Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will be the next President of the European Council. He takes over from Herman van Rompuy, who has made the announcement at a press conference in Brussels.
?I come to Brussels from a country that strongly believes in a united Europe,? Tusk said after the appointment was announced. ?I am aware that the [EU’s] main problems will not disappear by December,? he added. They include the crisis in the euro zone and I know that this is not just a challenge related to currency, but to the issue of Europeans? fundamental trust toward the EU.?
Tusk also stressed that the bloc would carefully listen to the voice of the United Kingdom during his presidency. He also said that the EU would be able to help countries such as Ukraine only if it manages to agree on a common point of view.
Tusk is the first politician from the ‘new member states’ that entered the bloc in 2004 from the central and eastern European region. UK PM David Cameron gave his support to Tusk’s candidature earlier this week and Germany’s Angela Merkel is known to be a supporter.
Before the decision was announced on Saturday evening, members of the European Parliament from the christian-democrat European People’s Party (EPP) ? of which Tusk’s Civic Platform is a member ? said they gave their backing to the Polish prime minister for the role.
The Polish media speculates about who will take over from Tusk to lead the Civic Platform-led government. Speaker of the lower house (Sejm) of the Polish parliament, Ewa Kopacz, put forward her candidacy to replace Donald Tusk as the Prime Minister. ?When one enters politics, any post that helps Poland is possible. If the situation requires it, I would be able to become the next Prime Minister? Kopacz said talking to the media.
Source: www,wbj.pl , www.thenews.pl
