Walruses

Warthog

Columbian mammoth tusks

Elephant

Narwhals

Tusks are elongated, continuously growing front teeth, usually but not always in pairs, that protrude well beyond the mouth of certain mammal species. They are most commonly canines, as with warthogs, pig, and walruses, or, in the case of elephants, elongated incisors. In most tusked species both the males and the females have tusks although the males are larger. Tusks are generally curved, though the narwhal's sole tusk is straight and has a helical structure. In the elephant, the tusks were originally second incisors. Continuous growth is enabled by formative tissues in the apical openings of the roots of the teeth.^[1][2]

Uses[link]

Tusks have a variety of uses depending on the animal. Social displays of dominance, particularly among males, are common, as is their use in defence against attackers. Elephants don't use them as digging and boring tools. Walruses use them to grip on ice and to haul out on ice.^[3] The presence of tusks in only the male narwhals suggests that for these whales it is a secondary sex characteristic.^[4]

Tusks are used by humans to produce ivory, which is used in artifacts and jewelry, and formerly in other items such as piano keys. Consequently, many tusk bearing species have been hunted commercially and several are endangered. The ivory trade has been severely restricted by the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

See also[link]

• Fang, a long canine tooth (in mammals)
• Ivory trade

References[link]

External links[link]

• Carved Ivory Tusk
• Objects made from ivory and marine ivory in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Lindsey Buckingham
Lindsey Buckingham performing with Fleetwood Mac on March 3, 2009
Background information
Birth name	Lindsey Adams Buckingham
Born	(1949-10-03) October 3, 1949 (age 62) Palo Alto, California, United States
Genres	Rock, pop, New Wave
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, banjo, keyboards, drums, percussion
Years active	1968–present
Labels	Reprise, Polydor, Mercury, Elektra, Asylum
Associated acts	Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham Nicks
Website	www.lindseybuckingham.com
Notable instruments
Rick Turner Model 1 Chet Atkins CEC RS6

Lindsey Adams Buckingham (born October 3, 1949) is an American guitarist, singer, composer and producer, most notable for being the guitarist and male lead singer of the musical group Fleetwood Mac from 1975 to 1987, and 1997 to present day. Aside from his tenure with Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham has also released six solo albums and two live albums. As a member of Fleetwood Mac, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2011, Buckingham was ranked 100th in Rolling Stone magazine's 2011 list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".^[1] In Fleetwood Mac's heyday, Buckingham was known for his finger picking guitar style and wide vocal range as well as the famous (sometimes tense) chemistry between himself and former girlfriend and fellow bandmate Stevie Nicks.

Early years[link]

Born in Palo Alto, California, Buckingham was the third and youngest child of Rutheda (née Elliott) and Morris Buckingham. He had two older brothers, Jeff and Greg. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area community of Atherton, Buckingham and his brothers were encouraged to swim competitively. Though Buckingham dropped out of athletics to pursue music, his brother Greg went on to win a silver medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

Buckingham's first forays into guitar playing took place on a toy Mickey Mouse guitar, playing along to his brother Jeff's extensive collection of 45s. Noticing his talent, Buckingham's parents bought their son a $35 Harmony guitar.

Buckingham never took guitar lessons and does not read music.^[2] By age 13, he became interested in folk music and, influenced by banjo methods, practiced the energetic style of The Kingston Trio. At 15 he joined a small folk group, Fritz, providing vocals and guitar work.

Buckingham Nicks[link]

Buckingham and his then-girlfriend Stevie Nicks recorded seven demos in 1972 on an analog 4-track machine, and drove to Los Angeles to pursue a record deal. In 1973, Polydor Records signed the pair. Their album, Buckingham Nicks, was released in September 1973; soon after its release, however, Polydor dropped the duo because of poor sales.

Despite Polydor's measure, though, Buckingham Nicks has been championed by rock critics since its release.^{[citation needed]} It features fine two-part harmonies backed by notable LA session musicians, including superstar drummer Jim Keltner. According to the album notes, other session musicians include: Ron Tutt (Elvis Presley TCB Band), drums; Peggy Sandvig, keyboards; Waddy Wachtel, guitar; Jorge Calderon, percussion; Jerry Scheff (Elvis Presley TCB Band), bass; Monty Stark, synthesizer; Gary Hodges, drums; and Mark Tulin, bass.

