In EU’s rule-of-law battle with Warsaw, the Council president — and former Polish prime minister — is a man in the middle.
In the meantime, Tusk has sought to stay focused on his day job, even as events in Warsaw captivate his attention and that of much of his Cabinet on the 11th floor of the Council’s Europa building. That was certainly the case on Monday when aides were consumed by speculation about what prompted Polish President Andrzej Duda to break with the ruling Law and Justice party and its leader Jarosław Kaczyński, declaring that he would veto two controversial laws that would have put the country’s judiciary under the government’s control.
Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczynski and Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo | Pawel Supernak/EPA
The previous Thursday, Tusk had sought an emergency meeting with Duda about the proposed legislation. His request was rebuffed, but two of their senior aides spoke. Duda also received a phone call from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and on Friday, with protesters on the streets of Warsaw, the U.S. State Department issued a warning that the legislation appeared “to undermine judicial independence and weaken the rule of law.”
Tusk’s own statement, describing his request for meeting, conveyed his own deep concern. “It is my belief that [the ruling party’s] most recent actions go against European values and standards and risk damaging our reputation,” he said. “They transport us — in the political sense — in time and space: backwards and eastwards.”
Democracy in Poland has been Tusk’s life mission. A 60-year-old native of Gdańsk, he grew up behind the Iron Curtain and was active in the anti-Communist Students’ Solidarity Committee in the late 1970s before going on to become one of his country’s most successful post-communist politicians.
A day after the death, in May, of the Polish-American statesman and scholar Zbigniew Brzezinski, Tusk took to his private Twitter feed — the one in Polish that he manages mostly himself and where he occasionally posts unplugged reflections — to quote the one-time U.S. national security adviser: “Brzezinski, a year ago: ‘Mr. Donald, Poland’s place is in Europe. Please keep an eye on it.’ So be it, Professor.”
“In Brussels, and in all of Europe, people ask me how to persuade our Polish partners not to do bad things” — Donald Tusk
“When it comes to EU membership,” he added, “There is no threat coming from Europe — today that threat is lurking in Poland. If anyone today is working towards stripping Poland of the benefits of EU membership, it is not people in Brussels, Paris, Madrid or Berlin. They are people I meet in Warsaw these days — not on the streets, but in officials’ private offices.”
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, left, shakes hands with Donald Tusk | François Lenoir/AFP via Getty Images
European Commission officials leading the discussions with the Polish government, including First Vice President Frans Timmermans, declined to comment on Tusk. Privately, officials insist that the Council president has not complicated the situation, particularly because his views are closely aligned with other leaders in Brussels and the official Commission position.
But when concerns first surfaced more than a year ago, some associates said Tusk was reluctant to get involved and his first instinct, in response to statements by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and others, was to prevent punitive action.
“I think he was very unhappy by the first movement by Timmermans and Juncker in early 2016 against Kaczyński,” one associate said. “At that time, he still believed talking will help.” The associate said Tusk opposed opening a formal process.
Any such resistance evaporated late last year when it became clear that the government in Warsaw was intent on eliminating the independence of the judiciary and sharply tightening executive control.
“He has a lot of bitterness seeing the reputation of Poland being damaged” — Senior Polish diplomat on Donald Tusk
The tension between Tusk and Law and Justice has also taken a sharp personal turn. He has been accused of treason and threatened with prosecution for murder by Kaczyński, who holds Tusk responsible for the death of his brother, Lech Kaczyński, in a 2010 plane crash in Smolensk, Russia.
The government has also sought to link him to other scandals. In April, Tusk endured more than eight hours of questioning by Polish prosecutors examining alleged illegal contacts between Polish and Russian intelligence officials during Tusk’s time as prime minister. He was identified as a witness, not a suspect, in that inquiry.
Tusk, who has branded that case political, arrived in Warsaw for his interrogation by train, and was greeted by a large throng of supporters and critics. Afterward, he told reporters: “the whole case has a highly political character.”
A senior Polish diplomat who has known Tusk for years said the rule of law dispute has been a burden, “a headache for the whole EU and for Tusk especially.” But the diplomat said that for Tusk there was clearly also an emotional component. “He has a lot of bitterness seeing the reputation of Poland being damaged,” the diplomat said.
Maïa de La Baume and Michał Broniatowski contributed reporting.
