WARSAW (Reuters) – Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk set out a pro-European Union vision and pledged strong support for Ukraine on Tuesday, a day after his appointment ended eight years of nationalist rule that soured relations with the EU.
Below are the main policy plans from his speech:
EU RELATIONS
* “Poland will regain its position as a leader in the European Union, Poland will build its strength, the position it deserves,” Tusk said.
* He promised to “bring back billions of euros” from Brussels, referring to EU funds frozen under the previous government due to a row over the rule of law.
* He said he would oppose any changes to EU treaties that would disadvantage Poland.
UKRAINE WAR
* “We will … loudly and decisively demand the full mobilisation of the free world, the Western world, to help Ukraine in this war,” he said.
* Tusk promised his government would make defence a priority and honour previously signed arms contracts.
* He vowed to quickly resolve issues behind a protest by Polish truckers who have blocked some border crossings in a dispute over Ukrainian trucking firms’ access to the EU.
* In the context of a migration crisis on Poland’s border with Belarus which Warsaw accuses Minsk of orchestrating, he said he would keep Poland’s eastern border safe while being humane at the same time.
PUBLIC FINANCES
* Tusk promised to keep generous social benefits introduced under the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government, such as a universal child benefit which is due to be raised to 800 zlotys ($198) per month per child from Jan 1, 2024.
* He said teachers’ pay would rise by 30% from the beginning of next year and public sector employees would get a 20% rise.
* His government will introduce a new 1,500 zloty-per-month benefit for childcare for mothers who return to work after maternity leave.
* He said despite large social spending, his government would conduct a responsible fiscal policy and a Fiscal Council would be created to issue opinions on public spending plans.
* He also promised entrepreneurs the possibility of getting “vacations” from paying social security contributions.
RULE OF LAW
* Tusk said prosecutors will be independent from the government.
* He and Justice Minister Adam Bodnar, a former Human Rights Ombudsman, will look for ways to rebuild the rule of law and judicial institutions and bring to justice those responsible for eroding the Constitution.
* The new government plans an audit of state-owned companies which have become a “symbol of nepotism” under PiS, according to Tusk.
(Reporting by Anna Koper, Pawel Florkiewicz and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Nick Macfie)
