Poland’s Tusk looks for big-hitters in European election conflict

Three ministers belonging from the biggest party in Poland’s government will be a part of European parliament elections, officials revealed, as Prime Minister Donald Tusk asked Poles to vote in a ballot he labelled one of the most prominent in decades.

The elections in June provide Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO) with another opportunity to solidify their place as Poland’s dominant political force after they got unsuccessful to knock nationalist rivals Law and Justice (PiS) off the top spot in local elections in the current month.

PiS were the hugest party in the local elections and in a general election in October, though they lost their majority to a broad pro-European coalition led by Tusk that vowed to reverse democratic backsliding, boost the rights of women and minorities and repair collaborations with Poland’s Western allies.

With war getting encouraged across Poland’s eastern border in Ukraine, Tusk sent to his party that there was zero space for complacency regarding the upcoming European Parliament elections, which often fail to capture the imagination of voters.

“These elections to the European Parliament are one of the most prominent in the post-war history of Poland,” he revealed. “They have never been so prominent and never had such a radical impact on our everyday lives as they do now, during the war, during threats that Europe did not even think about a few years ago.”

Tusk said that Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski would stand in the European elections. State Assets Minister Borys Budka and Culture Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz, responsible for sweeping changes to state media under Tusk, also feature on the list of candidates.

The declaration of their candidacies sets the stage for a potential reshuffle in government in which other departments could also get to encounter a transformation in ruler ship. “in the need of the hour , the European Union requires robust realism and defence of Polish interests by people who are credible and have faith  in Europe,” Tusk revealed.