Proposal to lower deputies' salaries meets resistance

A presidential bill to lower Sejm deputies' salaries by nearly zl. 2,000 has met with a hostile reception in the Regulations and Deputy Matters Com mission (SKR). Under the bill, President Aleksander Kwasniewski intends to change the deputy remuneration system. Currently Sejm deputies earn as much as deputy ministers, an amount which according to Kwasniewski has no j ustification. "The president did not intend to cut deputies' earnings but to create clear principles governing deputies' salaries," says the head of the Office of the President Jolanta Szymanek-Deresz. Samoobrona is the only party to approve of the draft. The draft has been sent to a subcommission, which could mean that work on the proposal may linger for months (Rzec zpospolita, p. A1; Zycie, p. 1) A.Z.