Donald Tusk in the context of "Prime Minister of Poland"

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⭐ Core Definition: Donald Tusk

Donald Franciszek Tusk (born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician and historian who has served as the prime minister of Poland since 2023, previously holding the office from 2007 to 2014. Tusk was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019 and led the European People's Party from 2019 to 2022. He co-founded the Civic Platform (PO), one of the dominant Polish political parties, and has been its longtime leader – from 2003 to 2014 and again from 2021 to 2025, when it merged into the Civic Coalition (KO) party. He is the longest-serving prime minister of the Third Polish Republic.

Tusk has been officially involved in politics since 1989, having co-founded multiple political parties, such as the free market–oriented Liberal Democratic Congress party (KLD). He first 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. Tusk stood unsuccessfully for President of Poland in the 2005 election and would also suffer defeat in the 2005 Polish parliamentary election.

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👉 Donald Tusk in the context of Prime Minister of Poland

The prime minister of Poland (Polish: premier [ˈprɛmjɛr] ), officially the president of the Council of Ministers (Polish: Prezes Rady Ministrów [ˈprɛzɛs ˈradɨ miˈɲistruf]), is the head of the cabinet and the head of government of Poland. The responsibilities and traditions of the office stem from the creation of the contemporary Polish state, and the office is defined in the Constitution of Poland. According to the Constitution, the president nominates and appoints the prime minister, who will then propose the composition of the Cabinet. Fourteen days following their appointment, the prime minister must submit a programme outlining the government's agenda to the Sejm, requiring a vote of confidence. Conflicts stemming from both interest and powers have arisen between the offices of President and Prime Minister in the past.

The incumbent and eighteenth prime minister is Donald Tusk of the Civic Platform party who replaced Mateusz Morawiecki following the 2023 Polish parliamentary election, after Morawiecki's third government failed to receive a vote of confidence on 11 December 2023, which Tusk's third government subsequently received on the same day and was sworn in two days later. Tusk was also the fourteenth prime minister, between 2007 and 2014.

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Donald Tusk in the context of Jacek Cichocki

Jacek Cichocki (born 17 December 1971) is a Polish politician and a former member of the Polish Council of Ministers. Cichocki served as the minister of interior in the second cabinet of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and later as chief of the Chancellery for Tusk and his successor Ewa Kopacz

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Donald Tusk in the context of Ewa Kopacz

Ewa Bożena Kopacz (IPA: [ˈɛva ˈkɔpat͡ʂ] ; née Lis; born 3 December 1956) is a Polish politician who has served as a Vice-President of the European Parliament since 2019. She previously was Marshal of the Sejm from 2011 to 2014, the first woman to hold the office, as well as Prime Minister of Poland from 2014 to 2015. In addition, Kopacz was Minister of Health from 2007 until 2011. Since 2001, she has been a member of Civic Platform, which she chaired from 2014 to 2016. Kopacz succeeded Donald Tusk as prime minister, becoming the second woman to hold the office after Hanna Suchocka (1992–1993). Her term as prime minister ended on 16 November 2015, when she was succeeded by Beata Szydło.

Prior to entering politics, Kopacz was a pediatrician and general practitioner. She was described as one of the leaders of the European Union during her tenure as prime minister. She was ranked as the world's 40th most powerful woman by Forbes magazine in 2015, placing her ahead of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and American television personality Ellen DeGeneres.

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Donald Tusk in the context of Poland and the European Union

Poland has been a member state of the European Union since 1 May 2004, with the Treaty of Accession 2003 signed on 16 April 2003 in Athens as the legal basis for Poland's accession to the EU. The actual process of integrating Poland into the EU began with Poland's application for membership in Athens on 8 April 1994, and then the confirmation of the application by all member states in Essen from 9–10 December 1994. Poland's integration into the European Union is a dynamic and continuously ongoing process.

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Donald Tusk in the context of 2015–2016 United Kingdom renegotiation of European Union membership

The 2015–2016 United Kingdom renegotiation of European Union membership was an unimplemented non-binding package of changes to the United Kingdom's terms of its European Union (EU) membership as a member state and changes to EU rules which were first proposed by Prime Minister David Cameron in January 2013, with negotiations beginning in the summer of 2015 following the outcome of the UK General Election. The package was agreed by the President of the European Council Donald Tusk, and approved by EU leaders of all 27 other countries at the European Council session in Brussels on 18–19 February 2016 between the United Kingdom and the rest of the European Union. The changes were intended to take effect following a vote for "Remain" in the UK's in-out referendum in June 2016, at which point suitable legislative proposals would be presented by the European Commission. Due to the outcome of the referendum in which the electorate voted by 51.9% to 48.1% to leave the bloc, the changes were never implemented and subsequently the United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union in January 2020.

The renegotiated terms were in addition to the United Kingdom's existing opt-outs in the European Union and the UK rebate. The changes were legally binding insomuch as the intentions and statements made by the EU leaders were enshrined in an international treaty. The implementation of some of the changes would have required legislation by the European Parliament or treaty change within the EU and so the details may have altered, although it would be hard for the European Commission or the European Parliament to directly defy national governments.

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Donald Tusk in the context of 2005 Polish presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Poland on 9 October and 23 October 2005. The outgoing President of Poland, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, had served the two five-year terms allowed under the constitution and was unable to stand for a third term. Lech Kaczyński defeated Donald Tusk to become President of Poland.

The election took place just a month after Kaczyński's Law and Justice party also defeated Tusk's Civic Platform in the parliamentary elections.

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Donald Tusk in the context of Civic Platform

The Civic Platform (Polish: Platforma Obywatelska, PO) was a centre-right liberal conservative political party in Poland. The party's most prominent leader was Donald Tusk, party chairman between 2003–2014 and 2021–2025.

It was formed in 2001 by splinter factions from the Solidarity Electoral Action, the Freedom Union and the Conservative People's Party, and it later placed second in the 2001 Polish parliamentary election. It remained at the opposition until the 2007 Polish parliamentary opposition, when it overtook Law and Justice, won 209 seats, and Tusk was elected as Prime Minister of Poland. Following the Smolensk air disaster in 2010, Bronisław Komorowski served as acting president of Poland and later won the 2010 Polish presidential election. Tusk continued to serve as prime minister and leader of Civic Platform until he resigned in 2014 to assume the post of the president of the European Council. The party was defeated in the 2015 Polish parliamentary and presidential elections. It placed second in the 2019 Polish parliamentary election, and its 2020 Polish presidential election candidate, Rafał Trzaskowski, won 49% of the popular vote in the second round and lost the election to Andrzej Duda.

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Donald Tusk in the context of 2023 Polish parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 15 October 2023 to elect members of the Sejm and Senate. A referendum containing four questions concerning economic and immigration policy of the government was held simultaneously.

In the previous 2019 Polish parliamentary election, the ruling right-wing Law and Justice Party (PiS) had held onto its majority in the Sejm with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki forming a second government. The PiS sought to win a third term which would be unprecedented in Polish history. The opposition, including the Civic Platform Party and others, secured a Senate majority. In the lead-up to the 2023 elections, opposition leader and former prime minister, Donald Tusk, led the Civic Coalition political alliance in opposition to the PiS.

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