Tusk’s Europe
Paweł Świeboda
Donald Tusk’s ascent to the post of the European Council President is a huge victory for Poland and Central Europe. It reflects how well Europe has been stitched together over the past decade, in spite of the crisis. The East-West divide is now a thing of the past. Russia gets a clear signal that there is more harmony in Europe than meets the eye.
But what about Tusk’s own vision of Europe? For someone of his political generation, shaped by the struggle with communism, Europe is a miracle of history. In a speech to the European Parliament in 2011, he spoke passionately about the European project as a source of hope and inspiration for Central Europe in the grim years of the Cold War. Instinctively pro-EU, Tusk has nevertheless been a pragmatist of European integration. For him, Europe is what you make out of it. It is an opportunity but not a panacea for everything. Member states have to use Europe as a lever but should not outsource their future to Brussels.
Even though Tusk has a strong personal relationship with Angela Merkel and his political style close matches hers, he is no subscriber to what Merkel once called the “union method” in European politics, with governments pulling all the strings. In Tusk’s vision of Europe, it is the institutions that must ensure level-playing field and enforce rules of the game. This promises to translate into a good working relationship with the European Commission and European Parliament, perhaps sometimes at the risk of being at odds with some capitals.
Tusk wants as much Europe as necessary but is against pulling sovereignty for its own sake. He is no federalist and does not believe that the competences of the European Union should go much beyond today’s status quo. This will position him comfortably between the two sides of the European debate and help him tackle the British request for renegotiation, one of the more challenging tasks he will face.
There are two issues he has stood up for with particular strength in the past years. One has to do with preventing a split between Eurozone and non-Eurozone members, the other with Europe becoming a geopolitical actor. On the former, he has fought a number of fierce and often emotional battles. Much to his credit, it is now widely accepted that the reconstruction of the Eurozone should proceed in a manner, which is open and inclusive. Non-Eurozone countries can choose to be part of most of the arrangements, including the banking union.
When it comes to geopolitics, he was an early crusader for the EU to treat the Russian challenge as a major turning point in international relations. Early in 2014, he toured European capitals raising awareness about the stakes involved and building support for Ukraine. Although realist about the nature of the Putin regime, he has never been a hawk towards Moscow and in 2009 engineered Poland’s rapprochement with Russia. He has strong credentials in economic policy, having steered Poland successfully through the crisis. He has been a strong proponent of reform and worked hard on advancing the EU single market, especially in the course of the 2011 Polish EU presidency. Most recently, he has floated the idea of the EU energy union, putting forward an ambitious set of ideas on market integration and infrastructural revamp.
As President of the European Council, he will need to do show much political skill in putting together the new growth strategy and shaping the EU’s response to the turmoil in many parts of the world. He will need to accommodate Britain’s request for renegotiation of its terms of membership and build support for a deal with the United States on trade and investment. One of the more tricky issues he will need to tackle is agreement on climate issues, ahead of the Paris international conference in 2015. Poland has over the years blocked the more ambitious emission reduction targets in the EU, arguing that it would hurt Europe’s competitiveness if other nations do not follow suit. In the “Nixon goes to China” style, he would now have to negotiate an agreement where his own country will need to make concessions.
Tusk’s style in politics will be his greatest asset. As Prime Minister he has tread a consensual line. He will have many fires to put down and many wounds to heal when he takes over as the European Council President.
