Finance Minister tells government, support my reforms or I quit

Finance Minister Grzegorz Kolodko threatened on Monday to resign if his fiscal reform program fails to win government approval. Setting the scene for a Cabinet showdown on Wednesday over a budget overhaul, Kolodko also criticized the Prime Minister for dumping his coalition partner earlier this month. Kolodko called on Premier Miller to court the support of the Civic Platform (PO) to pass his budget reforms. The Platform has, however, called for Miller's resignation. Kolodko's threat hit the already-weak zloty, and revived speculation that he could soon be replaced, perhaps by Economy Minister Jerzy Hausner, who has criticized his fiscal strategy, or by Witold Orlowski, adviser to President Aleksander Kwasniewski. (Parkiet, p. 1; Reuters) J.K.