Government brushes off shady past of EU Information Office director

Slawomir Waitr, the head of the government's European Information Office and author of a national campaign to rally support for joining the European Union entitled, "The Union without Secrets," has owned up to a secret of his own - he admitted working for the communist secret service.This sparked calls on Thursday for him to resign and could dent public support for EU entry as a membership referendum looms in 2003. It dealt a gift to the opposition and eurosceptics who drew parallels between Poland's subjection by the Soviet Union before 1989 and future membership of the EU. "Agents who tried to convince us of the benefits of Soviet domination are now doing the same with the EU," said Roman Giertych, a leader of the Polish Family League. Prime Minister Leszek Miller leapt to the defense of Wiatr. Government spokesman Michal Tober told Reuters that, "I don't see any reason why this would hurt our negotiations with the European Union," adding that Miller had been aware of Wiatr's past. The news only came to light today as it was published in the official journal Monitor Polski, as is required under a law which forces officials to reveal any links to the communist security service which spied on the opposition before 1989. He gave no details of his cooperation - saying only that he was not involved in operational intelligence and his activity, "was not targeted against any individual or organization". (Reuters)