Tusk, Donald

Ethnic Kashub (national minority, descendants of the ancient Pomeranians living on the Baltic coast , in the northeastern regions of Poland). Born in the family of a carpenter . In 1976 he graduated from the Lyceum named after Nikolai Copernicus in Gdansk, in 1980 - from the Faculty of History of the University of Gdansk; thesis is dedicated to Jozef Pilsudski . From the beginning of August to the end of October 1944, his grandfather Joseph Tusk served in the 328 reserve training battalion of the grenadiers ^[3] . The appeal to the Wehrmacht was forced, and was associated with the automatic acquisition by the residents of Gdansk of German citizenship ^[3] .

Married to Malgozhat Tusk, sharing his passion for history. Has a son Michal (born in 1982) and a daughter Katarzyna (born in 1987) ^[2] .

He was one of the organizers of the Independent Student Union in Gdansk and the university committee of the Solidarity trade union association , and issued leaflets. During the martial law he could not find work in his specialty, he was engaged in physical labor. Together with his friend Maciej Plazzynski (future marshal of the Sejm in 1997-2001), Tusk organized a series of strikes, including the May-August strike of 1988.

In 1989, together with a group of Gdansk liberals, Tusk joined the Liberal Democratic Congress (LDK) party. Since 1991 - deputy of the Sejm and chairman of the LDK. Since 1994, after the unification of the parties, the Democratic Union and the LDK into Freedom Union became the vice-chairman of this party. During his membership in the Union of Freedom, he belonged to its conservative wing, was an opponent of the liberal Bronislaw Geremek , but lost to the latter the competition for leadership in the party, after which he left her ranks.

In 1997-2001 - Vice Marshal of the Senate, in 2001-2005 - Vice Marshal of the Sejm . He proved himself a supporter of a modern market economy, social conservatism and interstate rapprochement with Russia.

Civil Platform Leader

In 2001, he became one of the founders of the Civic Platform Party (GP) , which adheres to a liberal-conservative ideology. Since 2003 - Chairman of the GP. In 2005, he led the GP in the parliamentary elections (the party took second place, receiving 36.33% of the vote, and remained in opposition).

In 2005, he participated in the presidential election , taking second place in the second round (45.96%), losing to Lech Kaczynski . During the election campaign, adviser to Kaczynski, Jacek Kursky, spread the word that Tusk’s grandfather voluntarily joined the German army during World War II. Later it turned out that in 1944 he was mobilized into the German army, but soon defected, joining the Polish armed forces in the West at the end of that year. As a result, Kursky was expelled from the Kaczynski party “ Law and Justice ” for distributing false information, but the scandal damaged the image of Tusk (Kursky himself claimed to have confused Tusk’s grandfather with his cousin from his mother).

On October 21, 2007, the GP won an extraordinary parliamentary election . A significant role in this success was played by Tusk's convincing victory in television debates with Prime Minister Jaroslav Kaczynski . On November 16, 2007, Tusk was appointed Prime Minister of Poland.

I did not participate in the 2010 presidential election (in January, said he preferred to remain prime minister if the party was successful in the election). In March 2010, Civic Platform nominated Bronislaw Komorowski as the presidential candidate.

In the 2011 parliamentary elections, the party led by him took first place with 39.11% of the vote and won 206 seats in the Sejm ^[4] . The party also won a majority in the Senate.

On August 30, 2014 he was elected to the post of President of the European Council ^{[5] [6]} , which he held on December 1, 2014 ^[7] .

In mid-September 2014, Tusk resigned as Prime Minister of Poland to begin preparing for work in the European Council ^[2] .

Attitude towards Russia

Tusk’s attitude towards Russia as a whole correlates with the pan-European one. Tusk approved the introduction of sanctions against Russia by the EU in 2014, despite the fact that he found them ineffective. He was a supporter of the formation of a European energy union to counter Russia, but this initiative has not yet received support. Like most European politicians, Tusk accused the Russian Armed Forces of participating in hostilities in Ukraine . In this regard, Tusk promised to act decisively, but reasonably in the Ukrainian crisis ^[2] .

He is the author of more than two hundred printed works, mainly of a historical and local history plan, including the books “I had Gdansk”, “Gdansk-1945” and “Old Sopot”. He is interested in soccer and photography. He speaks English, German and Russian.

Known for addiction to tobacco . In 2003, he was the second at the Tabachene competition for the selection of the best tobacco snuffer, held in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland ^[2] .

• Cavalier of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru ( Peru , 2008) ^[8]
• Commander of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit ( Norway , 2012) ^[9]
• Presidential Order of Radiance (2013) ^[10]
• Order of the Cross of the Land of Mary Class I ( Estonia , 2014) ^[11]
• Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, I degree (2019) ^[12]
• International Prize Charlemagne - 2010 ^{[13] [14]}

•  

  Tusk office in the Presidential Palace, Warsaw, 2007

•  

  Donald Tusk (right) is appointed Prime Minister by President Lech Kaczynski, November 9, 2007

•  

  Donald Tusk and US President George W. Bush , March 10, 2008

•  

  Tusk and Brazilian President Lula da Silva , May 16, 2008

•  

  Donald Tusk with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy , February 7, 2009

•  

  Donald Tusk, Angela Merkel and Jose Manuel Barroso at the European People's Congress in Warsaw , April 29, 2009

•  

  Donald Tusk Receives the Charlemagne Prize , May 13, 2010

•  

  Donald Tusk and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev , December 6, 2010

•  

  Donald Tusk and Marek Belka , Warsaw, 2012

•  

  Donald Tusk's speech at the second annual conference of the National Bank of Poland on the Future of the European Economy , 2012

• Tusk, Donald - an article in the Lentapedia . year 2012.
• Biography