Donald Tusk survives confidence vote to remain Polish PM

 

Donald Tusk survives confidence vote to remain Polish PM

 

Nationalist Karol Nawrocki’s presidential election win still leaves Poland’s prime minister and his coalition in a tough spot.

 

June 11, 2025 4:37 pm CET

By Wojciech Kość

https://www.politico.eu/article/tusk-survives-confidence-vote-poland-pm-parliament-nawrocki/

 

WARSAW — Donald Tusk won a vote of confidence in the Polish parliament Wednesday, hanging on to his position as prime minister as he sought to change the narrative after his political grouping suffered a stinging defeat in the June 1 presidential election.

 

The vote of confidence — which was never in much doubt as Tusk’s ruling coalition controls a solid majority in parliament — is aimed at reaffirming his mandate after nationalist Karol Nawrocki defeated Tusk’s preferred centrist contender Rafał Trzaskowski to become president.

 

Tusk won with 243 votes in favor and 210 against.

 

“Let me get straight to the point — I’m asking parliament to back the government with a vote of confidence, because we cannot ignore the difficult reality we’re in. We need clarity on our current position after the presidential election,” Tusk said in an address aimed at resetting his government’s agenda following Nawrocki’s victory.

 

Tusk had hoped a Trzaskowski victory would speed up domestic change and boost his foreign policy credential under a friendly president after being blocked for months by incumbent President Andrzej Duda — like Nawrocki tied to the populist Law and Justice (PiS) party.

 

Instead, his government will now have to struggle against a hostile Nawrocki, who as president can veto legislation which Tusk’s coalition lacks the votes in parliament to override.

 

“The challenges ahead are greater than expected. We’re facing two and a half years of extremely hard work in political conditions that will not improve, with a president who, at best, will be unsympathetic to change — just like the outgoing one,” Tusk told the parliament.

 

Nawrocki will be sworn in on Aug. 6, taking over from Duda, who served two five-year terms.

 

Tusk delivered his address to a half-full plenary, as PiS chose to ignore the speech and only turned up to lambaste Tusk during a marathon question session. Some coalition MPs also called out Tusk for failing to deliver on health care or the environment.

 

“I have no questions for Donald Tusk. You don’t ask liars questions,” said Janusz Kowalski, an MP for PiS.

 

“June 1 marked the end of the project called Donald Tusk, just like communism ended 36 years ago. This is the end of the prime minister of illegal migrants, the prime minister of public finance disaster, the prime minister of lies and contempt for Poles,” Kowalski said.

 

In his speech, Tusk defended his government’s record and urged parliament to reaffirm its backing for him, saying “11.5 million voters handed the responsibility for Poland” to the coalition in the 2023 election that ended eight years of PiS-led governments.

 

Contrary to some expectations, however, the PM did not offer a broad outlook on what his government is planning to do before 2027, the year of the next general election which could see Tusk’s government swept from power. He said more changes are coming with a government reshuffle in July.

 

Tusk cited rising defense expenditure, a drop in the number of visas issued to migrants from Asia and Africa, and an expansion of social spending as key achievements of his Cabinet.

 

He also pointed to economic growth accelerating to more than 3 percent in 2025 so far, compared to just 0.2 percent in 2023, the last year of PiS’s rule.

 

He also repeated a commitment to bring PiS’s alleged abuses to light.

 

“No abuse [of power], no falsehood, and no theft will be swept under the rug,” Tusk said, reiterating promises made during the 2023 campaign to hold PiS accountable for what he then called “rampant corruption.”

 

He also promised to move on efforts to restore rule of law in Poland by trying to undo the changes the PiS made to the justice system which led to a deep conflict with the EU. “We will return to these projects to rebuild a real justice system in Poland,” he said.

 

However, such legislation is likely to be blocked by Nawrocki.