Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk advised Donald Trump not to rely on his veto to govern following his party’s election defeat, in remarks that also appeared to be aimed at Poland’s own president. The US president’s Republican party suffered a crushing defeat in the midterm elections as the Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress. Trump has suggested he would make liberal use of his veto powers from now on – something Poland’s conservative president, Karol Nawrocki, has also done, vetoing dozens of bills put forward by Tusk’s centrist government since taking office. “Today, democracy won in America. Democracy is amazing, really. I love democracy,” Tusk said at a news conference in Warsaw with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. “President Trump is still the president. I am not an adviser. We are good colleagues. But my advice would be not to ... overuse veto as a method of ... governing,” he said. He added that he hoped the result would help stabilize the situation in Central Europe. Tuesday’s midterm elections gave Democrats the power to pass laws Trump opposes and to investigate his administration. Trump can still block their bills with his veto, which Congress can override only with a two-thirds majority. Same woes, different playground Tusk faces a similar arithmetic at home. Nawrocki, who was backed by the national-conservative opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), became president in August 2025. He has since vetoed 48 bills, more than any Polish president in a full term. The previous record belonged to Aleksander Kwaśniewski, who vetoed 35 over two terms between 1995 and 2005. Poland’s parliament can override a veto only with a three-fifths majority, which Tusk’s pro-European coalition does not have. In practice, a presidential veto usually means the end of a bill. Babiš, who has described himself as a Trump supporter, called the Democrats’ win “huge” and predicted “a certain paralysis of American politics” for the rest of Trump’s term. “President Trump will certainly do what he wants,” he added. Babiš said he hoped Trump would use the second half of his term to deliver on his promises to end the war in Ukraine and the conflict around the Strait of Hormuz. Warsaw visit Babiš is in Warsaw for talks with both Tusk and Nawrocki. His meeting with Tusk focused mainly on the EU. The two agreed to push together for changes to the bloc’s carbon emissions trading system. They also want to delay ETS2, its planned extension to household heating and motor fuels, which both leaders say would hurt their energy-intensive economies. They also welcomed the revival of the Visegrad Group of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, whose cooperation had been held back by disputes among its members. The Czech leader came to Warsaw facing mass protests at home. Last month, his coalition rushed a bill through the lower house of parliament to scrap the license fees that fund Czech Television and Czech Radio. Staff at both broadcasters went on strike on Tuesday, and people rallied in towns across the country. Critics say the change threatens the broadcasters’ independence, and some members of Babiš’s own ANO party have quit over it. Babiš has refused to withdraw the bill and accused the opposition and protest organizers of dividing society. A large rally is planned in Prague on 15 November, two days before the anniversary of the 1989 Velvet Revolution that ended communist rule in what was then Czechoslovakia.
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk held a news conference in Warsaw on Wednesday with his Czech counterpart Andrej Babiš. (PAP/Albert Zawada)