Although money was tight, the hardworking duo caught the attention of many budding musicians, including Warren Zevon, who is rumored to have been a roommate of Nicks and Buckingham in a Fairfax district apartment.^{[citation needed]}

A short tour promoting the Buckingham Nicks album commenced shortly after the joining of Buckingham and Nicks with Fleetwood Mac. Bootlegs of two concerts in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa exist and are widely distributed on peer-to-peer networks and fansites.^{[citation needed]} The touring band included drummers Bob Aguirre (from Fritz) and Gary Hodges playing simultaneously and bassist Tom Moncrieff, who later played bass on Stevie Nicks' 1981 album Bella Donna.

To help make ends meet, Buckingham toured with Don Everly's back-up band, singing Phil Everly's parts.^[3] Buckingham and Nicks were eventually forced to move in with record producer Keith Olsen, who helped the pair work on several demos for the next Buckingham Nicks album, including "I'm So Afraid", "Monday Morning" and "Rhiannon".^{[citation needed]}

Buckingham Nicks has never been released on CD (a bootleg version does exist), although both Buckingham and Nicks have hinted at a possible remix and re-release on CD in the near future. Buckingham has also suggested a tour in support of the collection could be something the two may be interested in. Moncrieff and Hodges from the original Buckingham Nicks touring band have also expressed interest.

Fleetwood Mac[link]

While checking out the Sound City recording studio in California, Mick Fleetwood heard the song "Frozen Love" from the Buckingham Nicks album. He asked who the guitarist was, and immediately stated that he wanted him to fill a recent vacancy. Buckingham insisted to Fleetwood that he and Nicks were a package deal—if Fleetwood didn't want Nicks, he wouldn't get Buckingham. The duo was quickly asked to join Fleetwood Mac on New Year's Eve, 1974.

Fleetwood Mac released their eponymously titled album in 1975, which became a hit. However it was the second album of this new line-up, Rumours, that propelled the band to superstar status when it became one of the best-selling albums of all time. Buckingham's "Go Your Own Way" was the lead-off single, soaring into the US Top Ten. After the resounding commercial success of Rumours (during the making of which Buckingham and Nicks famously split), Buckingham was determined to avoid falling into repeating the same musical pattern. The result was Tusk (1979), a double album that Buckingham primarily directed. Once again, Buckingham wrote the lead-off single, the title track that would peak at #8 on Billboard's Hot 100. It was during this time that Buckingham moved in with record company secretary and aspiring model, Carol Ann Harris, with whom he lived until 1984. Though by most standards a hit, Tusk failed to come close to Rumours record sales, and the album was followed by a hiatus in the band's studio recording efforts.

After a large world tour that ended in 1980, Fleetwood Mac took a year-long break before reconvening to record their next album Mirage, a more pop-friendly work that returned the band to the top of the US album chart. However, by this time various members of the band were enjoying success as solo artists (particularly Nicks) and it would be five years before the release of the next Fleetwood Mac album. By the time Tango in the Night was released in 1987, Buckingham had already released two solo albums and had given up much of the material for what would have been his third solo album for the project, including "Big Love", "Tango in the Night", "Family Man", "You and I" and "Caroline". On several of these tracks Buckingham played every instrument^{[citation needed]}. "Big Love", released as the first single from the album, became a top ten hit in the US and the UK.

Propelled by a string of hit singles, Tango in the Night became the band's biggest album since Rumours a decade earlier. However, following its release, Buckingham left Fleetwood Mac^[4] largely because of his desire not to tour and the strain he was feeling within the band. Fleetwood Mac continued without him, and Buckingham was replaced by guitarists Rick Vito and Billy Burnette.

Solo projects[link]

During the time he worked on Tusk, Buckingham also produced albums for Walter Egan and John Stewart in the late 1970s as well as beginning work on his own solo album.

