Donald Tusk

Donald Tusk
Tusk in 2023
Prime Minister of Poland
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 December 2023
President	Andrzej Duda
Deputy	Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz Krzysztof Gawkowski
Preceded by	Mateusz Morawiecki
In office 16 November 2007 – 22 September 2014
President	Lech Kaczyński Bronisław Komorowski
Deputy	Waldemar Pawlak Grzegorz Schetyna Janusz Piechociński Jacek Rostowski Elżbieta Bieńkowska
Preceded by	Jarosław Kaczyński
Succeeded by	Ewa Kopacz
President of the European Council
In office 1 December 2014 – 30 November 2019
Preceded by	Herman Van Rompuy
Succeeded by	Charles Michel
Leader of the Civic Platform
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 July 2021
Preceded by	Borys Budka
In office 1 June 2003 – 8 November 2014
Preceded by	Maciej Płażyński
Succeeded by	Ewa Kopacz
President of the European People's Party
In office 1 December 2019 – 1 June 2022
Preceded by	Joseph Daul
Succeeded by	Manfred Weber
Deputy Marshal of the Sejm
In office 18 October 2001 – 18 October 2005 Serving with others
Marshal	Marek Borowski Józef Oleksy Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz
Preceded by	Jan Król
Succeeded by	Bronisław Komorowski
Deputy Marshal of the Senate
In office 20 October 1997 – 18 October 2001 Serving with others
Marshal	Alicja Grześkowiak
Preceded by	Zofia Kuratowska
Succeeded by	Kazimierz Kutz
Parliamentary offices Member of the Sejm Incumbent Assumed office 13 November 2023 Constituency Warsaw I In office 23 September 2001 – 23 September 2014 Constituency Warsaw I (2007-2014) Gdańsk (2005-2007) Gdynia (2001-2005) In office 25 November 1991 – 31 May 1993 Constituency Gdańsk Member of the Senate In office 21 September 1997 – 23 September 2001 Constituency Pomerania
Personal details
Born	Donald Franciszek Tusk (1957-04-22) 22 April 1957 (age 67) Gdańsk, Poland
Political party	Civic Platform (2001–present) Freedom Union (1994–2001) Liberal Democratic Congress (1990–1994)
Spouse	Małgorzata Sochacka ​ (m. 1978)​
Children	2
Education	University of Gdańsk
Awards	See list Order of the Sun of Peru Royal Norwegian Order of Merit Charlemagne Prize Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana National Order of Merit (Malta) Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise Order of the Star of Romania Order of the Rising Sun Presidential Order of Excellence
Signature

Donald Franciszek Tusk (/tuːsk/ TOOSK;^[1] Polish: [ˈdɔnalt fraɲˈt͡ɕiʂɛk ˈtusk] ^ⓘ; born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician and historian who has served as the prime minister of Poland since 2023, having previously held the post from 2007 to 2014. From 2014 to 2019 Tusk served as President of the European Council,^[2] and from 2019 to 2022 he was the president of the European People's Party (EPP).^[3] He co-founded the Civic Platform (PO) party in 2001 and has served as its long-time leader, first from 2003 to 2014 and again since 2021.^[4]

Tusk has been involved in Polish politics since the late 1980s, having founded multiple political parties and held elected office almost continuously since 1991. He was one of the co-founders of the free market–oriented Liberal Democratic Congress party (KLD). He entered the Sejm in 1991, but lost his seat in 1993. In 1994, the KLD merged with the Democratic Union to form the Freedom Union. In 1997, Tusk was elected to the Senate, and became its deputy marshal. In 2001, he co-founded another centre-right liberal conservative party, the PO, and was again elected to the Sejm, becoming its deputy marshal.^[5]

Tusk stood unsuccessfully for President of Poland in the 2005 election and would also suffer defeat in the 2005 Polish parliamentary election. However, he would lead the PO to victory at the 2007 parliamentary election, and was appointed Prime Minister. He led the PO to a second victory in the 2011 election, becoming the first Polish prime minister to be re-elected since the fall of communism in 1989.^[6] In 2014, he left Polish politics to accept appointment as president of the European Council, having been the longest-serving prime minister of the Third Polish Republic and the third longest-serving prime minister of Poland overall, after Józef Cyrankiewicz and Piotr Jaroszewicz.

During his absence in Polish politics, Tusks's Civic Platform would lose control of both the presidency and parliament to the rival Law and Justice party in the 2015 Polish parliamentary election and 2015 Polish presidential election. Tusk served as President of the European Council until 2019; although initially remaining in Brussels, he later returned to Polish politics in 2021. He became leader of the Civic Platform for a second time after the party had again lost to the PiS in 2019 and 2020. In the 2023 election, his Civic Coalition won 157 seats in the Sejm to become the second-largest bloc in the chamber. The other opposition parties won enough seats between them to form a coalition majority with the Civic Coalition, ending eight years of government by the Law and Justice party. Following Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's failure to secure a vote of confidence on 11 December, Tusk was elected by the Sejm to become Prime Minister for a third time. His cabinet was sworn in on 13 December.^[7]