Europe has welcomed the victory of Donald Tusk's center-right Civic Platform party in Sunday's parliamentary elections in Poland , with observers across the continent breathing a collective sigh of relief  that Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his Law and Justice party had been defeated.

The Kaczynski twins, Jaroslaw and his twin brother Lech -- who will serve out his term as president until 2010 -- steered a populist and EU-skeptic course after Jaroslaw became prime minister in 2005. Tusk is widely expected to treat leaders in Europe with more finesse than Kaczynski.

And Tusk confirmed Tuesday that one of his main priorities in office would be improving strained ties with Poland's neighbors. "A change in Polish-Russian relations, I think, is the most important task of the future Polish government in foreign relations," Tusk said, adding that there were "issues to unblock" with the European Union following Jaroslaw Kaczynski's two years in power.

European diplomats too are looking forward to a smoother ride with the new Polish leadership. "I am confident that there will be fruitful cooperation with the next Polish government," said José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, on Monday. "I'm pleased by the democratic process in Poland."

Commentators writing in Germany's main newspapers Tuesday also welcomed Tusk's victory and expressed their relief that Poland has swung back into the political center.

The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"Polish citizens voted against a foreign policy which has made the country into an outsider in Europe and against a domestic policy which was primarily oriented to the concept of enemies. … This day was a milestone for Polish democracy. The country has not only voted out a government whose understanding of the rule of law and pluralism comes straight from the 1930s. Poland has also swept the extreme parties from the right and left, Roman Giertych's League of Polish Families, and Andrzej Lepper's Self-Defense, complete with their staff of convicted criminals, religious fundamentalists and neo-Nazis out of parliament -- and it has determined to finally take democracy seriously. The fact that more than 53 percent of Poles voted on Sunday may appear miserable by European standards, but for Poland, this size of turnout is a sensation."

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"The Poles are a nation of contradictions, say Polish sociologists. They are proud of their own nation and their own state, but also mistrust their public representatives. So the majority calls repeatedly for a strong leader, but then votes out those who act out that role at the next opportunity. … Jaroslaw Kaczynski did not succeed is resolving these contradictions, which is why he has now been voted out after just 15 months in office."

"Kaczynski simply did not fit the role of a strong leader. He is short and fat, and he mumbles -- a statesman has a different appearance. … The election winner Donald Tusk does well by not trying to come out with strong man statements. They don't suit him -- he prefers harmony and still has a somewhat boyish appearance."

"In contrast to the Kaczynski twins, Tusk has good connections on the international stage. He knows all the important EU politicians personally and is on good terms with Angela Merkel. He is therefore unlikely to start superfluous fights over things which only have a symbolic meaning, like the twins did recently in the discussion over voting rights within the EU."

The conservative Die Welt writes:

"Jaroslaw Kaczynski could have won a walk-over victory. His country is experiencing its happiest time in three centuries: it is free and has secure borders, it is surrounded mainly by friends and allies, and it has brilliant economic prospects. The Poles had to carry out the strenuous reconstruction of the post-Cold War period by themselves -- now the EU is helping them. One of Kaczynski's closest confidants said recently that now is the first time since 1989 that it is worth governing in Central Europe. The time for violent pendulum swings at the polls was over, he said. The fact that Jaroslaw Kaczynski failed to take advantage of this unique opportunity says a lot about his grasp of reality."

The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung, whose front page headline Tuesday read "Twins Successfully Separated," writes:

"Donald Tusk is the right man for a fresh start. Two years ago he lost the election because he could not defend himself against accusations of allegedly being 'too friendly' towards Germany. But this time the anti-German card didn't work. Tusk is completely open about the fact that he likes the Germans, just as he likes the Czechs, the Slovaks, the British and the Russians. He is now adopting a deliberately pro-European course and trying to once again build friendly relations with all Poland's neighbors. The political style will change. A skilled Polish diplomat will take the place of a bulldog that wants to bite everything around him."

"Also, the policy content will change, in the medium or even long term. First of all Tusk and his team will have to deal with the mountain of foreign policy problems that the Law and Justice government has left them. Whether they are in a position to suggest new approaches for contentious issues is rather unlikely. But at least as far as the controversial German-Russian gas pipeline project  is concerned, a move away from the previous government's strict 'no' can already be discerned."

The mass circulation tabloid Bild Zeitung writes:

"The Poles are a wise people. The voters have opted for the end of the rule of the twins and for a future in Europe. The outcome of the election is hopeful. It is a sign of democratic maturity. The Poles did not allow themselves to be seduced by the crude anti-German and anti-European nationalism that Jaroslaw Kaczynski has been peddling for the last two years."