I will not stand as a candidate in the upcoming presidential elections, the head of the European Council, former Prime Minister Donald Tusk, informed on Tuesday in an interview with the Polsat News and TVN24 journalists.

I am announcing this decision today because time is pressing, and I would not like to hinder the opposition in any way in the process of selecting candidates

— said the former Prime Minister.

I believe that we can win these elections, but in order to achieve this we need a candidate who is not burdened with a baggage of difficult, unpopular decisions, and I have been burdened with such a baggage since I was Prime Minister

— explained Tusk. He announced that he would support the opposition candidate in the upcoming presidential elections.

I will use every opportunity to continue to strengthen Poland’s position in Europe and in the world

— said the head of the European Council.

In an interview for TVN24 in August, Tusk announced that on December 2nd he would be able to say how he sees Poland’s political future as well as his own. He added that there were several proposals and he would seriously consider them, also of a more international character. But his heart will always rush out to someplace near the Vistula River - he said. 1 December marks the end of Tusk’s term of office as head of the European Council.

Tusk is a candidate for the head of the European People’s Party; the new leader of the EPP is to be elected on 20 November at a congress in Zagreb.

Tłum. K.J.