Donald Tusk speaks out against xenophobia in major speech to Polish parliament – Europe live | Poland
Tusk speaks out against xenophobia in major speech
In his speech this morning, Donald Tusk is laying out his principles.
“I protest against the marginalisation of Poland’s role in the international arena,” he said.
The new Polish leader added:
I protest against the xenophobia introduced by the authorities into public debate.
He also addressed the issue of migration.
I protest against the hostile attitude of the authorities towards immigrants.
Tusk also spoke about media freedom.
I protest against the incapacitation of public television.
He added:
We will have different views on many issues, but we want to be a community and the work of the future government will focus on this.
We are so different, we are attached to different traditions. This is our wealth. The community is built by the rule of law and the constitution, and we should not argue about this just to be able to safely argue about other topics.
Guardian contributor Katarzyna Piasecka reported from Warsaw
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We can protect border and be human, Tusk says
Tusk has also touched upon the sensitive issue of migration policy, calling for both protecting borders and taking a “human” approach.
We can respect other religions and cultures, but we must be aware of the consequences of an uncontrolled movement of people.
He added:
We can protect the Polish and European border and be human at the same time.
Poland, he said, “can really be the safest place in the world.”
The incoming prime minister added:
Poland will be safe and we will achieve this ideal of a safe state. Poland can be the safest place on earth if it does not stand alone, if it cooperates with allies and guards its borders. And no one will trade visas anymore.
Guardian contributor Katarzyna Piasecka reported from Warsaw
’Only a united West can help Ukraine win’, Tusk tells MPs
Speaking in the Polish parliament, Donald Tusk also underscored the importance of continued Polish support for Ukraine.
We also need to speak with one voice about Ukraine. This must also unite us. The attack on Ukraine is an attack on all of us.
We will demand full mobilization of the West to help Ukraine. I can no longer listen to politicians who talk about being tired of the situation in Ukraine. They tell President Zelenskiy that they are tired of the situation. I will demand help for Ukraine from day one.
He added however that Warsaw will continue defending the interests of Polish farmers, signalling that Warsaw’s spats with Kyiv are not at an end.
Poland’s help for Ukraine is crucial, but at the same time we must remain assertive when it comes to the interests of, among others, Polish farmers.
We will look after Polish interests working with every Polish neighbour.
But we must remember what the war is about. That Ukrainians are fighting for something extremely important.
The new Polish leader also emphasised that Ukrainians want “to be democratic and law-abiding like Western countries. And they are fighting for it now.”
He added:
By some strange coincidence, politicians who attack the foundations of democracy are anti-Ukrainian.
Only a united West can help Ukraine win in the fight for democratic values.
And in a nod to his expected role as a player on the European stage, Tusk also referred to an upcoming debate at a summit of European leaders.
In a few dozen hours, I will be going to Brussels, hoping that we will convince our allies to defend democratic values and Ukraine against Russian aggression.
Guardian contributor Katarzyna Piasecka reported from Warsaw
Updated at 05.09 EST
Poland has 'no reason’ for an 'inferiority complex in the EU’, Tusk says
Donald Tusk has emphasised his intent to make Poland a major player in Europe.
Speaking in the Polish parliament, he said:
The alienated Poland is the Poland exposed to the greatest risks.
I am calling on you to help put Poland on solid foundations and to help our government do so.
He added:
I want to tell you that no one will beat me [in the game] in the EU.
Poland has no reason, Polish politicians have no reason, to feel any inferiority complex in the EU.
Poland will return to its place on the European, Tusk – a former president of the European Council – insisted.
This madness, this embarrassment of ourselves, could have cost us more than ridicule. But I can guarantee you that we will make Poland return to its rightful place.
Guardian contributor Katarzyna Piasecka reported from Warsaw
Newly appointed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk presents his government’s programme and asks for a vote of confidence in Parliament in Warsaw, Poland December 12, 2023. Photograph: Aleksandra Szmigiel/Reuters
Speaking in the Polish parliament, Donald Tusk underscored the need to work with people who have different views and underscored the importance of Poland’s alliances.
He said:
I remember the words that John Paul II once spoke in Sopot: there is no solidarity without love.
I want to show you the essence of the positive political phenomenon that we are building now, which is proof that coalition is possible, even though people may differ from each other.
Tusk added:
Poland is and will be a strong link in the NATO chain, a strong ally of the United States and will regain the position of leader of the European Union.
The new leader also stressed Poland’s place in Europe.
Poland will build the position it deserves. We are the stronger and more sovereign the stronger not only Poland, but also the EU.
He added:
The election results on October 15 are the expression of Poles’ desire for Poland to return to its rightful place in Europe.
Anyone who puts Poland at risk of being left alone with what is happening at our borders, is putting the existence of our homeland at great risk.
I ask everyone to stop pretending that our NATO and EU allies are the threat.
Guardian contributor Katarzyna Piasecka reported from Warsaw
Updated at 04.59 EST
Lack of recognition for same-sex couples in Poland breaches convention, court rules
As Poland moves to form a new government, the European Court of Human Rights issued a new judgment today that the lack of any form of legal recognition and protection for same-sex couples in Poland breaches the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Court considered that the Polish State had failed to comply with its duty to ensure that the applicants had a specific legal framework providing for the recognition and protection of their samesex unions.
