Poland’s PM vows push for Ukraine aid
Calls for unity at home amid Russian pressure
WARSAW — Poland’s newly elected prime minister, Donald Tusk, vowed Tuesday that his government will demand that the West keep helping neighboring Ukraine and pledged that Warsaw would be a stable ally of NATO and a leader in Europe.
In his inaugural speech to Parliament, Tusk also called on Poland’s fractious political class to unite, saying it cannot afford divisions while Russia is waging a war of aggression across the border, a conflict many fear could spread if Moscow prevails.
“Poland’s task, the new government’s task, but also the task of all of us, is to loudly and firmly demand the full determination from the entire Western community to help Ukraine in this war. I will do this from day one,” Tusk said in a session attended by Ukraine’s ambassador and former Polish presidents, including the anticommunist freedom fighter Lech Walesa.
After the speech, Parliament gave Tusk a vote of confidence by supporting his Cabinet.
The vote, however, was delayed after a far-right lawmaker use a fire extinguisher to put out candles on a Hanukkah menorah in the Parliament, creating disruption and scandal as the new pro-EU government was beginning its work. Tusk denounced the incident as a disgrace.
The lawmaker, Grzegorz Braun, a pro-Russian member of the Confederation party, has in the past falsely claimed that there is a plot to turn Poland into a “Jewish state” and has called for homosexuality to be criminalized.
The speaker of the parliament, Szymon Holownia, called the act “absolutely scandalous” and excluded Braun from the day’s parliamentary session, expressing hopes that “he will not return soon.” He said he was reporting him to prosecutors.
Tusk expressed his exasperation that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky must keep urging world leaders to continue supporting Kyiv’s struggle in a war that has killed or maimed tens of thousands of Ukrainians. As another winter sets in, allies are growing tired. Even funds from the United States are in doubt.
“I can no longer listen to some European politicians and those from other Western countries who say they are tired of the situation in Ukraine,” Tusk said. “They say to President Zelensky’s face that they no longer have the strength, that they are exhausted.”
Tusk was elected by Parliament on Monday. His challenges include restoring democratic standards in Poland, working for the release of European Union funding that was frozen due to democratic backsliding by his predecessors, and seeking to manage the migration that is causing political upheaval in Europe.
Tusk, a centrist leader who was prime minister from 20072014, is the head of a broad coalition of parties that won election in October and has promised to work together under Tusk’s leadership to restore democratic standards and improve ties with allies.
Tusk’s speech came a day after lawmakers chose him as the prime minister after rejecting the former premier, Mateusz Morawiecki of the Law and Justice party.
Tusk’s Cabinet includes a former foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, taking up that role again. Adam Bodnar, a respected human rights lawyer and former ombudsman, was tapped as justice minister.
In his speech, Tusk stressed that his country on NATO's eastern flank would honor its obligations as a Western ally.
“Poland is and will be a key, strong, sovereign link in NATO, and Poland will be a loyal, stable ally of the United States, confident of its strength and importance,” Tusk said.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan congratulated Tusk in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
President Biden “looks forward to continuing our work together as close allies. We value Poland’s partnership on so many issues — support for Ukraine, shared democratic values, energy — to name a few,” Sullivan wrote.
On domestic matters, Tusk vowed to continue popular social policies introduced by Law and Justice, including cash payments to families with children, to pursue wise financial policies, and to protect the rights of women and the LGBTQ+ community.