Kwasniewski hopes that government will survive

Jolanta Szymanek-Deresz, head of the presidential chancellery, said that President Aleksander Kwasniewski hoped the minority government would survive its full term to carry out vital but tough reforms needed for EU entry in 2004. She stated that Leszek Miller's government should be given a chance, until the end of the current parliament's term in 2005, to implement broad reforms, including the sweeping fiscal overhaul drafted by Finance Minister Grzegorz Kolodko. In this way she dismissed media reports that Kwasniewski was disenchanted with Miller and would like him replaced with a technocrat after June's EU entry referendum. The uncertain future of Miller's increasingly unpopular government has shaken investor confidence and pushed the zloty to its lowest level against the euro in over three years. Miller's position has also been weakened by allegations of high-level corruption embroiling allies of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). (Reuters) M.M.