Ex-EU chief Donald Tusk returns to frontline politics to lead fight for Poland’s future

The former president of the European Council will head the country’s main opposition party, the Civic Platform

The first prime minister in Poland’s post-communist history to win two terms in office, he led the party in government from 2007 to 2014

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Former Polish prime minister Donald Tusk. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:11pm, 3 Jul 2021Updated: 10:53pm, 3 Jul 2021

Former European Council president Donald Tusk returned to the fore of Polish politics on Saturday, becoming leader of the main opposition party in a move that many members hope can revive its sagging fortunes.

For many in the liberal Civic Platform (PO) party that Tusk helped to found, the stakes are nothing less than Poland’s future in the European Union.

Elections scheduled for 2023 will determine if the governing nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party will continue its rows with Brussels over issues including judicial reforms that the EU says undermine the independence of judges and LGBT rights.

“Civic Platform is indispensable, it is needed as a force, not as a memory, to win the fight for the future against PiS,” Tusk told a PO congress in Warsaw. “There is no chance of victory without Civic Platform, and our history tells us that.”

The announcement of Tusk’s return came after talks held behind closed doors between the new leader, his predecessor Borys Budka and Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, who had also been tipped for the leadership.