Polish PM Tusk calls confidence vote
WARSAW
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk (C) and his wife Malgorzata Tusk (R) cast their ballots at a polling station in Sopot, Poland, during the second round of the presidential elections on June 1, 2025.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called for a parliamentary confidence vote in a bid to demonstrate continuing support for his pro-EU government after nationalist Karol Nawrocki won the presidential election.
European far-right leaders welcomed the election of the 42-year-old Nawrocki, a fan of US President Donald Trump who has said he will oppose the government's progressive agenda on abortion and LGBTQ rights.
He won June 1's runoff in the highly polarized EU and NATO member state with 51 percent of the vote to 49 percent for Tusk's liberal ally Rafal Trzaskowski.
In a televised address, former EU chief Tusk said on June 2 he wanted the confidence vote "soon" and vowed to stay on, adding that the election "will not change anything."
His comments came shortly after opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski of the populist Law and Justice (PiS) party said that Poles had shown him the "red card."
Kacynski called for a "technical" government of experts to replace the current one.
Nawrocki said that he wanted Poland to be "a state that matters in international, European and transatlantic relations."
"I will represent you with dignity on the international state, ensuring Poland is treated as an equal," he wrote on social media.
Nawrocki could revive tensions with Brussels over rule-of-law issues and complicate ties with Ukraine as he opposes NATO membership for the war-torn country and wants to cut benefits for Ukrainian refugees.
"Nawrocki's presidency will be a rough ride for the Tusk government," said analyst Piotr Buras, adding that the president-elect "wants to overthrow" Tusk.
He told AFP that the election result could lead to "early parliamentary elections, maybe not this year, but next" year.
