Donald Franciszek Tusk
Prime Minister of Poland
Incumbent
Assumed office  16 November 2007
President	Lech Kaczyński
Deputy	Waldemar Pawlak Grzegorz Schetyna
Preceded by	Jarosław Kaczyński
Vice Marshal of the Sejm
In office 19 October 2001 – 18 October 2005 Served Alongside: Andrzej Lepper Tomasz Nałęcz Kazimierz Michał Ujazdowski Janusz Wojciechowski Józef Zych
Preceded by	Marek Borowski Jan Król Franciszek Stefaniuk Stanisław Zając
Succeeded by	Janusz Dobrosz Jarosław Kalinowski Bronisław Komorowski Wojciech Olejniczak Andrzej Lepper Genowefa Wiśniowska Marek Kotlinowski
Vice Marshal of the Senate
In office 21 October 1997 – 18 October 2001 Served alongside: Andrzej Chronowski Tadeusz Rzemykowski Marcin Tyrna
Preceded by	Ryszard Czarny Stefan Jurczak Zofia Kuratowska Grzegorz Kurczuk
Succeeded by	Jolanta Danielak Ryszard Jarzembowski Kazimierz Kutz
Born	22 April 1957 (1957-04-22) (age 52) Gdańsk, Poland
Political party	Civic Platform European People's Party
Spouse(s)	Małgorzata Tusk
Profession	Historian
Religion	Roman Catholic
Signature

Donald Franciszek Tusk [ˈdɔnalt franˈt​͡ɕiʂɛk ˈtusk] ( listen) (born April 22, 1957, Gdańsk) is a center-right Polish politician, co-founder and chairman of the Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska), and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland.

Tusk was officially designated as Prime Minister on November 9, 2007 and took office on November 16. His cabinet won the vote of confidence in the Sejm on November 24, 2007.

[edit] Politics

Donald Tusk (right) being appointed as Prime Minister by President Lech Kaczyński on November 9, 2007

Tusk was one of several vice-speakers of the Sejm (2001-2005), the lower house of the Polish parliament. Prior to co-founding Civic Platform in 2001, he was a prominent member of the Liberal Democratic Congress (Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny) and the Freedom Union (Unia Wolności). He quit the Freedom Union after he failed to win the party's chairmanship in a race against Bronisław Geremek.

Tusk's political position combines strong support of a free market economy with little government interference. Tusk has been a member of the Sejm since 2004.

Tusk represented the constituencies of Gdynia-Słupsk (2001-2005) and Gdańsk (2005-2007). As of 2007 he is MP for Warsaw. In 2005, the Civic Platform nominated him as their candidate for the 2005 presidential election. He was defeated in the second round by a margin of 46:54 by Lech Kaczyński.

[edit] Controversies

On 27th October 2009, Tusk declared that he wants to partially delegalize gambling.^[1] There are some concerns on Internet censorship, as Tusk wants to ban Internet gambling and monitor Internet connections and money transfers.

[edit] Education

Tusk graduated from the Mikołaj Kopernik (Nicolaus Copernicus) High School in Gdańsk in 1976. He then enrolled as a student of history at the University of Gdańsk, from which he graduated in 1980 under professor Roman Wapiński with a MA thesis on Józef Piłsudski.

[edit] Family

Donald Tusk and his wife, Małgorzata, have two children, a son, Michał (b. 1982) and a daughter, Katarzyna (b. 1987). They reside in Sopot near Gdańsk.

Donald Tusk's father, also named Donald Tusk (1930-1972), was a carpenter. Donald Tusk's mother, Ewa Tusk (1934-2009),^[2] was a nurse. His uncle was a Gdańsk sculptor, Bronisław Tusk (1935-2000). His grandfather Józef Tusk (1907-1987) was a railway official who (due to his Kashubian heritage) was compulsorily drafted by German Nazi authorities into the Wehrmacht^[3] on August 2, 1944. He deserted only a few months later to join the Polish Army in the West on November 24, 1944. Donald Tusk belongs to the Kashubian minority in Poland. Tusk is a football fan and occasionally plays football or watches notable matches on television.

[edit] Electoral history

Polish presidential election, 2005

Prime Minister of Poland (vote of confidence)

• Yes - 238
• No - 204
• Abstain - 2

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Politics of Poland
• List of political parties in Poland
• List of politicians in Poland
• Polish presidential election, 2005
• Polish parliamentary election, 2005
• Polish parliamentary election, 2007
• Cabinet of Donald Tusk

[edit] External links

• Civic Platform
• (Polish) Prime Minister | Council of Ministers | The Chancellery of the Prime Minister
• Donald Tusk – the Implementation of the Polish dream.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Donald Tusk

v • d • e Candidates in the Polish presidential election, 2005 Henryka Bochniarz • Marek Borowski • Leszek Bubel • Włodzimierz CimoszewiczW • Maciej GiertychW • Liwiusz Ilasz • Lech KaczyńskiE • Jarosław Kalinowski • Janusz Korwin-Mikke • Andrzej Lepper • Daniel PodrzyckiD • Zbigniew ReligaW • Adam Słomka • Donald TuskR • Stanisław Tymiński E - elected, R - defeated in runoff, W - withdraw from race, D - died before election