In 1981, Buckingham released his first solo album Law and Order, playing nearly every instrument and featuring guest appearances by bandmates Mick Fleetwood and Christine McVie. The album pursued the quirky, eclectic, often lo-fi and new-wave-influences of Tusk, and spawned the hit single "Trouble" which reached #9 on the US Charts and #1 in Australia (for three weeks). Two years later, he wrote and performed the songs "Holiday Road" and "Dancin' Across the U.S.A." for the film National Lampoon's Vacation. "Holiday Road" was released as a single, and reached #82 on the Billboard's Hot 100. He did other soundtrack work, including the song "Time Bomb Town" from Back to the Future (1985). Buckingham played all of the instruments on the track except drums, which was played by noted drummer Michael Huey.

In 1984, after ending his 7-year relationship with Carol Ann Harris, he released his second solo album, Go Insane. The title track was a modest hit, reaching #23 on the Hot 100. The last track of the album, D.W. Suite, was a tribute to the late Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson.^[5] The next year, Buckingham performed on USA for Africa's fundraising single, "We Are the World".

Following his split with Fleetwood Mac in 1987, Buckingham spent much of the next five years in the studio, working on his third solo album, Out of the Cradle, which was released in 1992. Many of the songs seem to deal with the death of his father and the sudden death of his brother Greg in 1990. "Wrong" was a gentle rebuke of former bandmate Mick Fleetwood's tell-all biography. Out of the Cradle received some favorable reviews but did not achieve the sales levels associated with Fleetwood Mac. However, Buckingham toured throughout 1992–93 for the first time as a solo artist; his band included an army of seven other guitarists (Buckingham himself calls them "the crazy band" on his Soundstage DVD), each of whom he individually taught the entire two-and-a-half hours of music from the concert (Lindsey Buckingham: Behind the Music documentary for VH-1, 2001).

A subsequent solo album, entitled Gift of Screws, was recorded between 1995–2001 and presented to Warner Bros./Reprise for release. Executives at the label managed to persuade Buckingham to hold the album back and instead take several tracks from Gift of Screws and re-record them with Fleetwood Mac. Thus, seven songs from Gift of Screws appear on the Fleetwood Mac album Say You Will, in substantially the same form as Buckingham had recorded them for his solo release. Excellent bootleg copies of Gift of Screws—taken from an original CD-R presented to Warner Bros/Reprise—are known to exist, and have been widely distributed among fans through the use of torrent sites and other peer-to-peer networks.

On his 57th birthday, (October 3, 2006) Buckingham's fourth solo album, an acoustic album entitled Under the Skin was released. Under The Skin features Buckingham on almost all instruments, with the exception of two tracks that feature Fleetwood Mac's rhythm section of John McVie and Mick Fleetwood. The album includes a cover of The Rolling Stones classic "I Am Waiting". Three days after the album's release, Buckingham embarked on a tour in support the album that lasted until the end of June 2007.^[6] A live album and DVD, Live at the Bass Performance Hall, was released documenting the Fort Worth, Texas show from this tour.^[7]

In 2008, the Gift of Screws album was finally released, containing three tracks from the originally planned album, as well as seven new recordings. Buckingham then commenced a short tour to promote Gift of Screws in September and October, opening in Saratoga, California and closing in New York, New York.^[8]

On November 3, 2010, Buckingham's website announced that he was working on an untitled album with release planned in early 2011.^[9] Buckingham had finished recording the album, titled Seeds We Sow in April, and on April 22, 2011, he filmed a concert for DVD release to support the album. Seeds We Sow was released on September 6, 2011.^[10] On September 10, Buckingham kicked off the Seeds We Sow Tour in Reno, Nevada; the tour ended in Tulsa, Oklahoma on November 14. Buckingham had planned to conduct his first solo tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland in December. However, in early December Buckingham postponeed all UK dates due to his guitarist suffering a back injury.^[11] The UK dates were subsequently cancelled.

Buckingham began a "solo" (no backing band) tour of the United States on May 3, 2012 in Solana Beach, California.^[12]

Rejoining Fleetwood Mac[link]

In 1992, newly elected president Bill Clinton asked Fleetwood Mac to come together to perform the song he had chosen for his campaign, "Don't Stop", at his inaugural ceremony. Buckingham agreed to be part of the performance, but the experience was something of a one-off for the band, who were still very much at odds with one another and had no plans to reunite officially.

