Freedom Union national convention to vote on withdrawing from coalition

The leadership of the junior coalition partner Freedom Union (UW) has passed a resolution empowering the national convention slated for Sunday to vote in favor of withdrawing all UW ministers from the government. The UW leadership asserts that they do not see how the latest rift in the coalition can be resolved unless Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek, from the Solidarity Election Action (AWS), steps down. Buzek's position has weakened after some AWS deputies voted with the opposition to override a government proposal, drafted by UW leader and Finance Minister Leszek Balcerowicz, to scrap the existing zero value-added tax (VAT) on farm products. The conflict was exacerbated when Buzek appointed a commissioner to replace an elected council, comprising members of UW and opposition Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) members, to run the Warsaw borough of Gmina Centrum. (Gazeta Wyborcza, page 1) S.M.