Donald Tusk promises that the new Polish government will unblock the border with Ukraine

The leader of the largest coalition in the newly elected Polish parliament promises to resolve disputes between Warsaw and Kyiv after being appointed as the countryʼs prime minister.

Already on December 13, the new cabinet will be sworn in, and on December 14-15, Tusk intends to participate in the European Union summit in Brussels, which, among other things, will consider the possibility of starting negotiations on Ukraineʼs membership and the allocation of a long-term package of financial assistance in the amount of €50 billion.

Tusk said that after coming to power, he would immediately tackle the situation on the border between Poland and Ukraine, where long queues with thousands of trucks have gathered due to a strike by Polish transporters. According to the politician, he intends to act in the interests of Polish carriers, but at the same time he will seek to resolve the issues so that the blockade ends.

Journalists also asked the leader of the "Civil Coalition" whether he could influence Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who before the December EU summit announced his intention to block financial aid to Ukraine and the start of negotiations on its EU membership.

Tusk replied that Orban is connected with Russia and its president "organically", so he cannot exaggerate his influence.

Elections in Poland

On October 16, 2023, in the parliamentary elections in Poland, the ruling party "Law and Justice" won first place, but the majority of mandates were won by representatives of three opposition forces: Tuskʼs "Civic Coalition", "Left" and "Third Way".

On November 10, the Polish opposition signed a coalition agreement, according to which Donald Tusk, who headed the Polish government in 2007-2014, was nominated as a candidate for the post of Prime Minister of Poland.

Border blockade

From November 6, Polish transporters block the movement of trucks at three checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Polish border ("Yagodin — Dorogusk", "Krakowec — Korchova", "Rava-Ruska — Grebenne"). On the morning of November 23, Polish transporters began blocking the fourth Sheghini-Medyka checkpoint. They demand the restoration of the system of permits or quotas for Ukrainian transport. A representative of the European Commission, Adalbert Janz, said on November 16 that it is legally impossible to return to the old system and cancel the "transport visa-free" from the EU.

According to the data of the State Border Service of Ukraine, as of December 8, there are approximately 3,300 trucks in queues on the territory of Poland waiting to leave for Ukraine.