Germany urges EU to rally behind Poland's Tusk for top job

FILE - In this file photo dated Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016, European Council President Donald Tusk talks to the media as he arrives for the first day of the EU Summit in Brussels, Belgium. German deputy foreign minister Michael Roth Tuesday March 7, 2017, is calling for European Union countries to rally behind Donald Tusk as the former Polish prime minister Tusk seeks a second term in one of the bloc's top positions. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, FILE) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Dec. 7, 2013 file photo, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, vice president of the European People's Party and chairman of the European People's Party Group, cheers pro-European Union supporters at a mass rally in the Independence Square as snow falls in Kiev, Ukraine. Saryusz-Wolski is Poland's surprise counter-candidate to challenge incumbent Donald Tusk for the post of European Council head. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File) (The Associated Press)

A senior German official is calling for European Union countries to rally behind Donald Tusk as the former Polish prime minister seeks a second term in one of the bloc's top positions.

EU leaders are to vote Thursday on who will head the EU Council for the next 2½ years. The president chairs summits of the 28-nation bloc's leaders.

Tusk is a bitter rival of Poland's governing party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Poland wants a center-right European lawmaker, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, to replace Tusk.

German deputy foreign minister Michael Roth said Tuesday he knows of reservations only in Poland and Hungary. He said Tusk enjoys widespread confidence "and that is a clear signal that those who currently still have problems with the reappointment of Donald Tusk as Council president should understand."

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