President issues call for party unity to overcome financial difficulties

President Aleksander Kwasniewski has urged the government to overcome the political barriers and to cooperate with all opposition parties in order to come up with a sensible solution to the country's current financial difficulties. The president was speaking after an emergency meeting with the Cabinet yesterday, at which he had planned to map out new ways to stop the huge budget deficit from destabilizing the economy. The President had been expecting to see data on the dangers, the current state of public finances, a rescue plan, as well as explanations of how the fiscal difficulties had arisen, and who was to blame for them. However, the Cabinet simply verified the economic targets for next year, envisaging economic growth at between 2.5% and 3%, and the inflation level at 5.1% to 5.5% year on year. Responding to Kwasniewski's call for unity, Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek said, "The government is ready for this kind of cooperation." (Rzeczpospolita, p. A1; Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 1; Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 1) A.K. .