Recent leaks of audio recordings have revealed that Donald Tusk, while serving as the president of the European Council, commented on his political party’s candidate list ahead of Poland’s 2019 parliamentary elections. This revelation raises questions about his adherence to the political neutrality expected of someone in his position.
The recordings, which surfaced through media outlets aligned with the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, capture Tusk expressing support for specific candidates and discussing a colleague’s frustrations over being denied a Senate bid by party leaders. At the time the recording was made, PiS held power in Poland.
Tusk resigned as Poland’s prime minister in 2014 to take on his role in the European Council. However, he returned to the Civic Coalition party in 2021 and resumed the position of prime minister in 2023. Tusk’s office has yet to issue a comment regarding these revelations, and the European Council has similarly refrained from responding to inquiries.
Discontent and Political Maneuvering
Civic Coalition party members have claimed that the conversation was recorded unlawfully by the previous administration. The right-wing broadcaster TV Republika published a notable recording of a 2019 phone call between Roman Giertych, Tusk’s former lawyer and now a Civic Coalition lawmaker, and Tusk.
During this conversation, Giertych expressed his grievances regarding Grzegorz Schetyna, the then-leader of the Civic Coalition, who was allegedly obstructing Giertych’s Senate aspirations by pressuring him to compete in particularly challenging districts. Tusk empathized with Giertych’s situation, stating that it was a mistake not to allow him to run in Warsaw. Giertych also criticized Schetyna for leading the party’s parliamentary campaign astray, saying he would be the “face of defeat.” Tusk noted, “I would not forget that.”
Civic Coalition faced a defeat in the 2019 parliamentary election, and Schetyna subsequently opted not to seek re-election as party leader in 2020. In the same conversation, Giertych proposed promoting Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, to which Tusk agreed that it was an excellent idea. Kidawa-Błońska later became the party’s candidate for prime minister in the 2019 election.
Allegations of Illegality and Political Fallout
Giertych contends that the recording was captured as part of an illicit operation using Israel’s Pegasus spyware, which the previous government allegedly exploited to surveil political adversaries. He stated, “The recording of conversations between a lawyer and his clients, the failure to destroy them, the removal of copies of the conversations from the [Central Anti-Corruption Bureau], their transfer to the media, and the publication of these conversations are very serious crimes.” Giertych insisted that those responsible for these transgressions would face consequences.
In light of these events, the current coalition government, led by the Civic Coalition, has initiated an investigation into whether PiS officials misused the Pegasus software to spy on their political opponents. As of Tuesday afternoon, Tusk has not addressed the implications of the leaked recordings.