NBP-Government conflict, Miller says "now it is up to parliament to decide"

Finance Minister Marek Belka and the head of the central bank (NBP), Leszek Balcerowicz have set up a committee to guide the economy into the Euro zone. Poland hopes to become a member of the European Union in 2004 and ensure monetary union sometime later on. Before that happens budgetary policy and the exchange rate regime must be changed in order for Poland to become eligible to join the single currency. The creation of the committee follows Tuesday's meeting between the Monetary Policy Council (RPP) and President Aleksander Kwasniewski, which some believed broke the impasse between the government and the NBP. However Prime Minister Leszek Miller yesterday evening announced he will support the bill to increase the number of RPP members from 10 to 16, thus according to Balcerowicz, rekindling the feud over the independence of the central bank. "I believe that they (the Democratic Left Alliance) will back the bill as they now understand that the possibilities for mediation have been exhausted", "Now it is up to parliament" Miller said on public television . President Kwasniewski however, earlier said he is ready to veto or send for legal review, any measures which may curb the bank's autonomy. (Reuters; Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 1; Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 1) A.K.