WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s newly elected prime minister, Donald Tusk, vowed Tuesday that his government will be a stable ally of the United States and NATO and that it would work to mobilize the Western world to keep helping Ukraine.
In a wide-ranging inaugural speech to parliament, Tusk called on the nation’s fractious political class to unite, saying it cannot afford divisions at a time when Russia is waging a war of aggression across Poland’s border in Ukraine which many fear could spread if Moscow prevails.
“Poland’s task, the new government’s task, but also the task of all of us, is to loudly and firmly demand the full determination from the entire Western community to help Ukraine in this war,” Tusk said in a ceremonious address attended by Ukraine’s ambassador and former Polish presidents, including the anti-communist freedom fighter Lech Walesa. “I will do this from day one.”
Tusk was elected by parliament on Monday and faces many challenges, from restoring democratic standards in his own country, working for the release of EU funding frozen due to democratic backsliding by his predecessors and facing the implications of the war just across Poland’s and EU’s eastern border in Ukraine.
Tusk said it hurts him to hear that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has to keep trying to persuade world leaders about the need to continue supporting Kyiv’s struggle against Russia. Ukraine’s troubles are deepening as winter sets in and allies are growing tired of funding its defense.
“They say it to President Zelenskyy’s face that they no longer have the strength, that they are exhausted.” Tusk said.
Tusk, a centrist leader who was previously prime minister from 2007-2014, returns to power after nearly a decade as the head of a broad alliance.
He finally takes power nearly two months after an Oct. 15 election which was won by a coalition of parties that ran on separate tickets, but promised to work together under Tusk’s leadership to restore democratic standards eroded during the last eight years of Law and Justice rule and improve ties with allies.
Tusk’s speech came a day after lawmakers chose him as the new prime minister after rejecting the former prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, of the Law and Justice party. He also introduced the ministers in his new Cabinet, and the new government will face a confidence vote in the afternoon. They are to be sworn in Wednesday.
He called his governing team an “Oct. 15 coalition” to stress that the election was not only about the choice of new government but also that of a new political culture of cooperation and respect.
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the former government, had delayed the power transition as long as he could. He was on a visit to Switzerland on Tuesday and did not attend Tusk’s speech.
During the campaign, the 67-year-old Tusk vowed to restore foreign ties strained by the Law and Justice-led government, which bickered even with allies likes Germany and Ukraine and was at constant odds with the EU over legal changes that eroded the independence of the nation’s judicial branch.
In the more than two hour speech, Tusk stressed that his country on NATO’s eastern flank would honor its obligations as a Western ally.
“Poland is and will be a key, strong, sovereign link in NATO, and Poland will be a loyal, stable, ally of the United States, confident of its strength and importance,” Tusk said.
He also said Poland would be stronger by being a constructive leader in the EU — countering an argument by his predecessors that the 27-country bloc threatened Poland’s national sovereignty.
“We are made stronger, more sovereign, not only when Poland is stronger but also when the entire European community is stronger,” Tusk said.
Tusk, who also served as European Council president from 2014-2019 and has strong connections in Brussels, is expected to improve Warsaw’s standing in the bloc’s capital. He is expected to travel there this week for an EU summit, his first trip abroad as prime minister.
On domestic matters, Tusk vowed to continue social policies introduced by Law and Justice, including cash payments to families with children, which are popular. to pursue wise financial policies, restore the rule of law and protect the rights of women and of the LGBTQ+ community.
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