Poland’s ruling party against Tusk’s re-election

European Council President Donald Tusk said he is “ready” for the judgement awaiting him when EU heads of state and government decide tomorrow (9 March) whether he will serve another term starting in May-despite the Polish government’s backing of a replacement candidate.

“Grateful for trust and positive assessment by EUCO [European Council]”.

In an interview earlier with Polish television, Foreign Minister Waszczykowski said his country could even veto the summit’s conclusions to scupper Mr Tusk’s re-election.

Tusk said he was “ready for this judgement” by the 28 leaders but rejected criticism by Poland’s right-wing prime minister Beata Szydlo that he had “brutally violated” his job’s supposed political neutrality. Poland responded to Tusk’s re-election by blocking the summit’s final statement.

According to the daily, Waszczykowski said that there were “double standards” in the European Union, because allowing Polish-government candidate Jacek Saryusz-Wolski to participate in European Union debate required all 28 member states to have a say, while re-electing Tusk did not.

“All opinions should be respected”.

Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said it was unheard of to confirm a president without the consent of his home nation and hinted that the most important east European nation in the EU could run an opposition course in a bloc where much is decided by common consent.

Ms Szydlo nominated Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, an obscure member of the European Parliament who helped negotiate Poland’s EU accession, to replace Mr Tusk.

The Tusk issue nevertheless highlights a growing split between the older, western European Union nations led by Germany and France and the poorer, newer countries in the east that used to be under the Soviet yoke.

PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski holds Mr Tusk “politically” responsible for the 2010 plane crash in Russian Federation which killed his twin Lech Kaczynski, the then Poland’s president, and all other 95 people on board. Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban, an ally of Mr Kaczynski, approved Mr Tusk. He holds Mr Tusk and his government “morally responsible” for a 2010 plane crash that killed his twin brother Lech, then president of Poland.

In an apparent reference to the Polish government, Tusk said: “Be careful of the bridges you burn because once they are gone you can never cross them again”.

Mr Kaczynski said he was “disappointed” by Mr Orban’s attitude. As they said, the stance of Szydlo would not affect the result. “The good news”, Mr Kaczynski said after his defeat yesterday, “is that Poland has regained the empowerment and sovereignty previously destroyed by Civic Platform”.

“Alone in the EU” and “Tusk won 27 to 1” read headlines splashed across the front pages of major liberal and centrist newspapers in Poland on Friday, while a high-circulation tabloid declared Tusk “King Donald II”.

However, Tusk, who chaired the debate on Friday, urged European Union member states to strive towards maintaining political unity after Brexit.