Donald Tusk relied on a mix of charm and pragmatism to rise to the top of Polish politics and stay in power longer than anyone since the Cold War. Being the European Union's president will test the extent of those talents.
Emerging from a bitter contest as the 28-nation group's first leader from the former communist east, the 57-year-old will arrive in December after seven years as his country's prime minister. He'll inherit a union fraught with discord over issues from the conflict in Ukraine to a sluggish economy at home.
Tusk has spent more than two decades navigating Poland's often acrimonious post-communist politics. Ruthless at times, ditching allies when needed, his supreme talent is his charm, according to Pawel Piskorski, who co-founded the Civic Platform party with Tusk in 2001 before being forced out in 2006. Tusk is a master at "seducing" allies over red wine, cigars and discussions of his favorites from ancient Greece and Rome, according to Piskorski's 2014 memoir, "Between Us Liberals."