Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is set to skip next week’s European People’s Party (EPP) summit in Valencia due to medical reasons linked to a recent skiing accident, according to Euractiv.
The absence removes a vocal figure from critical discussions ahead of the EPP Congress, where the bloc will elect its leadership, including a new president expected to be incumbent Manfred Weber.
Though Tusk will not attend, his Civic Platform party remains active in shaping the EPP’s leadership structure. MEP Andrzej Halicki, a seasoned pro-European lawmaker and current EPP presidium member, is poised to secure one of the party’s ten vice-presidential roles.
Tusk’s team emphasised his continued engagement behind the scenes, with aides coordinating positions on key agendas such as defence cooperation and agricultural reforms. Yet his no-show leaves Weber’s re-election unchallenged, cementing the German MEP’s grip on the EPP machinery.
