Donald Tusk speaks to lawmaker after he was elected as Poland's Prime Minister at the parliament in Warsaw, Poland, Monday Dec. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Michal Dyjuk)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) – New Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says his government will mobilize to keep the world committed to helping Ukraine.
Tusk said it hurts him to hear Ukraine’s president to have to keep trying to persuade world leaders about the need to continue supporting Kyiv’s struggle against Russian aggression.
He said it will be a priority for his coalition government to persuade leaders that they need to continue to help Ukraine defend itself, and that is also in the interests of the free world.
Tusk was making his policy speech in parliament Tuesday, a day after lawmakers chose him as the new prime minister.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) – Poland’s newly elected prime minister, Donald Tusk, is scheduled to deliver his inaugural speech to parliament on Tuesday morning and present a Cabinet that will then face a confidence vote later in the day.
Tusk, a centrist leader who was previously prime minister from 2007-2014, returns as the head of a broad alliance that spans the ideological spectrum from left-wing via his own centrist Civic Platform party to more conservative parties.
He was elected by parliament on Monday and faces many challenges, from restoring democratic standards in his own country, working for the release of European Union funding frozen due to democratic backsliding by his predecessors and facing the implications of a war just across Poland’s eastern border in Ukraine.
One of his easier challengers will be restoring ties with the EU, which were badly strained during the past eight years of rule by a national conservative government.
Tusk, who 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.
Tusk’s ascension to power came nearly two months after an 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 and improve ties with allies.
