They reside in Sopot.
Donald Tusk's father, also named Donald Tusk (1930-1972), was a carpenter. His uncle was a Gdańsk sculptor, Bronisław Tusk (1935-2000). His grandfather, Józef Tusk (1907-1987) was a Polish railway official who, during World War II, served as a soldier in the Polish Army in the West, though he was compulsorily drafted into the Wehrmacht[1]
Donald Tusk belongs to the Kashubian minority.
Editors of Newseek Polska revealed that he has been smoking marijuana when he was a student[2].
[edit] Electoral history
Polish presidential election, 2005
| Candidates and nominating parties | Votes 1st round | % | Votes 2nd round | % |
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| Lech Kaczyński - Law and Justice | 4,947,927 | 33.1 | 8,257,468 | 54.04 |
| Donald Tusk - Civic Platform | 5,429,666 | 36.3 | 7,022,319 | 45.96 |
| Andrzej Lepper - Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland | 2,259,094 | 15.1 | - | - |
| Marek Borowski - Social Democracy of Poland | 1,544,642 | 10.3 | - | - |
| Jarosław Kalinowski - Polish People's Party | 269,316 | 1.8 | - | - |
| Janusz Korwin-Mikke - Real Politics Union | 214,116 | 1.4 | - | - |
| Henryka Bochniarz - Democratic Party | 188,598 | 1.3 | - | - |
| Liwiusz Ilasz | 31,691 | 0.2 | - | - |
| Stanisław Tymiński - All-Polish Citizens Coalition | 23,545 | 0.2 | - | - |
| Leszek Bubel - Polish National Party | 18,828 | 0.1 | - | - |
| Jan Pyszko - Organization of the Polish Nation - Polish League | 10,371 | 0.1 | - | - |
| Adam Słomka - The Polish Confederation-Freedom and the Work | 8,895 | 0.1 | - | - |
| Total (turnout 49.7 %) | 15,046,350 | 100 |
Prime Minister of Poland (vote of confidence)
- Yes - 238
- No - 204
- Abstain - 2
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- Politics of Poland
- List of political parties in Poland
- List of politicians in Poland
- Polish presidential election, 2005
- Polish parliamentary election, 2005
- Polish parliamentary election, 2007
[edit] External links
- Civic Platform
- (Polish) Prime Minister | Council of Ministers | The Chancellery of the Prime Minister
- Donald Tusk – the Implementation of the Polish dream.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Jarosław Kaczyński |
Prime Minister of Poland 2007 – present |
Incumbent |
| Order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by Bogdan Borusewicz Senate Marshal |
Polish order of precedence Prime Minister |
Succeeded by Jerzy Stępień Constitutional Tribunal Chairman |
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