Donald Tusk
Prime Minister of Poland
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 November 2007
President : Lech Kaczyński
Deputy : Waldemar Pawlak, Grzegorz Schetyna
Preceded by : Jarosław Kaczyński
Vice Marshal of the Senate
In office 21 October 1997 – 18 October 2001
Served alongside:
Andrzej Chronowski
Tadeusz Rzemykowski
Marcin Tyrna
Preceded by : Ryszard Czarny
Stefan Jurczak
Zofia Kuratowska
Grzegorz Kurczuk
Succeeded by : Jolanta Danielak
Ryszard Jarzembowski
Kazimierz Kutz
Born : 22 April 1957 (age 52)
Gdańsk, Poland
Political party: Civic Platform
European People’s Party
Spouse(s) : Małgorzata Tusk
Profession : Historian
Religion : Roman Catholic
Signature:
Donald Franciszek Tusk [ˈdɔnalt franˈt͡ɕiʂɛk ˈtusk] ( listen) (born April 22, 1957, Gdańsk) is a center-right Polish politician, co-founder and chairman of the Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska), and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland.
Tusk was officially designated as Prime Minister on November 9, 2007 and took office on November 16. His cabinet won the vote of confidence in the Sejm on November 24, 2007.
Politics
Tusk was one of several vice-speakers of the Sejm (2001-2005), the lower house of the Polish parliament. Prior to co-founding Civic Platform in 2001, he was a prominent member of the Liberal Democratic Congress (Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny) and the Freedom Union (Unia Wolności). He quit the Freedom Union after he failed to win the party’s chairmanship in a race against Bronisław Geremek.
Tusk’s political position combines strong support of a free market economy with little government interference. Tusk has been a member of the Sejm since 2004.
Tusk represented the constituencies of Gdynia-Słupsk (2001-2005) and Gdańsk (2005-2007). As of 2007 he is MP for Warsaw. In 2005, the Civic Platform nominated him as their candidate for the 2005 presidential election. He was defeated in the second round by a margin of 46:54 by Lech Kaczyński.
Controversies
On 27th October 2009, Tusk declared that he wants to partially delegalize gambling.[1] There are some concerns on Internet censorship, as Tusk wants to ban Internet gambling and monitor Internet connections and money transfers.
Education
Tusk graduated from the Mikołaj Kopernik (Nicolaus Copernicus) High School in Gdansk in 1976. He then enrolled as a student of history at the University of Gdansk, from which he graduated in 1980 with an MA thesis on Józef Piłsudski.
Family
Donald Tusk and his wife, Małgorzata, have two children, a son, Michał (b. 1982) and a daughter, Katarzyna (b. 1987). They reside in Sopot near Gdańsk.
Donald Tusk’s father, also named Donald Tusk (1930-1972), was a carpenter. Donald Tusk’s mother, Ewa Tusk (1934-2009),[2] was a nurse. His uncle was a Gdańsk sculptor, Bronisław Tusk (1935-2000). His grandfather Józef Tusk (1907-1987) was a railway official who (due to his Kashubian heritage) was compulsorily drafted by German Nazi authorities into the Wehrmacht[3] on August 2, 1944. He deserted only a few months later to join the Polish Army in the West on November 24, 1944. Donald Tusk belongs to the Kashubian minority in Poland. Tusk is a football fan and occasionally plays football or watches notable matches on television.
Electoral history
Polish presidential election, 2005
e • d Summary of 9 October 2005 Polish Presidential election results
Candidates and nominating parties Votes 1st round % Votes 2nd round %
Lech Kaczyński - Law and Justice
4,947,927 33.1 8,257,468 54.04
Donald Tusk - Civic Platform
5,429,666 36.3 7,022,319 45.96
Andrzej Lepper - Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland
2,259,094 15.1 - -
Marek Borowski - Social Democracy of Poland
1,544,642 10.3 - -
Jarosław Kalinowski - Polish People’s Party
269,316 1.8 - -
Janusz Korwin-Mikke - Real Politics Union
214,116 1.4 - -
Henryka Bochniarz - Democratic Party
188,598 1.3 - -
Liwiusz Ilasz
31,691 0.2 - -
Stanisław Tymiński - All-Polish Citizens Coalition
23,545 0.2 - -
Leszek Bubel - Polish National Party
18,828 0.1 - -
Jan Pyszko - Organization of the Polish Nation - Polish League
10,371 0.1 - -
Adam Słomka - The Polish Confederation-Freedom and the Work
8,895 0.1 - -
Total (turnout 49.7 %) 15,046,350 100
Prime Minister of Poland (vote of confidence)
• Yes - 238
• No - 204
• Abstain - 2
References
1. ^ http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/2067607,11,tusk_dokona_ostatecznego_ciecia_ws_hazardu_w_polsce,item.html
2. ^ http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80273,6475126,Prezydent__Uczcijmy_minuta_ciszy_pamiec_matki_premiera.html
3. ^ BBC NEWS | Europe | Profile: Donald Tusk
