Donald Tusk was born on April 22, 1957, in Gdańsk, Poland. His full name is Donald Franciszek Tusk. His father, Donald Tusk Sr., worked as a carpenter for the railways, while his mother, Ewa Tusk, was employed as a hospital secretary. His father died when Tusk was fourteen years old. He graduated from the University of Gdańsk.

Donald Tusk began studying history at the University of Gdańsk in 1976 and graduated in 1980. During his university years, he engaged in illegal activities opposing the communist regime. He cooperated with the underground Free Trade Unions and met future Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa. In 1980, he co-founded the Independent Students’ Association (NZS), which was part of the Solidarity movement. He became a Solidarity leader at his workplace and worked as a journalist for a newspaper published by Solidarity.

After the declaration of martial law by General Wojciech Jaruzelski in December 1981, Donald Tusk went into hiding for a period. He later worked as a bread seller and, between 1984 and 1989, earned his living as a laborer specializing in high-altitude industrial work using climbing equipment.

At the same time, Donald Tusk remained active in the underground Solidarity movement. After being briefly detained, he was released following an amnesty for political prisoners announced by General Jaruzelski.

In 1983, Donald Tusk founded the illegal monthly magazine “Political Review,” which promoted economic liberalism and the principles of liberal democracy. An informal think tank supporting Lech Wałęsa formed around the magazine. After the collapse of communism, members of this group, known as the “Gdańsk liberals,” entered the Sejm in 1991 and formed a government following Poland’s first free presidential elections.

During this period, Donald Tusk co-founded the Liberal Democratic Congress, Poland’s first pro-business and pro-European party, and became its leader. The party was also responsible for dismantling and privatizing the former state-owned press monopoly.

In the 1990s, Donald Tusk served as a Member of Parliament and Deputy Marshal of the Senate. He lost his parliamentary seat in 1993. In 1994, the Liberal Democratic Congress merged with the Democratic Union to form the Freedom Union. Around the same time, Tusk published a series of books on the history of Gdańsk, some of which became bestsellers.

In 1997, Donald Tusk was elected to the Senate and became its Deputy Marshal. In 2001, he co-founded another center-right liberal conservative party, Civic Platform, and was re-elected to the Sejm, again serving as Deputy Marshal.

Donald Tusk became leader of Civic Platform in 2003. He unsuccessfully ran for President of Poland in 2005 and also lost the 2005 parliamentary elections.

After a difficult campaign, Donald Tusk defeated the ruling right-wing party in 2007 and became Prime Minister of Poland. He won a second term in the 2011 elections, serving a total of seven years. This made him the longest-serving Prime Minister of democratic Poland and the first to be re-elected. During his tenure, Poland maintained economic growth, achieving record performance during the European financial crisis, with nearly 20 percent growth.

Donald Tusk served as Prime Minister of Poland from November 16, 2007, to September 22, 2014. In 2014, he left Polish politics to accept the position of President of the European Council. He was elected to this role in 2014 and re-elected for a second two-and-a-half-year term in 2017. His term ended on November 30, 2019. He served as President of the European Council from December 1, 2014, to November 30, 2019.

Following the 2023 Polish general elections, although his party placed second, the government formed by the leading party failed to secure parliamentary approval. As a result, on December 13, 2023, Donald Tusk was appointed Prime Minister of Poland by the Sejm.

On January 22, 2024, Donald Tusk visited Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Donald Tusk married Małgorzata Sochacka in 1978. The couple has two children, a son named Michał Tusk and a daughter named Katarzyna Tusk.

Political Parties:
1991–1994 – Liberal Democratic Congress
1994–2001 – Freedom Union
2001–2014 – Civic Platform
2022–present – Civic Platform

Source: Biyografiler.com