Prime Minister Donald Tusk is to enlist the help of former president Aleksander Kwasniewski in support of various high profile Polish candidates for important positions in international institutions, says government spokesman Pawel Gras.

Gras told radio RMF FM today that Tusk and Kwasniewski discussed on Monday the possibility of the former president supporting form PM Jerzy Buzek in his bid to become head of the European Parliament; current Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski to become the new Secretary-General of  NATO as well as former foreign minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz to gain the position of Secretary-General of the European Council.

“We really count on the help of former president Kwasniewski to support Cimoszewicz as well as our other candidates,” said Pawel Gras.

Aleksander Kwasniewski – who won two terms as president from 1995 to 2005 - has many contacts and friends in international diplomatic circles, which would be “very valuable”, said the government spokesman.

Gras emphasized that the three candidates are all high priority for the government at the moment. “Our diplomacy fights for everything,” he said.

On speculation that Kwasniewski – a former member of the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance – would support the governing post-Solidarity Civic Platform’s candidates in June’s European elections, Gras answered that: “There are no plans for that.” (mh/pg)