Poland is to spearhead a drive to encourage "more and more" eastern European countries to join the EU when it takes over the presidency of the 27-member union in July, the prime minister has said.

In an outspoken interview with the Guardian and its European media partners, Donald Tusk said the growing European preoccupation with the south should not come at the expense of the east. He also criticised David Cameron's plan to cut the EU budget and seemed to take a swipe at British and French leaders when he chastised "certain European politicians, who at a time of crisis speak the language of national egotism and state protectionism".

Such leaders "do not understand the European idea", he said, adding that the Anglo-French push for military action against Libya was "yet another example of European hypocrisy".

He said it was inevitable that some of the focus of Poland's forthcoming EU presidency – Tusk takes over from Hungary's Viktor Orban on 1 July – would switch to the "south", given the implications for southern Europe of events in north Africa. But he added: "We cannot allow the events in north Africa to block the enlargement of the EU.

"Can someone explain to me why Croatia [should suffer because of] Gaddafi? And can anyone for instance defend the point of view that, given the events, the negotiations with Turkey have become less, rather than more, important?"

He added: "I believe that today Poland is a very good example of a country that was worth investing in, a country which for historical reasons had for many years been outside the European Union." Therefore, he said, "the eastern partnership is going to be a very important task and challenge for Poland during the EU presidency but also after the presidency".

Tusk vehemently denied that the EU's welcoming approach to Belarus and Ukraine had failed, given that there was a dictator (Alexander Lukashenko) still in power in the former, and that the historically undemocratic Viktor Yanukovych has won elections in the latter.

"Just imagine this sort of conversation 30 years ago if someone in Paris – or London for that matter – had said, after the introduction of martial law and the suppression of Solidarity [in Poland in 1981], 'it's not worth giving them anything, it's not worth investing in them because they have already lost'," said Tusk, referring to the Gdansk trade union movement he once belonged to, which rebelled against Poland's Soviet overlords 30 years ago.

"As far as Belarus is concerned, we see very effective ways of dealing with the dictator, military and secret police. Anyone who visited Belarus five years ago and then today knows how many more troubles are now posed by the people to the dictator.

Listen, just how many people believed that it would be possible to build a western-style democracy in Iraq or Afghanistan? So why would it be impossible, if we act wisely, for western European democratic values to also be adopted in states such as Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the Balkans?" he said.

"We should believe in the strength and vitality of the values which constitute the EU and which neighbouring states can believe in and aspire to join."

It should be an aspiration of the EU to have "more and more neighbours wanting to join", he added.

Tusk, who has been prime minister since November 2007, admitted he was disappointed last autumn when David Cameron proposed cutting the EU budget, of which Poland, as a large, relatively poor member, is the biggest beneficiary. In the current seven-year budget, Poland gets far more money than the other 27 EU member states, netting some €6.5bn. Cameron's proposal led to several months of extremely frosty Anglo-Polish relations.

The Poles believe the British PM wanted to cut so-called "cohesion" funds , which allow countries to build motorways and pay for expensive environmental projects, such as reforestation. Most of Poland's EU money comes from this source, which is the second biggest item on the EU budget after the common agricultural policy.

But Tusk said that any suggestion that big spending on cohesion funds had precipitated the financial crisis was absurd. "Let us recollect the true reason for the current crisis," he said. "Where are the villains of that piece? Where do they reside? Where were those institutions that led to the financial crisis? Are they in Bucharest or Vilnius? Or in New York and London? Therefore what is it that we are talking about? If we are talking about preventing the financial crisis then let us leave the budget alone. It is actually quite easy to prove that EU spending is the best remedy against the crisis in the majority of countries."

Rather than cutting funds, Tusk proposed the "reinstatement" of some common values into the EU: "Common sense, decency, courage to take action – and also to live within your own means and not on credit."

He said Poland was in "no hurry" to join the euro, but was committed to doing so at some point. Tusk said he envisaged meeting the Maastricht entry criteria by 2015, but that was not to be taken as the date for Polish accession to the eurozone.

"I can confirm that Poland should become a eurozone country, and not just because of the treaties that have been signed, but because I consider it of strategic interest both for Poland and the EU," said Tusk. He added that "today Poland meets many of the Maastricht criteria better than some eurozone countries".

Tusk admitted his dismay in February when the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, proposed a separate EU summit for eurozone members. He said it was correct that he had said: "Why are you trying to show divisions? Are we getting in your way? You are humiliating us," as quoted in the Economist last month.

But, he said: "I'm plain incapable of getting angry with Angela Merkel and likewise. The truth is that I was convinced then and am convinced today that an attempt to divide Europe in two clubs, where for example the eurozone countries would form one separate club, is definitely wrong. I guess I would not breach any confidences here if I were to say that the absolute majority of leaders from eurozone countries claimed that I was right."

He also suggested Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy were wrong to commit to military action in Libya. While stressing that Poland would help on a humanitarian level, Tusk said the logic for intervening in Libya and not against other dictatorships was flawed.

He said: "Not all of the arguments for military intervention in Libya are convincing to us. Do you actually believe that Gaddafi had not been shooting his people before? Do you really believe that Bahrain is a softer regime? Do Sudan and Chad not also face drama that is comparable to what is happening in Libya?"

Poles were well aware of the need to protect innocent people from violent dictators, said the former Solidarity activist, because "we have experienced it ourselves, in the flesh. The authorities in Poland were also shooting at their own people, so there is no need to teach Poles sensitivity on that issue."

But, he said, Europe was now in an awkward position.

"I asked this question in Brussels: is Europe prepared to defend human rights of citizens in all those countries where rights are violated? Shall we be as determined in all other cases as we are here? Libya's case is fully justified as far as the need to protect people from the violence of the brutal regime is concerned but still, isn't this yet another example of European hypocrisy if we take into consideration the way Europe had been treating Libya and Gaddafi through many of the previous years?"

He added: "When the armed forces are used in the face of an ideal, such as human rights, no one should assume we would be relieved of our responsibility should another case arise elsewhere. We should avoid this ambiguity at all costs, this sense that Europe only takes action when it is comfortable to do so or where the oil is.

"If we want to protect people against dictators or repression or torture, don't you need that rule to be universal so as to not end up with a situation where we do so only when it is comfortable, profitable and safe?"

Tusk said that Poland was a respected member of the EU, "whether or not we send troops to one of the Arab countries". The Polish deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrated that it was willing to help the right cause, he said. In the past year there have been around 3,000 Polish troops in Afghanistan, and at its peak there were 2,500 in Iraq.