Donald Tusk

He was born on 22 April 1957 in Gdańsk. His father worked as a carpenter on the railway and his mother as a secretary at the hospital. He became the head of the family when he was just 14.

In 1976 he began studying history at the University of Gdańsk, where he became involved in opposition against the communist regime. Among others, he cooperated with underground Free Trade Unions and met the future leader of Solidarity Lech Wałęsa.

In 1980, he initiated the Independent Students’ Association (NZS), which became part of the Solidarity movement. He became the chairman of Solidarity at his workplace and a journalist for the weekly published by the union.

After the declaration of martial law in December 1981 by General Wojciech Jaruzelski, he went into hiding for a while. Later he worked as a bread salesman, and from 1984 to 1989 he made a living by manual labour: he specialized in high-altitude work using mountaineering equipment.

At that time, he worked for the underground Solidarity. After a short arrest, he was released under an amnesty for political prisoners announced by Wojciech Jaruzelski.

In 1983, he founded the illegal monthly "Przegląd Polityczny", which promoted economic liberalism and the principles of liberal democracy. An informal analytical centre supporting Lech Wałęsa was created around the magazine. When communism fell, members of the centre – the “Gdańsk liberals” – formed a government after the first free presidential elections in Poland.

At the same time, they founded the first pro-enterprise and pro-European party in Poland: the Liberal-Democratic Congress, and Donald Tusk became its leader.

He was also responsible for the demonopolisation and privatisation of a press group, which had previously been under the control of the communist state.

In the '90s. Donald Tusk was a Member of Parliament and served as Deputy Marshal of the Senate.

During the same period he published a series of books on the history of Gdańsk. Some of them have become bestsellers.

In 2001 he co-founded the new centre party: the Civic Platform, and in 2003 became its leader.

In 2007, after a difficult campaign, he defeated the ruling right-wing party and became prime minister. He held office for 7 years, making him the longest-serving prime minister of democratic Poland and the first to be re-elected.

During these 7 years, Poland maintained its economic growth: during the crisis, the economy grew by almost 20%, which is a European record.

Donald Tusk was elected President of the European Council in 2014 and re-elected in 2017 for a second 2.5-year term. His term of office expired on 30 November 2019.

In December 2019, he published the journal “Szczerze”, based on the five-year term of office of the President of the European Council, which became a bestseller in Poland.

In December 2019, Donald Tusk became President of the European People's Party.

From 3 July 2021 he is the president of the Civic Platform (PO).

On 24 October 2021 he was elected President of the Civic Platform.

On 11 December 2023 he was elected Prime Minister of Poland by the Sejm of the Republic of Poland.