After Brussels, Warsaw: Donald Tusk looks to wrest Poland back from its rightward shift in bid for leadership

The former Prime Minister may struggle to attract support among moderate conservative Poles who are skeptical about his links to the EU, William Nattrass reports from Warsaw

Former European Union head and Poland's ex-prime minister Donald Tusk (AP)

A seismic tremor shook Polish politics last week, with the news that Donald Tusk, former prime minister and ex-European Council president, is returning to fight Poland’s national-conservative leadership as the head of the country’s largest opposition party.

Upon his recent election as the leader of Civic Platform, the party he co-founded two decades ago, Mr Tusk said he has chosen to re-enter the fray of Polish politics to counter the “evil” of the country’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, which has been in power since 2015.

“Today, evil reigns in Poland and we want to fight it,” Tusk said to his supporters at a comeback appearance in Warsaw.