Prime Ministers intervene and censures ministers in Hungarian food issue

A document signed in Budapest by Deputy Economy Minister Marek Wejtka, which allows duties on some Hungarian foods to be suspended has no binding legal power, declared a decree issued by the government yesterday. "It was not an agreement, but only a protocol of agreements, which had to be accepted by the Cabinet," said government spokesman Michal Tober. The whole affair blew up and caused a major public row between ministers, with the Peasants Party hinting that it was ready to pull out of the government over the issue. The row was particularly embarrassing for the government as Agriculture Minister Jaroslaw Kalinowski said that the document was signed behind his back and could prove to be disastrous for Polish agriculture. Prime Minister Leszek Miller reprimanded Kalinowski for dragging the issue into the public gaze, while Economy Minister Jacek Piechota was censured for failing to co-operate with the Agriculture Ministry. "Miller found it unfortunate that a representative of Agriculture Ministry was not invited to go to Budapest as part of the original delegation," said Tober. (Gazeta Wyborcza, pp. 1, 19) M.M.