WARSAW – When Donald Tusk visited European Union headquarters in October to talk about unfreezing funds from the bloc when he likely returns as Poland’s prime minister, it was a meeting of old friends for a man who used to help run the show.

“He had lunch at the canteen for regular workers without any protocol, just like a regular guy,” one former official, who declined to be named, said.

“It was like a gathering of friends talking about the good old times.”

Mr Tusk’s supporters say that bonds formed during his 2014 to 2019 stint as president of the European Council, which groups the leaders of the member nations, are key to unblocking tens of billions of euros in funding.

They have been withheld under the outgoing government of Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki due to concerns over the rule of law.

The warm relations with a man who helped corral differing factions over Brexit and Greece’s debt crisis also mark a contrast with eight years of bitter conflict with Brussels on issues ranging from migration to LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) rights under Mr Morawiecki’s nationalist Law and Justice, or PiS, party.

“If someone can take Poland back on a democratic, EU path, it’s Tusk,” one current senior EU official said. “We trust in his leadership.”

Polish President Andrzej Duda gave Mr Morawiecki the first shot at forming a government after the Oct 15 election.

But it lacks a majority and is expected to lose a vote of confidence on Dec 11.

That would clear the way for Mr Tusk, who has vowed to “rebuild the position” of Poland in Europe, to take power as the head of a broad alliance of pro-EU parties that hold a majority of seats.

“It’s a sea change for the relations between Poland and the EU because the outgoing government perceived the EU as ‘them’ and Tusk and the incoming government perceives the EU as ‘us’,” the former official, who worked closely with Mr Tusk, said.

“It’s a fundamental difference… because you approach negotiations in a totally different manner if you know that you are talking to a friend, not to enemies.”

Challenges ahead

But Mr Tusk’s opponents accuse him of putting foreign interests ahead of Poland’s and see him as complicit in attempts by the EU to infringe on Poland’s sovereignty.

“The European Commission interfered in parliamentary elections in Poland by intentionally blocking the recovery fund to blackmail Poles to support Mr Tusk’s party,” said Mr Sebastian Kaleta, deputy justice minister in the outgoing government.

Meanwhile, EU officials warn that unblocking the cash may not be easy as it involves implementing “milestones” on the rule of law that could be held up by Mr Duda, a PiS ally.

“When it comes to the recovery fund, the milestones have to be delivered in practice, declarations only will not be enough,” said a second senior EU official.

Working with a president aligned with the opposing camp is a challenge for Mr Tusk.

That is because he is setting out to implement an agenda that includes rolling back the previous government’s judicial reforms and holding those accused by the opposition of wrongdoing, including Mr Duda himself, to account.

“In Poland a period of cohabitation is starting,” said Mr Antoni Dudek, a political scientist at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw.

“Poland’s experience of cohabitation so far is very bad.”

According to Mr Dudek, the period from 2007 to 2010 when Mr Tusk served as prime minister alongside the late president Lech Kaczynski, the twin brother of PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, was “one big conflict”, a situation which could be repeated.

But colleagues say Mr Tusk’s passion for politics will help him find solutions.

“I think what drives him is not just being an important person, a prime minister for example, but he feels good in the political game,” said a lawmaker who declined to be named, from Mr Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO), the largest grouping in the alliance that is expected to form the next government.

Evolution of ideas

According to the lawmaker, this helped Mr Tusk succeed despite his opponents’ aggressive election campaign, during which state media portrayed him as a German stooge and PiS moved to create a committee investigating undue Russian influence, which critics said aimed to eliminate him from politics.

“He is resistant to unfair games… and he is good at dealing with such things,” the lawmaker said.

Mr Tusk will also need to hold together a diverse coalition whose views on issues ranging from abortion to public spending differ widely.

For Mr Janusz Lewandowski, a KO member of the European Parliament who has known Mr Tusk since the 1980s, the man who started his career with firmly liberal views has changed during his decades in politics in a way that enables him to unite different factions.

“Tusk underwent an evolution, but he evolved in order to win… which meant less (economic) liberalism, and more social concern,” he said.

Asked how Mr Tusk will cope with the challenges lying ahead of him, the former EU official who worked alongside him laughs.

“Having dealt with 28 leaders quarrelling about the Greek debt crisis, the migration crisis, Brexit… I’m pretty sure he can handle it,” the former official said. REUTERS