Warsaw, 13 December 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Polish President Andrzej Duda has sworn in Donald Tusk's new pro-European government.

"This is an important moment for Poland. I would like to congratulate you on winning the political process," Duda said on Wednesday after the ceremony at the presidential palace in Warsaw. 

The transfer of power has now been finalized, just under two months after Poland's parliamentary elections. Members of parliament had expressed their confidence in Tusk's government in a parliamentary vote on Tuesday evening.

The three-party alliance of Tusk's liberal-conservative Civic Coalition, the Christian-conservative Third Way and the left-wing alliance The Left had won a government majority in the parliamentary elections on October 15.

However, the previous conservative nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS) government had delayed the transfer of power for a long time with the help of Duda.

The president, who himself comes from the ranks of the PiS, had initially tasked former prime minister and PiS politician Mateusz Morawiecki with forming the government, even though it was clear that the party did not have a majority in parliament.

As expected, Morawiecki lost a vote of confidence on Monday. Only then was the way clear for Tusk to take office.

In his speech after being sworn in, Tusk recalled the record voter turnout and the people who had waited outside many polling stations until after midnight on election day to cast their votes.

"For two months, these voters, these same Poles, have waited so patiently and with so much enthusiasm for their historic decision to be realized," said Tusk, alluding to the delaying tactics employed by Duda and PiS. "When it comes to the freedom of the individual and human rights, Poles never give up."

The start of Tusk's government marks a fundamental change in Polish foreign policy: In his government statement on Tuesday the 66-year-old from Gdańsk called for a return to the values of democracy and the rule of law and announced good cooperation between his country and the EU.

"What really forms a community is the rule of law, the constitution, the rules of democracy, secure borders and a secure national territory - these are the things we must not argue about,"  the former EU Council president said then.

The PiS government, which has now been replaced, was at loggerheads with the European Union for years over its judicial reform plans. The European Commission initiated several infringement proceedings against the EU member state and is currently blocking a multibillion-euro coronavirus aid fund.

Tusk announced that Poland would assume the position of a "leader within the EU" under his government. He also promised to negotiate the release of the blocked EU aid funds.

Photo: EPA