TIME Interview: Donald Tusk

What have you accomplished in your four months in office?
The government has been repairing Poland’s image, and its relations with the European Union and the world. In the first 100 days we wanted to calm down the conflicts which for the past two years in Poland have devastated public debate. We are giving the citizens of Poland a sense that a reasonable and predictable government is ruling here.

Are you enjoying the job?
I got into politics a little bit by chance, as a person from the first generation of the Solidarity movement. I wanted to be an archaeologist. For many years I was a publisher. That was a nicer occupation.

Do you feel like you’ve sacrificed a lot to become Prime Minister?
I don’t feel like I’m some kind of missionary. It’s just a job. For the past 30 years, whenever I say, “It’s hard, it’s hard,” my wife tells me, “Change jobs!” And she’s right, of course.

How did your trade union colleagues in Solidarity view your free market ideas?
It was not possible to convince everyone. The key person was [Solidarity leader] Lech Walesa. A not-highly educated, some would say simple, man, but deeply clever, wise, with huge intuition. Walesa — this is his greatness — put Solidarity and his own authority in play to protect Poland’s free market and pro-Western orientation.

What lessons do you take from Walesa and other leaders?
Our heroes of the imagination were Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. They symbolized a tough attitude to the Soviet Union and they revitalized the idea of leading with freedom and traditional values, which seemed then to be dying out.

How do you get Poles working abroad to come home?
They are already coming back. Not only because of some miracle I promised, but because of the exchange rate and the saturation of Irish labor markets. So the problem of immigration for money is not a question of Poland being abandoned by millions of people forever. Still, the brain drain is a real problem.

What surprises you in Poland when you travel around?
What is depressing is the terrible impact of the communist system on the people, on the social order, and … on Polish towns. Quality of life is not only about what you find in the shops; it’s about the landscape.

How do you bridge the gap between urban and rural Poland?
It’s also a geographical and historical divide. Western Poland tends to support the Civic Platform; eastern Poland supports the PIS. Those borderlines were shaped in the 14th and 15th centuries. To reach across them, the key thing is improving education.

Are you ever surprised to be negotiating with the likes of Putin or Bush?
It has become more natural than you would think. Politics itself is not sacred any more. All those heels are not that high. Poland is not a very large country, but it’s also not a small country. I don’t exclude the thought that somebody in the world will say, “Look at my compatriot standing next to Tusk. That’s amazing!