While assembling material for a planned fourth solo album in the mid 1990s, Buckingham contacted Mick Fleetwood for assistance on a song. Their collaboration lasted much longer than anticipated, and the two eventually decided to call upon Stevie Nicks, John and Christine McVie. The band's old chemistry was clearly still there, and plans for a reunion tour were soon in the works. In 1997, Buckingham and all four of his bandmates from the original Rumours line-up of Fleetwood Mac went on the road for the first time together since 1982 in a reunion tour titled The Dance. The tour was hugely successful and did much to heal the damage that had been done between Buckingham and his bandmates. However, Christine McVie had opted to leave the band in 1998, essentially now making the band a foursome. In 2003, the reformed band released the first studio album involving Buckingham and Nicks in 15 years, Say You Will. Buckingham's song "Peacekeeper" was the first single from the album, and the band went on a world concert tour that would last almost a year and a half.

The band toured in 2009, rehearsals began in January 2009, with the first date of the "UNLEASHED" Tour as March 1, 2009, in Mellon Arena (Pittsburgh). Christine McVie was not involved with this project.

Musical style[link]

Unlike most rock guitarists, Buckingham does not play with a pick; instead, he picks the strings with his fingers and fingernails. Initially after joining Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham used a Gibson Les Paul. Before the band, a Fender Telecaster was his main guitar, and was used on his first Fleetwood Mac album. In 1979, he worked with Rick Turner, owner of Renaissance Guitars to create the Model One. He has used it extensively since, both with Fleetwood Mac and for his solo efforts. He uses a Taylor Guitar 814ce for most of his acoustic performances and has also used an Ovation Celebrity in the past.

His influences include The Beach Boys and The Kingston Trio.

In an interview with Guitar World Acoustic Magazine, Buckingham said:

"I've always believed that you play to highlight the song, not to highlight the player. The song is all that matters. There are two ways you can choose to go. You can try to be someone like Eddie Van Halen, who is a great guitar player, a virtuoso. Yet he doesn't make good records because what he plays is totally lost in the context of this band's music.

Then there are guitar players like Chet Atkins, who weren't out there trying to show themselves off as guitar players per se, but were using the guitar as a tool to make good records. I remember loving Chet's work when I was a kid, but it was only later, when I really listened to his guitar parts, that I realized how much they were a part of the song's fabric, and how much you'd be going 'Oh, that song just isn't working' if they weren't there." ^[13]

Personal life[link]

On July 8, 1998, Buckingham's girlfriend, Kristen Messner, gave birth to their son, William Gregory Buckingham. Buckingham and Messner subsequently married in 2000, when Messner was 30 and Buckingham was 51; she gave birth to a daughter, Leelee, the same year. Their third child, Stella, was born on April 20, 2004. The song "It Was You" from his Under the Skin album pays homage to all three children by using their names.

Discography[link]

As Buckingham Nicks[link]

With Fleetwood Mac[link]

Albums

Live albums and compilations

Solo albums[link]

Soundtrack appearances[link]

Singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Buckingham, Lindsey (3 September 2003). A conversation with musician Lindsey Buckingham. with Charlie Rose. Charlie Rose. WNET. New York. http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/1824. Retrieved 2011-01-08. 

Donald Tusk
14th Prime Minister of Poland
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 November 2007 &100000000000000040000004 years, &10000000000000223000000223 days
President	Lech Kaczyński Bronisław Komorowski (Acting) Bogdan Borusewicz (Acting) Grzegorz Schetyna (Acting) Bronisław Komorowski
Deputy	Waldemar Pawlak
Preceded by	Jarosław Kaczyński
Leader of the Opposition
In office 1 June 2003 – 16 November 2007
Prime Minister	Leszek Miller Marek Belka Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz Jarosław Kaczyński
Preceded by	Maciej Płażyński
Succeeded by	Jarosław Kaczyński
Chairperson of the Civic Platform
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 June 2003
Preceded by	Maciej Płażyński
Parliamentary Leader of the Civic Platform in the Sejm
In office 5 November 2005 – 5 December 2006
Preceded by	Jan Rokita
Succeeded by	Bogdan Zdrojewski
In office 9 April 2003 – 1 June 2003
Preceded by	Maciej Płażyński
Succeeded by	Jan Rokita
Personal details
Born	Donald Franciszek Tusk (1957-04-22) 22 April 1957 (age 55) Gdańsk (Danzig), Poland
Political party	Civic Platform
Spouse(s)	Małgorzata Tusk
Children	Michał Katarzyna
Alma mater	University of Gdańsk
Signature

