Poland, victory for Tusk's centrists: «We are a beacon of hope in Europe» | EUROtoday

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Prime Minister Donald Tusk's Civic Coalition (KO) prevailed in yesterday's European elections, confirming itself – in line with exit polls – because the main drive in Poland after a marketing campaign dominated by considerations for nationwide safety. With battle in neighboring Ukraine and a migration disaster on the border with Belarus, Tusk appealed to Poles to “choose between a secure future in a country at the center of the European Union or a country at risk” in case Jaroslaw Kaczynski's nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) social gathering, identified for its conflicts with Brussels, had gained.

“We have shown that our choices, our efforts, have a much broader dimension than our national issues, we have shown that we are a beacon of hope for Europe,” Tusk instructed supporters after the primary previews of the outcomes. According to Ipsos exit polls, the Civic Coalition gained with 38.2% of the votes and 21 deputies, effectively above expectations on the eve. PiS has 33.9% and 19 representatives. Ko's allies within the coalition authorities, the centre-right Third Way and the Left, obtained 8.2 p.c and 6.6 p.c. The far-right Confederation social gathering obtained 11.9 p.c.

Tusk, former president of the European Council, describing an epochal conflict between Europe and Russia, had insisted on the necessity to include the advance of events near Vladimir Putin. “Believe me, for the Kremlin, the political conquest of Brussels would be more important than the capture of Kharkiv,” he defined, including: “We must not fall asleep, we cannot rest on our laurels.”

The outcome – nevertheless to be confirmed – marks the tip of the extreme energy of the nationalist proper which accuses the present Polish authorities of being too near Germany's pursuits. Tusk went as far as to outline PiS representatives in Parliament as “paid traitors and lackeys of Moscow” for having made a pact with the Eurosceptic events of Viktor Orban in Hungary and Marine Le Pen in France.