Poland puts forward rival candidate to EU's Tusk

Poland said Saturday it was proposing a Polish Euro-MP for the EU presidency to succeed Donald Tusk, whose second term is opposed by the governing rightwing Law and Justice party (PiS).

"I have just sent a diplomatic note to propose the candidacy of Jacek Saryusz-Wolski for the presidency of the European Council," the PAP news agency quoted Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski as saying, referring to a Polish member of the European Parliament.

Tusk, a centre-right Polish prime minister from 2007 to 2014, has been sharply at odds with Poland's rightwing government over a range of issues including changes to state media and the constitution.

He became president of the European Council, gathering EU heads of state or government, in December 2014, succeeding the Belgian Herman van Rompuy.

The Council meets in Brussels next Thursday to discuss whether to give Tusk a second term after his first mandate expires on May 31.

Saryusz-Wolski, 68, an MEP since 2004, is a member of the European People's Party, gathering Christian Democrat and centre-right legislators.

Within the constellation of Polish politics, he is a member of the opposition Civic Platform, although the party has recently distanced itself from him.

Tusk's problems with PiS stem greatly from personal friction with party boss Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

Kaczynski accuses him of bearing "moral responsibility" for the death of his twin brother Lech Kaczynski, who was then president, in an air disaster in 2010 that also killed 95 others.

Tusk seems to have support among a majority of leaders for a second term. Poland by itself cannot block a second term as approval does not require unanimity.