Donald Franciszek Tusk [ˈdɔnalt franˈt​͡ɕiʂɛk ˈtusk] ( listen) (born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska) party.

Tusk was officially designated as Prime Minister on 9 November 2007 and took office on 16 November. His cabinet won a vote of confidence in the Sejm on 24 November 2007. He is currently the longest serving prime minister of the Third Republic of Poland. In October 2011, Tusk's Civic Platform won a plurality of seats in the Polish parliamentary election, meaning that Tusk became the first Prime Minister to be re-elected since the fall of communism in Poland.^[1]

Tusk began his public career as an activist in his home town of Gdansk, supporting Solidarity and organizing his fellow university students. With the exception of one four-year stretch, Tusk has served in the Third Republic parliament almost continuously since its first elections in 1991. He was Vice Marshal (deputy speaker) of the Senate from 1997 to 2001 and Vice Marshal of the Sejm from 2001 to 2005. He also served as Leader of the Opposition from 2003 to 2007.

Studies and personal life[link]

Tusk was born in Gdańsk (Danzig). Tusk's father, also named Donald Tusk (1930–1972), was a carpenter. Donald Tusk's mother, Ewa Tusk (1934–2009),^[2] was a nurse. His uncle, Bronisław Tusk (1935–2000), was a sculptor from Gdańsk. His grandfather Józef Tusk (1907–1987) was a railway official who, as a former citizen of the Free City of Danzig, was compulsorily drafted by German Nazi authorities into the Wehrmacht^[3] on 2 August 1944. He deserted a few months later to join the Polish Army in the West on 24 November 1944.

Donald Tusk belongs to the Kashubian minority in Poland. In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in December 2008, Tusk compared his own family history to the Jewish experience, describing the Kashubian minority as a people who, "like the Jews, are people who were born and live in border areas and were suspected by the Nazis and by the Communists of being disloyal".^[4]

Tusk graduated from the Mikołaj Kopernik (Nicolaus Copernicus) High School in Gdańsk in 1976. He then enrolled as a student of history at the University of Gdańsk, from which he graduated in 1980 under professor Roman Wapiński with an M.A. thesis on Józef Piłsudski.

Donald Tusk and his wife, Małgorzata, have two children: a son, Michał (b. 1982) and a daughter, Katarzyna (b. 1987). He also has one grandson, Mikołaj (b. 2009) by his son Michał. They reside in Sopot near Gdańsk.

Politics[link]

Student activism and Solidarity in Gdańsk[link]

At the beginning of the Solidarity era, Tusk was involved in student politics in Gdańsk. He helped found the Solidarity Student Committee at the university, and later the local Independent Students Association. This positioned him at the forefront of student politics in 1980, and he was influential in founding the Independent Students Union (NZS), the Solidarity affiliate, that year. He became a journalist, involved with pro-Solidarity organs like Samorzadnosc, as well as and Kashubian publications. He collaborated with the Free Trade Unions of the Coastal Region as well as Kashubian leader Lech Bądkowski. Tusk's activities blacklisted him from at employment at state-operated firms under the Communist government, so Tusk spent seven years working at the Swietlik co-operative.

Early years of the Third Republic[link]

Tusk was one of the founders of the Liberal Democratic Congress (Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny), and become its president in 1991. In this party – which backed free markets, European integration, and privatization of state industry – one can see the consistency with the political platform Tusk backs today. In the 1991 elections, the KLD won 8% of the vote and 37 seats in the Sejm with the slogan, "Neither the right nor the left, just straight to Europe." Tusk was one of the candidates, making him a member of the First Sejm of the Third Polish Republic. Conservative parties formed a loose coalition in the Sejm, and KLD member Jan Krzysztof Bielecki became prime minister. Tusk did not enter the government. Tusk was involved in the so-called Nocna Zmiana change of government during the night of 4–5 June 1992.

