Merkel says Tusk is 'good for Europe': report
PR dla Zagranicy
Victoria Bieniek
08.03.2017 18:06
German Chancellor Angela Merkel thinks Donald Tusk's re-election to the European Council presidency will be “good for Europe”, a German government spokesman has said.
The European Council building in Brussels where on Thursday EU leaders will meet for a two-day summit. Photo: EPA/Olivier Horlet.
“Chancellor Merkel highly regards the work of the Council's leader so far,” the spokesman Steffen Seibert said in Berlin on Wednesday.
According to the Polish news agency PAP, Latvia has also thrown its support behind former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk for a second term in office in the European Council.
Meanwhile, an anonymous source from Merkel's office was quoted by PAP as saying that Tusk has the “overwhelming [support] of most leaders [of EU member-states], which includes the German Chancellor”.
The source added that Tusk was elected unanimously for his first term, “so one can say that Tusk is as much a German candidate as his is France's or Belgium's”.
Leaders of EU countries are expected to take a decision at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday as to whether Tusk will continue a second term.
Tusk’s 30-month term as the President of the European Council is due to end on 31 May.
The term of office of the European Council President runs from 1 June 2017 until 30 November 2019.
The Polish government does not support Tusk and on Saturday put forward an alternative candidate for the position, MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski.