Tusk: 'I will lead my party till Dec 1'
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
02.09.2014 09:42
Donald Tusk has said he will lead his Civic Platform party till 1 December, when he will take up his new post as President of the European Council.
Donald Tusk (left) with defence minister Tomasz Siemoniak, Monday - one of the candidates to take over as prime minister of Poland: photo - PAP/Adam Warżawa
“Being Polish prime minister is an honour,” Tusk said in his first major TV interview since being chosen on Saturday to lead the EU's European Council.
On being prime minister for the last seven years, Tusk told the TVP broadcaster: “I will feel indebted to Poles for the rest of my life, because it's the most important thing I have ever done.”
After being elected to take over from Herman Van Rompuy as head of the European Council, the 57 year-old centre-right politician said that “those who appreciate me are happy. And those who have had enough of me will be glad that I will no longer be in Warsaw”.
Donald Tusk added that he is not in favour of early elections in Poland – which are scheduled for autumn next year – though this will be up to his successor, as will be the composition of the new cabinet.
Favourites to lead the christian-democrat Civic Platform are speaker of the lower house of Poland Ewa Kopacz and defence minister Tomasz Siemoniak. (pg)