RPP member says Finance Minister must face the music over fiscal reform

On Saturday Bogusław Grabowski, a member of the Monetary Policy Council (RPP), said that Finance Minister Grzegorz Kołodko must face up to his responsibilities and pursue painful fiscal reforms or quit. He also said that fiscal reform plans proposed by Kołodko did not go far enough to prepare the country to join the EU next year. "When the RPP points to areas of danger and necessary change, Kołodko agrees but points to political and social factors making some changes impossible," Grabowski told Gazeta Wyborcza daily in an interview. Grabowski's comments follow the Council's report which criticized the reform plans proposed by Kołodko, which the monetary policy makers said could effectively lead to fiscal loosening. (Reuters, Gazeta Wyborcza, April 19-21, p. 33) M.M.