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		</div><p>European Union leaders have confirmed Donald Tusk for a second term as council president, overcoming weeks of strong opposition from his native Poland.</p>
<p>Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted &#8220;congratulations&#8221;, and Mr Tusk sent a tweet saying: <i>&#8220;Thank you for keeping fingers crossed and for heart-felt support. It helped.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>The government in Warsaw had argued that the decision should be delayed because of its displeasure with Mr Tusk, a bitter political rival.</p>
<p>But other leaders won out, insisting there was no appetite for a delay.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;I don&#8217;t see how one country could oppose this solution when all the others are in favor,&#8221;</i> said French President Francois Hollande, echoing comment from many of the bloc&#8217;s 28 leaders.</p>
<p>The job is one of the bloc&#8217;s most prestigious. It involves chairing summits, co-ordinating the work of the member countries and making sure the 28 nations speak as much as possible with one voice on the international stage.</p>
<p>The EU is facing a plethora of challenges, not least the imminent divorce proceedings as Britain leaves the bloc, and does not want to be caught in an institutional quagmire over the position of a leader.</p>
<p>Mr Hollande said that &#8220;with a Europe that has to affirm its unity, a Europe that needs to be firm in the face of a certain number of pressures it faces, there is every reason to confirm here the nomination of Donald Tusk&#8221;.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">PM <a href="https://twitter.com/JosephMuscat_JM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JosephMuscat_JM</a> greets <a href="https://twitter.com/donaldtusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@donaldtusk</a> upon his re-election as President of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EUCO?src=hash&;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EUCO</a> <a href="https://t.co/Be1P18PrSA">pic.twitter.com/Be1P18PrSA</a></p>
<p>&mdash; MaltaPermRep ð²ð¹ ðªðº (@MaltainEU) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaltainEU/status/839867956754583552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 9, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Poland&#8217;s nationalist government had proposed little-known Polish EU politician Jacek Saryusz-Wolski to replace Mr Tusk, whose current term ends on May 31.</p>
<p>Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said it was unheard of to confirm a president without the consent of his home nation.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;Nothing without us, without our consent,&#8221;</i> she said upon arrival for the summit. <i>&#8220;This is a matter of principles.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>Mr Tusk is a former prime minister who has a long and bitter rivalry with the leader of Poland&#8217;s current governing party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.</p>
<p>The government argues that Mr Tusk supports the domestic opposition in Poland and has failed to protect the country&#8217;s interests in the EU.</p>
<p>German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered Mr Tusk public support in a pre-summit speech to politicians in Berlin.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;I see his re-election as a sign of stability for the entire European Union and I look forward to continuing working with him,&#8221;</i> Mrs Merkel said.</p>
<p>Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who chaired the election, acknowledged that several member nations are unhappy that all major EU posts are held by members of the centre-right European People&#8217;s Party (EPP).</p>
<p>But he said &#8220;they don&#8217;t want to sacrifice President Tusk because of that, because they think he has done a good job&#8221;.</p>
<p>Apart from Mr Tusk, EPP politicians Jean-Claude Juncker and Antonio Tajani head the EU&#8217;s executive commission and the European Parliament, respectively.</p>
<p>Mr Muscat said a more equitable spreading of posts would need to be addressed some time over the coming months.</p>
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