That failure had resulted in the applicants’ inability to regulate fundamental aspects of their lives and amounted to a breach of their right to respect for their private and family life.
Tusk speaks out against xenophobia in major speech
In his speech this morning, Donald Tusk is laying out his principles.
“I protest against the marginalisation of Poland’s role in the international arena,” he said.
The new Polish leader added:
I protest against the xenophobia introduced by the authorities into public debate.
He also addressed the issue of migration.
I protest against the hostile attitude of the authorities towards immigrants.
Tusk also spoke about media freedom.
I protest against the incapacitation of public television.
He added:
We will have different views on many issues, but we want to be a community and the work of the future government will focus on this.
We are so different, we are attached to different traditions. This is our wealth. The community is built by the rule of law and the constitution, and we should not argue about this just to be able to safely argue about other topics.
Guardian contributor Katarzyna Piasecka reported from Warsaw
The American ambassador in Warsaw, Mark Brzezinski, has congratulated Donald Tusk.
“We look forward to continuing our strong partnership with the new government – this is strategically important for both our countries,” he said.
W imieniu Stanów Zjednoczonych chciałbym pogratulować @donaldtusk wyboru na stanowisko premiera Polski @PremierRP. Z niecierpliwością czekamy na kontynuację naszego silnego partnerstwa z nowym rządem – jest to strategicznie ważne dla obu naszych krajów.
— Ambasador Mark Brzezinski (@USAmbPoland) December 12, 2023
Updated at 04.43 EST
Polish election 'peaceful rebellion for freedom’, Tusk says
Speaking in the Polish parliament, incoming prime minister Donald Tusk thanked “those who have not doubted over the years that Poland can be better.”
He said the October 15 election “will go down in history as the day of peaceful rebellion for freedom and democracy. Just like in August 1980 or June 4, 1989.”
Tusk added:
Our dreams turned out to be stronger than fatigue, apathy and evil. Today is a consequence of the fact that some of you dared to take the streets.
Guardian contributor Katarzyna Piasecka reported from Warsaw
Newly elected Polish prime minister Donald Tusk addresses lawmakers during his speech at the parliament in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday Dec. 12, 2023. Photograph: Czarek Sokołowski/AP
Updated at 04.37 EST
Tusk speaks in parliament
Donald Tusk is now addressing the Polish parliament, a day after it voted in favour of him as prime minister.
Over 200,000 people are watching the speech live on Youtube, underscoring the significant public interest in parliament’s proceedings over the past days.
Donald Tusk speaks to lawmakers at the parliament in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday Dec. 12, 2023. Photograph: Czarek Sokołowski/AP
Updated at 04.26 EST
Polish parliament session begins
The Sejm session is under way. Here is a photo of Donald Tusk in the parliament this morning. He is expected to speak soon.
Newly appointed Polish prime minister Donald Tusk is greeted before presenting his government’s programme in parliament in Warsaw. Photograph: Aleksandra Szmigiel/Reuters
Updated at 04.24 EST
The Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, has also congratulated Donald Tusk, underlining that “Poland is a key partner for Sweden, not least for security in Baltic Sea Region and support for Ukraine.”
Congratulations to Prime Minister @DonaldTusk and the new Polish Government. Poland is a key partner for Sweden, not least for security in Baltic Sea Region and support for Ukraine. Looking forward to discussing in the near future how we can deepen our cooperation.
— SwedishPM (@SwedishPM) December 12, 2023
Donald Tusk’s second coming: can returning PM remake Poland?
Daniel Boffey
It was the young Donald Tusk’s habit, after watching or playing a game of football with friends, to make two toasts at the Pod Kasztanami bar in Gdańsk: the first to the fortunes of his club, Lechia Gdańsk, and the second to the “end of komunizm” in Poland.
Tusk, 66, is unlikely to make the annual game of football that his close circle has been playing for the last 40 years, always at noon on New Year’s Eve, but at the final whistle there is likely to be a tentative third toast offered – to Tusk’s return as prime minister and the end of Poland’s disastrous flirtation with a populism that has ploughed deep divisions in society, undermined democratic institutions and driven a wedge between Warsaw and the EU.
Tusk’s return after eight years of rule by the Law & Justice party (PiS) will be a moment of satisfaction for those raising a glass of vodka in Gdańsk; many of those playing have supported him since his time as a student organiser working with the anti-communist Solidarity movement that emerged from strikes at the local shipyards. But they will also recognise that Tusk’s second coming is far from guaranteed to succeed; communism did fall in Poland, but the performance of Lechia Gdańsk never did match the passion of its fans.
Today, a day after parliament voted in favour of making him prime minister, Tusk will present his government, an ungainly coalition of his Civic Coalition group with the agrarian conservative Third Way party and the New Left.
Although he will once again gain access to Willa Parkowa, a handsome whitewashed official residence a few hundred yards from the chancellery in Warsaw, his friends say they expect him to spend as much time as possible in his family’s modest ground-floor apartment in Sopot, a prosperous city on Poland’s Baltic coast, just north of the larger Gdańsk.
Read the full story here.
Updated at 03.38 EST
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‘True friend’: Varadkar congratulates Tusk
Irish leader Leo Varadkar has congratulated Donald Tusk, after the Polish parliament voted in favour of the longtime politician becoming prime minister.
“You were a true friend and ally to Ireland during Brexit,” Varadkar said.
