Donald Tusk, leader of the pro-EU Polish opposition and winner of the October 15 election, has pledged to restore his country’s relations with the European Union which have been disrupted by the outgoing government of the Law and Justice Party (PiS), during his visit to Brussels today.

Donald Tusk, who is awaiting the mandate to form a governmentmet with the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen at the Commission headquarters.

“The goal today is to restore my country’s position in Europe and to strengthen the European Union as a whole,” said the former president of the European Council (2014-2019).

The result of the October 15 parliamentary elections in Poland “eshow clearly across Europe that democracy, the rule of law, freedom of expression and European unity remain important to our citizens“, added the leader of the Citizens’ Coalition, declaring “a proud Pole, a proud European”.

Donald Tusk is expected to head a coalition government made up of his Third Way (centre-right) and New Left allies, ending Poland’s eight-year rule by Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s PiS.

Tusk called the president yesterday Poland’s Andrei Dudaan ally of PiS, who is standing in the way, to “quickly” give him the mandate to form the new government.

During the election campaign, Donald Tusk pledged to restore Poland’s relations with Europe and achieve the disbursement of €35 billion from the resources of the NextGenerationEU Recovery Fund. Those funds have been frozen by the EU, which blames Warsaw for judicial reform that harms the independence of judges.

“I’m here as the leader of the opposition, not as prime minister, but time is running out,” he said. “I was obliged to take this initiative before the final decisions were made, because all methods, including unorthodox methods, must be used to save the money that Poland deserves,” he explained.

Ursula von der Leyen said the issue was on the agenda of her meeting with Donald Tusk today, along with support for Ukraine, European defence, modernization of the economy, as well as democracy and European values.

“I know we will agree on many points on many issues,” he said, commenting that the record turnout in the Oct. 15 parliamentary election showed Poles’ “strong commitment” to democracy.

Poland, a member of the European Union since 2004, has been accused of distancing itself from the Union since 2015 and the takeover of power by the ultra-conservative, nationalist PiS, adopting positions far from European principles and values ​​on immigration , the rights of the LGBTI+ community or abortion.

Cautious optimism

Andriy Duda started consultations with Polish parties yesterday, but has said he will give the first mandate to form a government to the outgoing PiS, which received the highest percentage in the election but lost a majority of seats and has no chance of forming a government .

Donald Tusk and a delegation of his party met yesterday with the Polish president.

“After my meeting with President Duda, I have reason to be cautiously optimistic. Everything shows that our cooperation will be as harmonious as possible”.

“He assured us that he will respect the results of the elections and if it is confirmed that the opposition has a majority, he will not hesitate and entrust it with the task of forming a government.”

The heads of the three opposition factions aiming to form the next Polish government have ruled out working with PiS and called on Andriy Duda not to delay and hand Donald Tusk the mandate to form a government.