Premier seeks sweeping powers to dismiss top civil servants

Marek Belka's government has prepared a project, which grants the prime minister unlimited power of dismissing the heads of central public administration offices. The proposed amendments to the bill, to be discussed by the government today, state that the prime minister will have the right to sack the heads of these offices and state agencies when they "act contradictory to the policy set by the cabinet." The new regulations concern 31 central offices whose heads are chosen via a competition and are appointed for a specific term of office. According to some analysts, the powers could be abused and, "May be used as a tool to put pressure on the heads of offices by the government," commented professor Anna Fornalczyk. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, A3) E.B.