WARSAW, Poland — Prime Minister Donald Tusk defended his centrist, pro-European authorities earlier than parliament on Wednesday, looking for to reassert management and rally his fractured coalition after struggling a bitter political defeat.
Tusk requested a vote of confidence within the wake of the June 1 lack of Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski — his shut ally — to nationalist historian Karol Nawrocki. Backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, Nawrocki is ready to switch outgoing President Andrzej Duda, one other conservative who repeatedly blocked Tusk’s reform efforts.
“I’m asking for a vote of confidence with full conviction that we’ve a mandate to manipulate, to take full accountability for what is occurring in Poland,” Tusk mentioned.
Many of the energy in Poland’s parliamentary system rests with an elected parliament and a authorities chosen by the parliament. Nevertheless, the president can veto laws and represents the nation overseas.
“Anybody who is able to transfer ahead with me, with the federal government, and above all with our voters, no matter these momentary feelings, and construct a greater Poland, ought to vote right now for a vote of confidence in our authorities,” Tusk mentioned.
The vote, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, is extensively anticipated to go in Tusk’s favor. His four-party coalition holds a slim however steady majority within the 460-seat Sejm, Poland’s decrease home.
A loss would set off the formation of a caretaker authorities and will open the door for an early parliamentary election. That would probably returning energy to the conservative Legislation and Justice occasion, in coalition with the far-right Confederation occasion, whose candidate positioned third within the presidential race.
Tusk had lengthy counted on a Trzaskowski victory to interrupt the institutional impasse created by Duda’s vetoes. As an alternative, he now faces an incoming president aligned with the nationalist opposition and overtly hostile to his authorities’s legislative priorities.
“We can’t shut our eyes to actuality,” he mentioned. “A president who was reluctant to just accept the adjustments we proposed for Poland and our voters is being changed by a president who’s at the least equally reluctant to these adjustments and proposals.”
However he additionally argued that Trzaskowski’s slim defeat signifies that there’s continued sturdy help for individuals who share his views.
The election outcome has rattled the already uneasy governing coalition, which spans from center-left to center-right and has struggled to ship on key marketing campaign pledges, together with liberalizing Poland’s abortion regulation and legalizing same-sex civil unions. Tusk acknowledged the rising strains in Wednesday’s handle.
Many are additionally blaming Tusk for contributing to Trzaskowski’s loss. A lot of the criticism has come from inside his coalition, as his companions look at whether or not they’re higher off sticking with him or risking a collapse of the coalition. Some are calling for a brand new prime minister to be chosen.
There are questions on what Tusk can realistically obtain earlier than the following parliamentary election, scheduled for late 2027, and whether or not the coalition will even survive that lengthy amid a surge in reputation for the far proper. Polish media and political analysts are debating whether or not this is perhaps the 68-year-old Tusk’s political twilight.
“I do know the style of victory, I do know the bitterness of defeat, however I don’t know the phrase give up,” Tusk mentioned.
As a part of his contemporary begin, he introduced plans for a authorities reconstruction in July that may embrace “new faces.” He mentioned a authorities spokesman could be appointed in June – an acknowledgement that the coalition wants a strategy to current a unified message. Up to now Tusk has sought to speak his insurance policies to the general public himself on social media and in information conferences.
Tusk served as Polish prime minister from 2007 to 2014 after which as president of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. He turned Poland’s prime minister once more in December 2023 in a rustic exhausted by the pandemic and inflation, and with political divisions deep and bitter.
In an indication of these divisions, half of the parliament corridor was empty on Wednesday, with lawmakers from the right-wing Legislation and Justice occasion boycotting his speech. Tusk mentioned their absence confirmed disrespect to the nation.
