Donald Tusk takes over as Poland PM

Donald Tusk will be sworn in as Poland's new prime minister on Wednesday, several weeks after an inconclusive October general election.

Tusk, who has a high profile throughout Europe after having served as president of the European Council between 2014 and 2019, failed to win a majority in the general election but was invited to form a coalition government after his predecessor, Mateusz Morawiecki, lost a key vote in Parliament on Monday.

"I want to thank Polish women and men," Tusk said after Monday's showdown. "Thank you, Poland. This is a wonderful day, not for me, but for all those who have deeply believed over these years that things will get better."

Morawiecki's populist Law and Justice party, which had run the country for eight years, won a slim majority in October's election and was initially invited to form a government. However, smaller parties refused to support Morawiecki's government and he lost Monday's crucial vote of confidence, opening the door to Tusk and his coalition of three parties that, together, has a parliamentary majority.

Tusk, who was prime minister of Poland between 2007 and 2014, campaigned during the general election as a pro-EU, liberal alternative to Morawiecki's anti-EU, right-wing, populist government and many in this nation of 38 million have been glued to their television sets as the two sides have battled it out.

During the election, which had a staggering 70-percent voter turnout, Tusk pledged to restore the independence of the country's judiciary, which the EU had said had come under the control of the previous administration.

"We are working … on a whole set of measures that will restore the rule of law as much as possible," the BBC quoted Tusk as saying.

Many Polish people hope the nation will now be able to convince the EU to free up 36 billion euros ($38.9 billion) of funding that the block had refused to hand over because of its concerns about the independence of the judiciary.

Tusk has also promised to make abortions available again. And he has said he will reintroduce safeguards to protect the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. He also plans to raise teachers' salaries, by 30 percent, and those of other public-sector workers, by 20 percent.

"We will provide help to people where it is needed, and, at the same time, we will ensure a reasonable budget policy, so that our social policy does not threaten the financial stability of the state," he said in a major speech in Parliament on Tuesday that was watched by millions of people. "From tomorrow, we will be able to right the wrongs, so that everyone, without exception, can feel at home."