Bielecki's government soon fell, and KLD stayed in opposition until Hanna Suchocka became prime minister in 1992. Suchocka's government quickly became unpopular, and KLD's popularity fell with it. In the 1993 elections, the party received only 4%, under the threshold and keeping it out of the Sejm for the next term. Tusk lost his seat as well and would be out of Parliament until 1997.

In 1994, the KLD merged with the Democratic Union (Unia Demokratyczna) to become the Freedom Union (Unia Wolności, UW). Tusk became vice-chairman of the new party. Tusk was elected to the Senate in the next election in 1997, with his UW party supporting the Solidarity (AWS) government of Jerzy Buzek. He served as deputy speaker of the Senate in that term.

Civic Platform and the 21st century[link]

In the run-up to the 2001 elections, Tusk lost a leadership campaign in the UW party to Bronislaw Geremek. With the party in disarray and the previous parliament's AWS/Solidarity coalition breaking apart, Tusk, Andrzej Olechowski, and Maciej Plazynski founded Civic Platform (PO), taking many party members with him. The party would win 65 seats in that year's election, becoming the largest single opposition party. Tusk became deputy speaker of the Sejm. While Plazynski was founding chairman of the party, Tusk took over in 2003, and has been leader ever since. (The Freedom Union party won no seats. It later changed its name to the Democratic Party.)

Tusk was the party's official candidate for the 2005 presidential election. He was defeated in the second round by a margin of 46:54 by Lech Kaczyński. He represented the constituencies of Gdynia-Słupsk (2001–2005) and Gdańsk (2005–2007). Since 2007 he has been an MP for Warsaw.

Tusk's political position emphasizes strong support for a free market economy with minimal government interference and cooperative relationships with other EU members.

Prime minister[link]

Donald Tusk (right) being appointed as Prime Minister by the then President Lech Kaczyński on 9 November 2007

Tusk and his Civic Platform party emerged victorious in the 2007 parliamentary election, defeating incumbent Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński‘s Law and Justice party. The Civic Platform’s electoral victory also pushed Law and Justice’s junior coalition partners, the League of Polish Families and Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland out of the Sejm altogether. Following the election, Tusk engaged in coalition talks with the Polish People's Party, emerging with a solid working parliamentary majority. On 9 November, President Lech Kaczyński, who had defeated Tusk in 2005’s presidential election, asked Tusk to form a government. Tusk and his assembled cabinet were sworn in on 16 November, becoming the fourteenth prime minister of the Third Republic.^[5] Tusk and his newly-assembled cabinet survived a vote of confidence in the Sejm several days later on 24 November. In the 2011 parliamentary election, Civic Platform retained its place as Poland's most popular party.

Domestic policy[link]

In his government’s domestic policy, Tusk has pursued the continuation of free-market policies, streamlining the bureaucracy, enacting long-term stable governance, cutting taxes to attract greater foreign business ventures, luring foreign-working Poles back to Poland, and privatizing state-owned companies.^[6] The construction of a more adequate and larger national road network in preparation for the UEFA 2012 football championships has been a stated priority for the Tusk government.^[7]

On 27 October 2009, Tusk declared that he wants to partially outlaw gambling.^[8] There are some concerns on Internet censorship, as Tusk wants to ban Internet gambling and monitor Internet connections and money transfers.

During the 2009 swine flu pandemic, Tusk defended his government's decision not to purchase swine flu vaccine, citing the lack of testing by pharmaceutical companies and its unavailability to be purchased freely through the market. Tusk criticized other nations' responses to the pandemic. "The eagerness of some countries seems to be excessive and disproportionate to the real epidemiological situation", Tusk stated, referring to the pandemic's relatively low fatality rate.^[9] The government's decision drew harsh responses from opposition members in the Sejm.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy

European policy[link]

