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Germany backs EU chief for second term

European Council President Donald Tusk, left, speaks with Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat as they wait for the start of a pre-EU summit Tripartite meeting at the Europa building in Brussels on Wednesday, March 8, 2017. Donald Tusk is closing in on a second term as the European Union's Council President despite fierce opposition from his native Poland, whose most influential politician is a bitter rival of the former prime minister. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
European Council President Donald Tusk, left, speaks with Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat as they wait for the start of a pre-EU summit Tripartite meeting at the Europa building in Brussels on Wednesday, March 8, 2017. Donald Tusk is closing in on a second term as the European Union's Council President despite fierce opposition from his native Poland, whose most influential politician is a bitter rival of the former prime minister. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) European Council President Donald Tusk, left, speaks with Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat as they wait for the start of a pre-EU summit Tripartite meeting at the Europa building in Brussels on Wednesday, March 8, 2017. Donald Tusk is closing in on a second term as the European Union's Council President despite fierce opposition from his native Poland, whose most influential politician is a bitter rival of the former prime minister. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

By Associated Press 2 min read

BRUSSELS (AP) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel threw her weight behind Donald Tusk to retain one of the European Union’s top jobs ahead of an EU summit Thursday, despite staunch opposition from his home country of Poland.

The 28 EU leaders are due to decide as their summit starts in Brussels Thursday on who will be president of the EU Council for the next 2½ years. It is one of the bloc’s most prestigious jobs, and involves chairing summits and coordinating the work of the member countries.

Poland’s nationalist government has proposed little-known Polish EU lawmaker Jacek Saryusz-Wolski to replace Tusk – a former prime minister who has a long and bitter rivalry with the leader of Poland’s current governing party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

Diplomats from several member nations say Warsaw has little or no support, while Tusk has strong backing. Merkel offered Tusk public support in a pre-summit speech to lawmakers in Berlin.

“I see the re-election of Donald Tusk as a sign of stability for the entire EU,” she said.