Polish Peasants Party emerges as SLD's most likely coalition partner

Negotiators from the Democratic Left Alliance-Labor Union (SLD-UP) coalition and the Polish Peasants Party (PSL) said yesterday that forming a unified government was a realistic possibility. "I shall take the risk of claiming that we have made a step toward a coalition," said SLD deputy leader Marek Borowski. In a key move, the two sides agreed that the budget deficit should not exceed zl.40 billion next year and that savings must not hurt the poorest, the country's farmers in particular. Soon after the talks with the PSL, the SLD-UP representatives met with another agricultural interest group, Samoobrona, which said it would gladly join the government along with the PSL. However, SLD officials refused to confirm such a possibility. Meanwhile, leaders of Civic Platform (PO), who had earlier announced that they would not join the government, yesterday declined even to commit themselves to any form of cooperation. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 3) M.K.