Prime Minister Donald Tusk steps down. Photo: PAP/Jacek Turczyk
After seven years at the helm of the government, Tusk claimed on Thursday that he would be able to do many positive things for Poland during his presidency of the EU council after he takes up the post on 1 December.
“If I hadn't been 100 percent convinced of the possibility of building the common interests of the EU and the Republic [of Poland] as one great interest, then I wouldn't have taken up this new mission,” he said during a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw.
“Today, it only remains for me to thank all Poles and all of my beloved Poland for these seven years,” he said.
The outgoing prime minister reflected that they had been “difficult years for many of us.
“But I have to say that for me they were the most important and most beautiful.”
Tusk's prospective successor, Speaker of Parliament Ewa Kopacz, is expected to be formally accepted by Komorowski over the next two weeks, having been accepted as the candidate of both Tusk's Civic Platform party and coalition partner the Polish Peasants' Party.
Donald Tusk's cabinet during Thursday's ceremony at the Presidential Palace. Photo: PAP/Jacek Turczyk
Komorowski counting on Tusk for eurozone debate
President Bronislaw Komorowski stressed during Thursday's ceremony that he is counting on Tusk's voice in convincing the public of the value of Poland adopting the euro.
Komorowski said the task of persuading the Polish public to join the eurozone is “a great challenge.”
He likewise claimed that the 30 August election of Tusk as president of the European Council represented "the culmination of 25 years of freedom" following the collapse of communism, together with the completion of 10 years in the EU.
Opposition puts boot in
Meanwhile, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, head of chief opposition party Law and Justice, criticised the outgoing prime minister during a press conference.
“It cannot be so that somone leaves the country when it is in a very difficult situation, when we have a war near the Polish border,” he said of the Ukrainian crisis.
Kaczynski also described Tusk's new post as being one of “middling importance,” although he noted that it was very beneficial for Tusk “on a personal level.”
The Law and Justice leader argued that Russian company Gazprom's dramatic drop in gas supplies to Poland was the most important topic of the day. (nh)
Source: PAP