Budget cuts program appears to be bogged down in political wrangling

"This is a critical moment for the savings plan," announced yesterday Interior Minister Krzysztof Janik, adding that he hopes that most Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) members will support the proposition. However, the party has a lot of members who insist on implementing amendments to the project. The most controversial part of the program concerns the abolition of the early retirement benefits. According to Alicja Murynowicz, SLD member and Deputy Chairwoman of the Sejm Commission for Social and Family Policy, such a decision can only be made when unemployment dramatically falls, and a well prepared policy for employment of people above 50 is implemented. Among the opposition parties, the main supporter of Hausner's plan seems to be the Civic Platform (PO), which is worried that although the plan has not made it to the Sejm yet, Hausner is already slowly backing away from it. The remaining opposition parties criticize the government's assumptions upon which the program is based. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A1) A.K.