The leaders of the European Union delivered a withering snub to Poland’s right-wing government on Thursday (March 9) by disregarding its objections and reappointing former Polish premier Donald Tusk to chair their summits.
Tusk’s successor as Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, acting on instructions from her party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a long-time political adversary of Tusk, had vowed to prevent him from securing a second 30-month term.
But the other 27 leaders had made no secret on arrival at a summit in Brussels that they were exasperated by Warsaw’s tactics and even Kaczynski’s closest allies, like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, had pledged support to Tusk.
“Thank you for this show of solidarity,” Tusk told leaders at the opening of the summit after EU leaders had voted to reappoint him, adding: “I will work with all of you without any exceptions because I’m truly devoted to unite Europe, and as I have promised myself not to let you down, we must simply start our work again.”
Tusk’s reappointment, which follows the election in January of a conservative to head the European Parliament, means all three main political institutions are run by the center-right.
Jean-Claude Juncker heads the executive European Commission.
That lock on jobs has drawn calls from the left for balance.
(Reuters)