In continental policy, Tusk has strongly supported greater political and economic integration within the European Union, strongly backing the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, standing in stark contrast to President Lech Kaczyński's vehement opposition.^[10] Tusk has repeatedly stated his government’s intention in bringing Poland into the Eurozone. Originally wanting to introduce the euro by 2012, Tusk envisioned in 2009 a starting year of 2015 as "a realistic and not overly-ambitious goal".^[11] However, during the European sovereign debt crisis, Tusk and his government displayed less optimism in joining the monetary union under contemporary economic circumstances, leading to Finance Minister Jan Vincent-Rostowski calling any move "unthinkable."^[12] Despite not being a member of the eurozone, Tusk pressed that Poland, along with the other non-eurozone states of the EU, should be included in future euro financial negotiations.^[13]

Between July and December 2011, Poland under Tusk's government presided over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.^[14] Under its presidency tenure, Poland supported and welcomed Croatia's entry into the European Union through the Treaty of Accession 2011.^[15]

While being a constituent member of the Weimar Triangle with fellow states Germany and France, Tusk showed displeasure over German Chancellor Angela Merkel's and French President Nicolas Sarkozy's dominating roles in eurozone negotiations, remarking to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in January 2012 that "this should not translate into a lasting political monopoly: things cannot be left to only two capitals of Europe."^[16] While supporting Franco-German efforts to solve the crisis, Tusk believed the effort should be continental-wide, with EU states using their own initiatives.

Foreign policy[link]

In foreign policy, Tusk has sought to improve relations severely damaged during the previous Kaczyński government, particularly with Germany and Russia. While criticizing the words of German politician Erika Steinbach with regard to her opinion over the expulsion of Germans from Poland following World War II, Tusk has stressed the need for warm relations with Berlin.^[17] Tusk has also advocated a more realistic relationship with Moscow, especially in regards to energy policy.^[17] Under Tusk’s premiership, Russian bans on Polish meat and agricultural products have been lifted, while Poland reversed its official policy of disagreement on a European Union-Russian partnership agreement.^[18]

Donald Tusk with President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev in 2010

During a speech delivered to the Sejm in the first weeks of his premiership, Tusk outlined a proposal to withdraw military units from Iraq, stating that "we will conduct this operation keeping in mind that our commitment to our ally, the United States, has been lived up to and exceeded".^[19] The last Polish military units completed their withdrawal in October 2008.^[20]

In regards to U.S. plans of hosting missile defense shield bases in the country, Tusk hinted skepticism toward the project, saying that their presence could potentially increase security risks from Russia, and rejected U.S. offers in early July 2008.^[21] By August, however, Tusk relented, and supported the missile shield, declaring: "We have achieved the main goal. It means our countries, Poland and the United States will be more secure."^[22] Following President Barack Obama's decision to scrap and revise missile defense strategy, Tusk described the move as "a chance to strengthen Polish-US co-operation in defense..." He said: "I took this declaration from President Obama very seriously and with great satisfaction."^[23] Tusk later supported a smaller and more mobile defense strategy equipped with short-range missiles and fewer personnel.

Contrary to the condemnation of foreign governments and the leadership of the European Union, Tusk supported Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in his efforts of implementing a new controversial constitution. Tusk stated that the Hungarian constitution's democratic controversies were "exaggerated" and that Hungary had "a European level standard of democracy."^[24] Tusk's support for the Hungarian government garnered a rare show of solidarity with the opposition Law and Justice, which also publicly displayed support for Orbán's efforts.^[25]

In early 2012, Tusk announced his support for committing Poland to signing the international Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). In response, websites for the Chancellery, Sejm and Presidency were hacked in mid-January.^[26] Following Anonymous' claim of responsibility for the web attack, Tusk remained undeterred by internet protests, authorizing the Polish ambassador in Japan to sign the agreement, yet promised that final legislation in the Sejm would not go ahead without assurances regarding freedom to access the Internet.^[27] Despite the government's guarantees, mass protests erupted in late January, with demonstrations held in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław and Kielce.^[28][29] Further web attacks were reported on the website of Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski.^[30]

Constitutional reform[link]

The Tusk cabinet in Presidential Palace, November 2007.

After being elected prime minister, relations between Tusk and President Lech Kaczyński were often acrimonious due to different political ideologies and the constitutional role of the presidency. Using presidential veto powers, Kaczyński blocked legislation drafted by the Tusk government, including pension reform, agricultural and urban zoning plans, and restructuring state television.^[31] Tusk and Kaczyński repeatedly sparred over issues ranging from European integration, homosexuality, foreign policy, to constitutional issues, with Tusk taking more socially liberal opinions than the conservative Kaczyński.

In his premiership, Tusk has proposed various reforms to the Polish constitution. In 2009, Tusk proposed changes to the power of the presidency, by abolishing the presidential veto. "The president should not have veto power. People make their decision in elections and then state institutions should not be in conflict", said Tusk.^[32] Tusk again reiterated his desire for constitutional reform in February 2010, proposing that the presidential veto be overridden by a simple parliamentary majority rather than through a three-fifths vote. "Presidential veto could not effectively block the will of the majority in parliament, which won elections and formed the government", stated Tusk.^[33] Further constitutional reforms proposed by Tusk include reducing the Sejm from a membership of 460 to 300, "not only because of its savings, but also the excessive number of members' causes blurring certain plans and projects".^[33] Similarly, Tusk proposed radical changes to the Senate, preferring to abolish the upper house altogether, yet due to constitutional concerns and demands from the junior coalition Polish People's Party partner, Tusk proposed reducing the Senate from 100 to 49, while including former presidents to sit in the Senate for political experience and expertise in state matters.^[33] Parliamentary immunity for all members of the Sejm and Senate would also be stripped, except for in special situations.^[33] In addition, Tusk proposed that the prime minister's role in foreign policy decisions would be greatly expanded.^[34] By decreasing the president's role in governance, executive power would further be concentrated in the prime minister, directly responsible to the cabinet and Sejm, as well as avoiding confusion over Poland's representation at international or EU summits.^[35] The opposition conservative Law and Justice party deeply criticized Tusk's constitutional reform proposals, opting in opposing legislation for the presidency to garner greater power over the prime minister.^[36]

In an interview with the Financial Times in January 2010, Tusk was asked if he considered running again as Civic Platform's candidate for that year's presidential election. Tusk replied that although the presidential election typically drew the most voters to the polls and remained Poland's most high-profiled race, the presidency had little political power outside of the veto, and preferred to remain as prime minister. While not formally excluding his candidacy, Tusk declared that "I would very much like to continue to work in the government and Civic Platform, because that seems to me to be the key element in ensuring success in the civilisational race in which we are engaged".^[37] A day after the interview, Tusk formally announced his intention of staying as prime minister, allowing his party to choose another candidate (and eventual winner), Bronisław Komorowski.^[38]

Tusk receiving the Karlspreis

Awards[link]

The Karlspreis of the city of Aachen was awarded to Tusk on 13 May 2010 for his merits in the further unification of Europe and for his role as a "patriot and great European". He dedicated the prize to the people killed in a plane crash of a Polish Air Force Tu-154 in April 2010 including the Polish president Lech Kaczyński. The eulogy was given by German chancellor Angela Merkel.^[39]

He was also awarded a Economy Raspberry Award (similar to the Golden Raspberry Award in movies) by the Puls Biznesu ("Business' Pulse") and organizacja Pracodawców RP (Polish Employers Confederation) awarded to the persons who had negative influence in Polish economy, destroyed entrepreneurship and damaged quality standards of capital market.^{[40] [41]}

Electoral history[link]

Polish presidential election, 2005

• 1st round : 5,429,666 (36,3%) – head of the first round
• 2nd round : 7,022,319 (45.96) – defeated in the second round round against Lech Kaczynski

Prime Minister of Poland (vote of confidence)

2007

• Yes – 238
• No – 204
• Abstain – 2

2011

• Yes - 234
• No - 211
• Abstain - 2

See also[link]

• Cabinet of Donald Tusk
• List of political parties in Poland
• List of politicians in Poland
• Politics of Poland
• Polish parliamentary election, 2005
• Polish parliamentary election, 2007
• Polish parliamentary election, 2011

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Donald Tusk

• (Polish) Prime Minister | Council of Ministers | The Chancellery of the Prime Minister